Koolinda

MV Koolinda, c.1940
Career (Australia)
Name: Koolinda
Operator: State Shipping Service of Western Australia
Builder: Harland & Wolff, Govan
Yard number: 728
Launched: 26 August 1926
Fate: Arrived Hong Kong for scrapping, 5 December 1959
General characteristics [1]
Tonnage:4,372 GRT
2,070 DWT
Length:344 ft (105 m)
Beam:50 ft (15 m)
Draught:28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Propulsion:2 × 2,550 hp (1,902 kW) H&W 8-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines

MV Koolinda was an Australian general cargo and passenger ship which operated as a coastal steamer off Western Australia from 1930 to 1959.

General description

Koolinda was built in 1926 by Harland and Wolff of Glasgow, Scotland for the State Shipping Service, and was registered at Fremantle.[1] Her official displacement was 4,372 gross register tons (12,380 m3), she was 344 feet long, with a beam of 50 feet, and had diesel engines driving two propellers.

Koolinda was used mostly for passenger and general freight transport on coastal routes in Western Australian waters.

In May 1932, Koolinda famously narrowly missed seeing two German aviators lost on the Kimberley coastline.[2] The men were eventually found close to death.

In the aftermath of the battle between HMAS Sydney and German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran in November 1941, the Koolinda recovered German sailors from a 31-man lifeboat and returned them to Carnarvon.

Koolinda is sometimes confused with another State Ships vessel of a similar design, Koolama.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "M/V KOOLINDA". Clydebuilt Ships Database. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. "Atlantis Seaplane". George Negus Tonight (transcript). Retrieved 15 August 2012.