| Type
: |
Wooden
steamship |
| Launched
: |
September
1883 |
| Builder
: |
W M
Dunn Berry's Bay, NSW |
| Gross
weight : |
50
tons |
| Dimensions
: |
90
x 18 x 7.5 (feet) |
| Passenger
capacity : |
unknown |
| Speed
: |
unknown |
A screw steamer built in Sydney for John Fenwick and named after his wife.In September 1884 she was sent to Brisbane where she operated on the river and bay in various rioles including as an excursion boat.
By 1886 she was back in Sydney and was paired with Wallaby on the north shore routes. This did not seem to last long as later in that year she was also operating between Sydney and Brisbane Water carrying passengers.She seems to have remained on this route for some time and advertisments show that she also ran excursion trips and was in attendance at several regattas at the time. In 1889 she could also be found operating exursion trips on the Hawkesbury River as far as Wisemans Ferry.
In 1890 she was purcharsed by the Carpenter Brothers for use on the Gippsland Lakes departing Sydney on the 12th of August 1890. She can again be found mainly running excursion trips in the area and on more than one occassion participated in rescue missions of saling boats that had run aground in the area.
By 1892 she was being regularly chartered for fishing trips to Flinders Island and by 1895 was being advertisedc solely as a fishing steamer. At this time she was also operating out of Launceston. By 1897 she was reduced to being little more than a fishing trawler.
However, by the early 1900's she was again running as an excursion boat - this time on Port Philip Bay as one of the fleet of "bay steamers". She was by 1916 regarded as two small for this role and a replacement was ordered. Her last excursion trip was run on the 27th November 1916 after which Reliance replaced her.
Laid up for two years, shec was again sold back to Sydney arriving there on the 7th of October 1918. She was pressed into serrvice as a coastal trader and operated between Sydney and port Kembla, the Hawkesbury River, Shell Harbour, Broken Bay, Gosford and Port Stephens.
On May 3rd 1920 while berthed at Page's Wharf, Portland Beach (on the Hawkesbury) a fire broke out on board. a little after 10pm. Within 15 minutes the boat had burnt out and sunk at the wharf, fortunately no crew were lost.