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 SS Admella in a heavy sea
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Australia | |
| Name | SS Admella |
| Owner | Robert Little and 7 others |
| Route | Adelaide–Melbourne–Launceston |
| Builder |
|
| Cost | £15,000 |
| Launched | 17 September 1857 |
| In service | March 1858 |
| Fate | Wrecked near Cape Banks, off the town of Carpenter Rocks, South Australia on 6 August 1859 |
| Status | historic shipwreck[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Steamship |
| Tonnage | 395 GRT |
| Length | 60 m (200 ft) |
| Beam | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Depth | 4.2 m (14 ft) |
| Installed power | twin 100 hp (75 kW) steam engines |
| Propulsion | Steamer screw |
| Sail plan | Three sails |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Capacity | 113 |
| Crew | 29 |
SS Admella was an Australian passenger steamship that was shipwrecked off the coast of the colony of South Australia in 1859. It broke up after striking a submerged reef near Cape Banks, off the coast near Carpenter Rocks, southwest of Mount Gambier, in the early hours on 6 August 1859. Survivors clung to the wreck for over a week and many people took days to die as they glimpsed the land from the sea and watched as one rescue attempt after another failed.
With the loss of 89 lives, mostly due to cold and exposure, it is one of the worst maritime disasters in Australian history. Admella disaster remains the greatest loss of life in the history of European settlement in South Australia. Of the 113 on board, 24 survived, including only one woman, Bridget Ledwith. Of the 89 dead, 14 were children. The 150th anniversary of the disaster was marked in August 2009 by events across the south east of South Australia and at Portland, Victoria.[2]
- ^ "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 NOTICE UNDER SUB-SECTION 5(1)". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. No. S148. Australia. 13 July 1983. p. 1. Retrieved 15 October 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "SS Admella – 150th Anniversary". Admella Commemoration Advisory Committee. Retrieved 18 April 2008.