Balgowlah, Manly Ferry

Balgowlah, Manly Ferry

Balgowlah was one of six near-identical ferries constructed for the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company (the so-called 'B Class') - the other ferries were Barrenjoey (later to be rebuilt as the North Head, Baragoola, Burra Bra (later to known as the HMAS Barra Brui), Bellubera (Pretty Lady) & the Binngarra. Of this class, only Baragoola remains on the harbour, tied up at Balls Head. North Head is in Cairns.

Identical ship to the Bellubera, last coal burner in the fleet. When built, she cost 29,000 pounds. She was named after the northern Sydney town of Balgowlah.

She was capable of carrying 1,528 passengers (highest capacity of this class) and made over 110,000 return trips to Manly during her career. She was the fastest of this class of vessel, making the normally 30 minute run in only 25 minutes.

This class of ship came to epitomise the classic Manly ferry and they were among the largest ships built in Australia at this time.

History

Unlike some of her sister ships, she had a relatively uneventful life - shortly after going into service in 1912, she tangled with the collier "Five Islands" & caught herself in that ship's anchor chain. Fortunately, no damage was done. In 1927, she collided with the Sydney Ferries vessel "Kanimbla" at Bennelong Point. Balgowlah came off with very minor damage, Kanimbla on the other hand had a huge gash torn in her side & came close to sinking. In 1929, she collided with the collier "Birchrove Park", only minimal damage was done to both ships.

She scraped into the Sydney Ferries vessel Kangaroo in 1913 (ironically, Kangaroo would rescue Kanimbla's passengers in 1927). Also in 1927, she collided with the Union Steamship Company's "Manuka", losing around 10 ft of her sponson. The only other noteworthy event was in 1939 when she overshot the wharf at Circular Quay and went aground in soft mud. Although she ripped through the buffer stop, no damage was done to her. It took two tugs to pull her free.

During the 1930's, the top deck of the Balgowlah was glassed in & the wheelhouse extended for crew accommodation. In 1946 it was decided that Balgowlah & Barrenjoey would be converted to diesel. Barrenjoey was first & re-emerged in 1951 as "North Head". However, Balgowlah was never converted, the cost of converting North Head left the company in grave financial circumstances & they could not afford the cost of reconditioning her hull. She made her last trip at 8:05 am to Manly on 27 February 1951 and was then laid up until 1953 prior to be sold to a shipbreaker.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Balgowlah, New South Wales — Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb name = Balgowlah city = Sydney state = NSW caption = lga = Manly Council postcode = 2093 est = 1832 pop = area = propval = stategov = Manly fedgov = Warringah near nw = North Balgowlah near n = Manly Vale… …   Wikipedia

  • Manly, New South Wales — Manly Sydney, New South Wales The northern end of Manly Beach, as viewed from Queenscliff …   Wikipedia

  • Balgowlah Heights, New South Wales — Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb name = Balgowlah Heights city = Sydney state = NSW caption = lga = Manly Council postcode = 2093 est = 1832 pop = area = propval = stategov = fedgov = Division of Warringah near nw = Balgowlah near n =… …   Wikipedia

  • Manly — 33° 47′ 46″ S 151° 16′ 58″ E / 33.79622, 151.28276 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company — The once famous Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company was a publicly listed company that operated the iconic Manly ferries in Sydney Australia in the late 19th and 20th Centuries. The Company was eventually taken over and has since been… …   Wikipedia

  • Bus routes in Sydney — Bus routes in Sydney, Australia are numbered with three digits, the first digit referring to the region in which the bus route primarily operates.Northern BeachesBus services between the Northern Beaches region of Sydney and the central business… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Sydney suburbs — This is a complete listing of the suburbs and localities in the greater Sydney area in alphabetical order.Sydney has about 38 local government areas, each consisting of several suburbs (suburbs in Australia are purely geographical, not political …   Wikipedia

  • APEC Sydney Metropolitan Public Holiday 2007 — In 2006 it was announced that the Sydney Metropolitan Area will have a public holiday during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apec#APEC annual meetings|Sydney APEC Summit] in 2007. In February 2007 it was confirmed that this was to occur. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Curl Curl, New South Wales — For the ferry Curl Curl, see Dee Why ferry. Curl Curl Sydney, New South Wales Curl Curl Beach viewed from the north …   Wikipedia

  • Dee Why, New South Wales — For the ferry, see Dee Why ferry. Dee Why Sydney, New South Wales Dee Why Beach …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”