SS Admella
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SS Admella was an Australian passenger steamship that was shipwrecked on a submerged reef off the coast of Carpenter Rocks, south west of Mount Gambier South Australia, in the early hours of 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.
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SS Admella in a heavy sea | |
History | |
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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 off 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 |
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]