Ships of CSR
CSR’s cargo fleet operated longer than any other Australian carrier, from 1873 until 1972. The company created this fleet to ensure the supply of coal to its northern New South Wales sugar mills when the regular commercial service was withdrawn, and to ensure the flow of materials between its distant plants.
CSR’s large vessels
SS Keera (the first screw-driven vessel in Australia), built in 1851, 102 feet long, 229 tons deadweight, and bought in an emergency by CSR in 1877. Described by sailors as “an old brute”, she lasted only two years before she had to be withdrawn, and hulked on the Clarence River
SS Fiona (1) was built for CSR in 1874, for £24,300; 200 feet long, 728 tons deadweight. She was lost in 1882 at Seal Rocks.
SS Terranora was built in 1878, 142 feet long, 350 tons deadweight, and sold in 1890 as she used too much coal, and was costly to run.
SS New Fiona, SS Fiona (2), was built in 1883, 211 feet long, 817 tons deadweight; sold in 1908. Her most memorable adventure was 65 km out from Sydney when it struck a sunfish. It jammed in the framework of the port propeller stopping that engine. Fiona continued to Sydney on the other engine where the fish weighed 4302 lb and measured 10 feet, 2 inches in length and 13 feet, 4 inches in height (sunfish swim in an upright position).
SS Fiona (3) was built for CSR in 1908, 360 feet long, 4471 tons deadweight, and sold in 1933.
SS Rona (1) was built in 1918, was the largest cargo ship in Australia 400 feet long, 6205 tons deadweight, requisitioned by the Royal Navy
SS Fiona (4) was built in 1933, 285 feet, deadweight 2269 tons, and sold in 1958.
SS Tambua (Fijian for “whale tooth”) was built in 1938, 364 feet long, deadweight 3566 tons, and was requisitioned by the Navy during World War 2. She was sold in 1969.
SS Rona (2) was built in 1957, 365 feet long, 4469 tons deadweight; has also served as a weather ship reporting for the Bureau of Meteorology. She was the last vessel sold, in 1972, ending 99 years of continuous direct CSR ship ownership.
Tugs & smaller vessels
Wollumbin, Iluka, Darkwater, May Queen, Kyogle - Paddle-wheel tug boats equipped with river power - to haul cane barges, raw sugar and supplies.
Darkwater had too great an appetite for coal, so was pulled on to the mud flat opposite the mill about 1894.
Iluka worked on the Clarence; In World War II she was bought by the US Army and went to New Guinea.
Wollumbin a paddle-wheel tug boat used for towing cane punts at Condong Mill in the 1880s. The hull was sold, and used on the Richmond River for collecting pigs.
Kyogle towed punts until about 1907. Finally she was put to rest on the shallow water in Emigrant Creek.
Cakobau and Rarawai were succeeded by Rani and numerous towing launches at Nausori and Lambasa (Fiji). They were all propeller-driven craft powered by steam or internal combustion engines.
Captain T. Fenwick was built in 1901 as a passenger and cargo vessel, intended for a river service between Ballina and Lismore. She was converted into a tug in 1927 when CSR acquired her to service the Broadwater Sugar Mill on the Richmond River, converted to diesel in the early 1960’s, and abandoned on the Hawkesbury in the 1980s.
MV Moa was built in 1937, 145 feet long, 554 tons deadweight. Purchased by CSR in 1941 for use on the northern rivers and Queensland, sold to the US Army 1942.
Bulk carriers and tanker
MV Silverhawk – built 1969; ethanol and molasses tanker
MV Ormiston – built 1979; bulk sugar and gypsum carrier
MV Kowulka - built 1984; bulk sugar and gypsum carrier
MV Pioneer- built 1984; bulk, refined sugar carrier, bulk in, bulk/bag out
Related Items
Further Reading
