SS Nemesis
Courtesy State Library of Victoria

While not based in or around the Illawarra, one ship deserves special mention – as the last coal ship to have been wrecked, and later found, off the Illawarra coast.  That ship was the SS Nemesis, an iron-hulled ship of some 1393 tons and 73.4m, powered by a compound steam engine and capable of some 12 knots.  It was built by Thomas Turnbull & Sons in Whitby in 1881, and served in several different roles for its owners.  Registered in Melbourne initially for the purpose of carrying coal from Newcastle to Melbourne, it later served carrying freight from Melbourne to Sydney, before being fitted out to carry passengers.  For the last decade of the 19th century it carried passengers from the east coast to the goldfields of Western Australia.  That role ending, it was retired back to the coal trade, and on its final voyage was taking a cargo of coal and coke from Newcastle to Melbourne, under a crew of 32, on the night of 8/9 July 1904.

SS Nemesis
Courtesy State Library of NSW

Like many – as described elsewhere here – it fell victim to weather off the Illawarra coast, in this case a southerly gale.  It appears to have been driven back north towards Sydney – distress rockets were seen in that area, and a number of bodies were found later on Cronulla Beach, on the southern outskirts of Sydney.  (No crew were ever recovered alive.)  Ultimately however it must have been driven south again, being located nearly 120 years later some 27 kilometres off Port Kembla (ironically a coal port itself) at a depth over 160 metres.  Its finding was not the result of any structured search, but rather the result of an observation in 2022 by a professional search crew using remote sensing to look for containers on the sea bed, washed overboard from a cargo ship.  It had long been the object of search by recreational divers.

Midships view of wreck on seafloor.
Drop camera image from SS Nemesis survey by RV Investigator,  CSIRO

While the preliminary identification indicated that it was the Nemesis, a final identification had to wait until the wreck could be adequately photographed for comparison with known images of the Nemesis.  This was to happen two years later in 2024 whenthe research vessel RV Investigator from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was available in the area, and undertook a remote survey of the wreck.  Subsequent detailed comparison with known images of the Nemesis by NSW maritime archaeologists indicated a high probability that the wreck was indeed the Nemesis.  The NSW government is now seeking descendants of the crew of the Nemesis, six of whom are buried in a cemetery in southern Sydney.

RV Investigator off Albany, WA
Image courtesy CSIRO