SS Australasian (1884)

SS Australasian
History
United Kingdom
NameSS Australasian
OwnerGeorge Thompson & Company
Port of registryAberdeen
BuilderRobert Napier & Sons, Govan
Yard number391
Launched10 April 1884
IdentificationOfficial No: 88859
FateSold in 1906
Turkey
NameSS Scham
Renamed1907
FateScrapped, 1955
General characteristics
Tonnage
  • 3662 grt
  • 2343 nrt
Length361.6 feet (110.2 m)
Beam44.2 feet (13.5 m)
Depth21.3 feet (6.5 m)

SS Australasian, was built in 1884 by Robert Napier & Co of Govan, Glasgow for George Thompson & Son (Aberdeen Line).[1] She weighed 4,000 long tons (4,100 t).[2]

Australasian took part of the New South Wales Contingent to serve in Sudan with British forces as part of the Suakin Expedition, arriving at the Red Sea port of Suakin on 29 March 1885. In 1906 the Ottoman Government bought her and renamed her Scham. She was torpedoed by HMS E11 on 6 August 1915 in the Sea of Marmara. She was beached near Constantinople to prevent from sinking. Salvaged in 1918 she was reduced to a coal hulk. She was scrapped at Savona, Italy in 1955.[1]

Departure of troopships 'Australian' and 'Iberia' from Sydney for the Soudan in 1885
Australasian Off South Sydney Heads
  1. ^ a b ANMM 2013.
  2. ^ Froude 2010, p. 19.