Yandra Yandra was a 990 ton coastal steamer built by Burmeister and Wain , Copenhagen in 1928 as " Yandra " for Coast Steamships Ltd , Adelaide . She was requisitioned by the Royal Australia Navy in June 1940 during the Second World War for conversion to a minesweeper and anti - submarine vessel and was commissioned on 22 September 1940 and named HMAS " Yandra " . She returned to civil service in 1946 . She ran aground during dense fog onto South Neptune Island on 25 January 1959 and was subsequently written off . Service in South Australia . The " Yandra " was built for Coast Steamships Ltd , a wholly owned subsidiary of the Adelaide Steamship Company , by Burmeister and Wain , Copenhagen . She arrived in Port Adelaide from London on Tuesday , 23 October 1928 and commenced service in early November 1928 . She was specifically designed for serving regional ports on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula - a locality commonly known as the ‘ west coast ’ in South Australia . Her relatively shallow draft allowed access to ports at destinations such as Elliston and Venus Bay . Military Service . " Yandra " was requisitioned from Coast Steamships Ltd . on 27 June 1940 . She was converted for anti - submarine warfare in Sydney and then commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy on 22 September 1940 . HMAS " Yandra " challenged a ship off Rottnest Island , Western Australia on 5 October 1941 during the night and was given a false name " Salland " , from Calcutta . The ship never appeared in port as expected and caused naval intelligence some concern that this vessel could have been the German auxiliary cruiser " Kormoran " , it was dismissed as a misreading of the morse code . HMAS " Yandra " picked up 72 German survivors of the " Kormoran " on 27 November 1941 , while searching for . Transferred to Sydney , HMAS " Yandra " was patrolling off the harbour boom gate on 31 May 1942 , when a Japanese midget submarine ( later identified as M - 27 ) got entangled in the boom net . She later sighted a midget submarine ( later identified as M - 21 ) in the Harbour . HMAS " Yandra " and HMAS Sea Mist dropped depth charges over the site , with HMAS " Yandra " ramming the midget submarine on the bows . Unfortunately , both HMAS " Yandra " and HMAS " Sea Mist " were disabled by their own depth charges . After being repaired , HMAS " Yandra " patrolled on both the Australian east and west coasts , and New Guinea . She was returned to her owner in 1946 and resumed service to ' west coast ' ports on 20 July 1946 . Fate . " Yandra " ran aground during dense fog on the northern island in the South Neptune Island group at the mouth of Spencer Gulf at about 10 pm on Saturday , 25 January 1959 about 400 metres ( 1300 ft ) from the lighthouse located on the nearby southern island . The decision to abandon ship was advised by radio at 11 . 10pm . The crew abandoned the ship using a breeches buoy and all 23 crew had safely evacuated to the northern island by 11 . 45 pm where they spent the night in the open . At dawn , the fog started to clear and the grounded ship was sighted by the lighthouse keepers who had been unaware of the grounding due to difficulties with radio transmission . The yacht " Iline " , a competitor in the annual Neptune Island yacht race conducted by the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron , answered a radio call at 3 . 30 am and proceeded to the wreck site where it assisted in ferrying to the crew to the lighthouse complex on the southern island . The tug " Tusker " was dispatched from Port Adelaide on 26 January 1959 to assess the damage . It is decided that " Yandra " could not be recovered and " Tusker " returned to Port Adelaide with the rescued crew . The wreck is officially located at . Further information . The online collection of the State Library of South Australia includes images of the ship during its grounding such as the following :