News


Fremantle Pilots sign new deal with Fremantle Ports

4 mins read
FREMANTLE Ports has extended its pilotage services agreement with Fremantle Pilots. The port has issued a statement saying it valued its long-standing and operational partnership,...
Fremantle Pilots sign new deal with Fremantle Ports

MARITIME HISTORY: Pillaging curse still rife

5 mins read
The following articles on pilfering appeared in the Daily Commercial News in July 1924 after a Brisbane judge sentenced two men for stealing goods in transit and buying goods...
MARITIME HISTORY: Pillaging curse still rife

MARITIME HISTORY: A tale of two vessels

3 mins read
Australian newspapers in June 1924 wrote of a steamer and hulk bound for New Caledonia. The vessels eventually limped back to Sydney after an unexpected towing adventure A TUGBOAT...
MARITIME HISTORY: A tale of two vessels

MARITIME HISTORY: City of Singapore burns

5 mins read
An explosion on board the vessel City of Singapore in April 1924 claimed the lives of three Adelaide firemen ONE evening in April 1924 the ship City of Singapore caught fire at...
MARITIME HISTORY: City of Singapore burns

MARITIME HISTORY: Dismastings and other disasters

3 mins read
Shipping mishaps filled the pages of the DCN one hundred years ago, including one story that involved a mysterious message from a missing vessel IN MARCH 1924 the Daily Commercial...
MARITIME HISTORY: Dismastings and other disasters

MARITIME HISTORY: Safety and seaworthiness

2 mins read
January 1924 saw a decision in the US courts that employment of abusive officers could render a vessel “unseaworthy” SEAWORTHINESS – USA DECISION It has been held in England that...
MARITIME HISTORY: Safety and seaworthiness

MARITIME HISTORY: The search for Montevideo Maru

4 mins read
On World Maritime Day 2023 a member of the expedition team which discovered the wreck of Montevideo Maru reflected on the worst maritime disaster in Australian history THE...
MARITIME HISTORY: The search for Montevideo Maru

MARITIME HISTORY: Steam Tug Forceful

4 mins read
The last of the oceangoing steam-powered tugs in Australia has been scrapped, a great loss, Mark Walker writes IMAGINE, if you will, a furious ocean, cyclonic winds, mountainous...
MARITIME HISTORY: Steam Tug Forceful

MARITIME HISTORY: The death of Sir James Burns

3 mins read
Sir James Burns was an important figure in Australian shipping in the early part of the 20th century. He died 100 years ago in August 1923 WITH the death of Sir James Burns 100...
MARITIME HISTORY: The death of Sir James Burns

MARITIME HISTORY: The Sumatra disaster

8 mins read
Two bodies washed up on a New South Wales beach in July 1923, confirming the loss of a missing steamer and its complement AN ISLAND steamer vanished off the coast of New South...
MARITIME HISTORY: The Sumatra disaster

MARITIME HISTORY: The biggest ship fuel conversion

3 mins read
In June 1923, Daily Commercial News carried a story about the largest ship in the world, the Leviathan, being converted from a coal-burner to an oil-burner IN OUR age, heavy fuel...
MARITIME HISTORY: The biggest ship fuel conversion

MARITIME HISTORY: The ill-fated voyage of the barque Amy Turner

6 mins read
The barquentine Amy Turner sank in a typhoon in 1923, taking an Australian crew down with it. Survivors spent the next three weeks in a lifeboat, searching for land A MESSAGE...
MARITIME HISTORY: The ill-fated voyage of the barque Amy Turner

MARITIME HISTORY: barque Garthsnaid

3 mins read
Excerpts of DCN’s reporting on the barque Garthsnaid being damaged in severe weather off the coast of Southern Victoria in April 1923 BY THE irony of fate the end of the long...
MARITIME HISTORY: barque Garthsnaid

MARITIME HISTORY: The wreck of the Mindini

4 mins read
The Australian steamer Mindini ran aground a century ago, followed by a multi-ship effort to bring the passengers and crew home THE Daily Commercial News reported the wreckage of...
MARITIME HISTORY: The wreck of the Mindini

MARITIME HISTORY: Newcastle - Australia’s steel city

3 mins read
An article published a century ago in the DCN forecasted Newcastle’s enduring importance as an industrial centre in Australia THE BHP Newcastle steelworks opened in 1915,...
MARITIME HISTORY: Newcastle - Australia’s steel city