EXCELSIOR

Australian

The screw steamer Excelsior was built in 1897 by Gourlay Brothers of Dundee, Scotland. The steel hulled vessel measured 131.0 feet (39.9 m) in length, 24.0 feet (7.3 m) breadth, 10.8 feet (3.3 m) depth and was 310 gross tons. The Excelsior was originally registered in Sydney (1897) and employed on the north coast of New South Wales before its purchase by the Tahiti firm, L Ballands, with its register transferred to Papeete. In 1904 the vessel was again registered in Sydney, and in 1908 was owned by South Australian flour millers, John Darling and Sons. By 1912 the Excelsior was owned by the South Australian Farmers Union Cooperative (registered in Adelaide) and remained under their ownership until 1933 when it was sold to the South Australian Harbors Board. The Excelsior today steamer was converted to a coal hulk, lightering coal to the steam powered dredges working in Port Adelaide. As diesel-powered dredges took over from the coal-fuelled ones, the Excelsior was laid up, eventually being abandoned at Mutton Cove, on the northern end of the Lefevre Peninsula, in 1945. Today the remains lie embedded in mud, east of Outer Harbor. The rusting hull shows little sign of salvage. The bow is intact but sections of the stern have collapsed.

Flotilla Australia (John Hoskings) http://www.flotilla-australia.com/

Photo Credits: The Late Allan Green Collection Vic. Australia