SS Bee
Open-knowledge reference entry
SS Bee was an Australian wooden steamship built in 1884 and wrecked in 1901. She earned historical notability as the first of Robert Hayles' ferry fleet. Hayles' Magnetic Island ferry service, eventually operated under the business name Hayles Magnetic Island Pty. Ltd., served Magnetic Island for over 80 years and eventually came to operate a number of passenger and cargo services through ports around northern Australia.
History
Bee was built in 1884 in Newcastle, New South Wales, by Scott Bros, for the Watson Ferry Service, who operated her on their Manly-to-Sydney ferry service from 1884.
Robert Hayles Snr., the owner of a resort on Picnic Bay, Magnetic Island, purchased Bee in 1899 to transport holiday makers between Townsville and Picnic Bay. The vessel sank in October 1900 but was refloated and continued service for Hayles.
On 17 March 1901, Bee cast off from Picnic Bay Jetty in heavy seas. As she attempted to depart, her chain steerage gear became jammed. Unable to maneuver properly, she was taken broadside by the waves and washed up on the nearby beach at Picnic Bay.
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This entry incorporates text from “SS Bee” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.