Risky Business

SS Karrakatta, Franklin, and Rodondo are other coastal steamships that sank while working in West Australia. Their stories further highlight the hazards of navigating our coastal waters.  

SS Karrakatta 

Tonnage: 2,091 GT  
Owner: Western Australian Steam Navigation Company  
Built: 1897 
Wrecked: 1901, Swan Point, King Sound 

SS Karrakatta was a luxurious steamship built to transport passengers, livestock, wool, pearlshell, and timber between Fremantle, Northwest ports, and Singapore. On a voyage to Singapore, its captain accidentally ran the ship aground on Swan Point and it was unable to be refloated. Fortunately, no lives were lost. 

SS Karrakatta at Broome, 1900. State Library of Western Australia, BA338/1/64 

SS Franklin 

Tonnage: 730 GT Owner: 
Adelaide Steamship Company 
Built: 1880 
Wrecked: 1902, Point Malcolm 

SS Franklin was the first steamer to establish a permanent route between eastern and Western Australia. While stopping at Point Malcolm on a voyage from Adelaide to Fremantle, it struck a submerged object and sank. Fortunately, no lives were lost and the ship's boiler was salvaged – a substantial engineering achievement in such a remote location.

SS Franklin. Richard McKenna collection, WA Museum, MHK D3/0827 

SS Rodondo 

Tonnage: 1,119 GT 
Owner: Howard Smith and Sons, Melbourne 
Built: 1878 
Wrecked: 1894, Pollock Reef, Archipelago of the Recherche 

On its first voyage to Western Australia, the coastal steamship Rodondo struck Pollock Reef and sank. Rodondo was carrying 36 crew, 164 passengers, general cargo and a 6.5 tonne winding and pumping engine for a gold mine. Four male passengers died during the sinking. The wreck garnered national attention and a Court of Marine Inquiry found the captain responsible for the loss.