HMAS Bungaree

Bungaree was the first of a series of cargo steamships that the Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company in Dundee on the Firth of Tay built between 1937 and 1939 for Australian shipping companies to use in the coastal trade between the different states and territories of Australia. The Adelaide SS Co ordered the first two ships in April 1936. Caledon built them as yard numbers 362 and 363, and launched them in 1937 as Bungaree and Beltana. Yard number 371 was launched in 1938 as Kooringa, a slightly enlarged version for McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co. Slightly larger again was yard number 370, which was launched in 1938 as for the Adelaide SS Co. In 1939 Caledon launched two more ships to the same dimensions as Barossa: yard number 374 as Bundaleer for the Adelaide SS Co, and yard number 380 as Barwon for Huddart Parker. Mrs MG Anderson, wife of the Chairman of the Directors of the Adelaide SS Co, launched Bungaree in Dundee on 9 February 1937. The ship was named after Bungaree, South Australia. She was completed that May. ==Description and registration==

Bungarees lengths were overall and registered. Her beam was ; her depth was ; and her draught was . Her tonnages were ; ; She had 15 derricks, One of her derricks could lift up to 25 tons; four could lift ten tons, and the other ten could lift five tons. Her boiler room; engine room; and single funnel were aft, between holds 4 and 5. s Bungaree had a single screw. John G Kincaid & Co of Greenock built her main engine, which was a three-cylinder triple-expansion engine. She also had a Bauer-Wach exhaust turbine, made by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Bungaree and her sister ships were coal-burners. Sir Howard Lloyd, one of the directors of the Adelaide SS Co, said that the company wanted to avoid being entirely dependent on oil for bunkering. Bungaree was registered in Melbourne. Her UK official number was 159564, and her wireless telegraph call sign was VLJX. ==Pre-war career==

On 9 May 1937 Bungaree left Dundee for Australia, with Captain VL Adie as her Master. She sailed via the Cape of Good Hope, and as she crossed the Indian Ocean she made wireless contact with Australia at a range of . She reached Sydney, New South Wales on 5 July. A police sergeant arrived at about 23:45 hrs, and found the body of a 45-year-old seaman lying on the deck of the crew's mess aft. An ambulance and doctor were called. About an hour later, about 40 seamen gathered at the wharf to protest that a number of her crew, who they said were not members of the Seamen's Union of Australia, should leave the ship. Officials denied them permission to enter the wharf, but about 20 of them forced their way in. Then protested alongside the ship for several minutes, and then withdrew outside the gates. "Special transport arrangements" were made for the non-union crew to leave the ship. ==Wartime career==

quarter view of HMAS Bungaree, showing her cruiser stern The Royal Australian Navy requisitioned Bungaree in October 1940. She was converted into a minelayer, and defensively armed with two 4-inch guns; one 12-pounder gun; four Oerlikon 20 mm cannon; and two machine guns. At first she had capacity for 423 mines, but later this was increased to 467. She was Commissioned as HMAS Bungaree on 9 June 1941. She was in Sydney Harbour during the Japanese midget submarine attack on 31 May 1942. As the Allies moved onto the offensive the need for defensive minefields lessened, Bungaree became a survey ship from January 1944, and a stores ship from August 1944. ==Atlas crew rescue==

On the night of 2 November 1945, the collier Atlas, en route in ballast from Hong Kong to Cairns, grounded on Bougainville Reef in the Coral Sea Islands. Her double bottom ruptured, spilling fuel oil into the sea, and water from her freshwater tanks into the interior of the ship. Bungaree received her wireless distress signal; reached Atlas early on 3 November; and rescued most of her company: 28 lascars; four naval gunners; one naval signaller; and two of her engineering officers. The Master; eight officers; the Chief Steward; and two lascars remained aboard Atlas, but her condition deteriorated in a heavy sea, so the corvette and Royal Navy destroyer rescued them. ==Engine failure==

In December 1945, the Burns, Philp & Co steamship Morinda grounded on a reef in the New Hebrides. She was refloated, but was unable to make a scheduled voyage taking supplies to Lord Howe Island; Norfolk Island; and Port Vila in the New Hebrides. Bungaree was sent in her stead, and left Sydney on Christmas Eve, 24 December. She was carrying mail; about 1,000 tons of food; and 150 drums of petrol as deck cargo. She was also carrying about 20 islanders from Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island, who were returning home after being demobilised from the Second Australian Imperial Force and the Royal Australian Air Force. However, she developed engine trouble, and off Chowder Bay she signalled that she was turning back. She left Sydney again at 02:00 hrs on Christmas Day, 25 December, but that afternoon, east of Sydney, she developed engine trouble a second time, and sent a distress signal. The corvette embarked specialist engineers; left port at 01:00 hrs on 26 December; and reached Bungaree about 07:00 hrs. A second corvette, , followed Gladstone out of Sydney to join in the rescue. Bungaree steamed slowly through the Heads at 10:00 hrs on 27 December, accompanied by the two corvettes, and went straight to Garden Island for repairs. The Navy decommissioned Bungaree on 7 August 1946, and returned her to her owners on 5 November 1947. Between 1945 and 1948 the Navy swept the mines she laid in Australian waters. ==Dampier==

In 1957 the Kowloon Navigation Company bought Bungaree from the Adelaide SS Co. Her 41 Australian crew took her from Sydney as far as Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, where they were to be discharged, and an Australian National Airways charter flight was to fly them back to Australia. A Hong Kong crew was due to reach Thursday island aboard the China Navigation Company motor ship Taiyuan on 13 June to take over Bungaree. Her new owners renamed the ship Dampier, after Dampier, Western Australia, and registered her in Hong Kong. Her call sign was ZEKG. ==Eastern Mariner==

In 1960 the Pan Norse Steamship Company, SA, acquired Dampier; renamed her Eastern Mariner; and Wallem & Co became her managers. She was registered in Panama, and her call sign was HPDD. In 1963 Mariner Ocean Transport SA became her owners, but Wallem & Co remained her managers. On 26 May 1966, Eastern Mariner struck a mine in the Saigon River about southeast of Saigon. She remained afloat, and was towed to Nhà Bè, but was then sunk by mortar damage. Japanese salvors refloated her; took possession of her; and renamed her Kitagawa Maru No. 15. In July 1968 she arrived in Hong Kong, where Kwan Ho scrapped her. ==References==