Thanks for posting this old beauty.

Yes, amazing speed for an old timer.

Yes, many thanks for all these classic beauties, especially after just vueing the [new] queen eliz!mrdot.

Thanks for posting this great photo. There's something about seeing a ship underway with speed to bring out her good looks. Thanks again. Alex

More Info:

Loongana
Loongana
Of 2448 tons, Built 1904 by William Denny and Brothers Dumbarton. Was 300 feet long and 43 feet wide. The first turbine steamer to operate in the Southern Hemisphere. Scrapped in Japan 1936.
In December 1921, Huddart Parker and the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, formed a new company, 'Tasmanian Steamers Proprietary Limited', to run a joint service between Melbourne and Tasmanian ports. Loongana and Oonah were provided by the Union Company, and the new Nairana by Huddard Parker. The early 1900s had heralded a new era in fast and comfortable sea travel, The Union Steamship Company's Bass Strait ferry Loongana (1903), was the first turbine steamer to operate in the Southern Hemisphere, and could operate at a speed of 20 knots. She maintained an average speed of 22 knots when racing across the Strait in 1912 with Melbourne fire-fighters hoping to assist in a disaster at the Mount Lyell Copper Mine on the State's West Coast. The ship was sold to Japanese shipbreakers in 1935.