Yandra
Yandra was a 990-ton coastal steamer built by Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen in 1928 for Coast Steamships Ltd for service in the Australian state of South Australia. 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 as HMAS "Yandra". She returned to civilian 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. The "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 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 11.10 pm. 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 was decided that "Yandra" could not be recovered and "Tusker" returned  to Port Adelaide with the rescued crew. The wreck is officially located at . Her Ships Bell is on display at Gepps Cross Paramount Browns, South Australia. Further information. The online collection of the State Library of South Australia includes images of the ship during its grounding such as the following: