View source for Engineering:Kyarra

{{short description|Cargo and passenger luxury liner torpedoed and sunk near Swanage }}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2011}}
 
{|{{Infobox ship begin |display title=ital}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=StateLibQld 1 148655 Kyarra (ship).jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=Australia 
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Australia|merchant}}
|Ship name= ''Kyarra''
|Ship owner = Australian United Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.
|Ship registry = Fremantle, Western Australia
|Ship builder = William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton
|Ship launched = 2 February 1903
|Ship fate = Sunk on 26 May 1918
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship class= 
| Ship type=
*{{NRT|4,383}}<ref name="SSK">{{cite web |url=http://www.sskyarra.com/ |title=SS Kyarra |work=sskyarra.com |year=2009 |access-date=4 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306085458/http://www.sskyarra.com/ |archive-date=6 March 2012}}</ref>
| Ship displacement=  
| Ship length= {{Convert|415|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="SSK"/>
| Ship beam= {{Convert|52|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="SSK"/>
| Ship height=
| Ship draught= {{Convert|31|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="SSK"/>
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| Ship hold depth=
| Ship decks=
| Ship deck clearance=
| Ship power=
| Ship propulsion=2 × {{Convert|375|hp|0|abbr=on}} triple expansion engines<ref name="SSK"/>
| Ship speed= {{Convert|15.4|kn|lk=in}}<ref name="SSK"/>
| Ship range= 
| Ship endurance=
| Ship boats=
| Ship capacity=*2,600 tons general cargo<ref name="SBC">{{cite web |url=http://www.kyarra.com/Wreck%20tours/kyarra.htm |title=The S.S. Kyarra |work=Swanage Boat Charters |year=2011 |access-date=4 September 2012 |archive-date=6 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306085458/http://www.kyarra.com/Wreck%20tours/kyarra.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*286 passengers (126 first class & 160 second class)<ref name="SSK"/>
| Ship troops=
| Ship complement=
| Ship armament= {{Convert|4.7|in|mm|abbr=on}} gun<ref name="SBC"/>
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}}
|}
The '''''Kyarra''''' was a 6,953-ton (7,065 t) steel cargo and passenger luxury liner, built in Scotland in 1903 for the Australian United Steam Navigation Company.

==Construction and launch==
The ''Kyarra'' was built at Dumbarton by William Denny and Brothers, and [[Engineering:Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 2 February 1903 on the River Clyde, Scotland. Her name was taken from the aboriginal word for a small fillet of [[Biology:Phalangeriformes|possum]] fur.

==Career==
For ten years ''Kyarra'' sailed between Fremantle, Western Australia, where she was registered, and [[Place:Sydney|Sydney, New South Wales]] carrying cargo and passengers. She sailed under the flag of the United Steam Navigation Company Limited of London.

On 6 November 1914 she was requisitioned in Brisbane and converted into a [[Engineering:Hospital ship|hospital ship]] (HMAT A.55 ''Kyarra'') for the purpose of transporting the Australian medical units to Egypt. The hull was painted white with a large red cross on the side. She carried the full staff and equipment of the Nos. 1 and 2 General Hospitals, the Nos. 1 and 2 Stationary Hospitals, and the No. 1 Clearing Hospital.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15552598 |title=HOSPITAL SHIP KYARRA. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=23,988 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 November 1914 |access-date=24 April 2018 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19998178 |title=The Red Cross. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |issue=17,742 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=25 November 1914 |access-date=24 April 2018 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In March 1915, ''Kyarra'' was converted into a [[Engineering:Troopship|troop transport]]. Commonwealth control ended 4 January 1918.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://alh-research.tripod.com/ships_lh.htm |title=His Majesty's Australian Transports |work=Australian Light Horse Studies Centre |year=2012 |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref>

==Wireless telegraphy==
In October 1911, the then wireless operator, Sidney Jeffryes achieved brief fame for the ship which was reported in the ''Sydney Sun'': "Record by the Kyarra. Mr. S. H. Jeffryes, wireless operator on the A.U.S.N. Co.'s Kyarra, which was fitted up by the Australasian Wireless Co., Ltd., has put up a record for overland wireless messages between ships. His report says:— "Coming into Adelaide on the 18th Instant, distant from Adelaide {{Convert|140|mi|km|abbr=}}, I picked up the Cooma. This exceeds the records of that of the Cooma and Riverlna four months ago from Townsville to the Bight by a small margin of about {{Convert|40|mi|km|abbr=}}. The conditions were absolutely normal on the night, a fact which could hardly be said of the occasion four months ago, which was a night on which every operator got good distances, myself and the Levuka getting {{Convert|2100|mi|km|abbr=}}. It is claimed by the Cooma and Riverina that the distance was {{Convert|2300|mi|km|abbr=}}. This is not so, as direct it is not more than {{Convert|1500|mi|km|abbr=}}, but even this is equivalent to almost twice as much by sea. I thus claim to have established an Australasian record for transmission and reception over land, beating the previous one by {{Convert|40|mi|km|abbr=}}."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221530525 |title=Record by the Kyarra. |newspaper=The Sun |issue=411 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 October 1911 |access-date=14 April 2018 |page=10 (Latest Edition) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Jeffryes was later appointed wireless operator for the Australian Antarctic Expedition.

==Sinking==
On 5 May 1918, ''Kyarra'' was sailing from Tilbury to Devonport to embark civilian passengers and take on full general cargo. However she was sunk by the German submarine {{SMU|UB-57||2}} near Swanage with the loss of six lives on 26 May 1918.

The captain of ''UB-57'', Oberleutnant Johannes Lohs, died at sea, aged 29. Lohs sailed from Zeebrugge on 3 August 1918. The last contact he made with base was on the evening of 14 August 1918. At the time ''UB-57'' was homeward bound. She was believed to be in the area of the Sandiette Bank, east of the Straits of Dover. It is thought ''UB-57'' hit a mine. Lohs' body subsequently washed ashore was buried in the Ysselsteyn German war cemetery, Netherlands.

SS ''Kyarra'' was discovered in the late 1960s by a member of the Kingston and Elmbridge British Sub-Aqua Club, which later bought the wreck. The wreck, which lies {{convert|1|mi|spell=in}} off Anvil Point, remains popular with divers.<ref name="SBC"/>

In honour of this vessel, a house was named in Ipswich, Queensland, built in 1920.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.ukdiving.co.uk/wrecks/wreck.php?id=221 UK Diving: WRECKS: Kyarra]

{{coord|50|34|54|N|1|56|34|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title|name=Wreck of Kyarra}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyarra}}
[[Category:Steamships]]

{{Sourceattribution|Kyarra}}