MV Nimbin
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| History | |
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| Name: | Nimbin |
| Owner: | North Coast Steam Navigation Company |
| Port of registry: | Sydney, Australia |
| Route: | North Coast Butter Run |
| Builder: | Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Maiden voyage: | 21 June 1927, from Copenhagen to Sydney in 65 days |
| In service: | 14 September 1927 |
| Out of service: | 5 December 1940 |
| Identification: | Official Number: 155313 |
| Fate: | Sunk by German naval mine |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Steel Motor Vessel |
| Tonnage: | 1,052 GRT 516 NRT |
| Length: | 65.53 m (215 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 10.66 m (35 ft 0 in) |
| Draught: | 3.352 m (11 ft 0 in) |
| Installed power: | Burmeister & Wain diesel engine 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) |
| Propulsion: | Single Screw |
| Speed: | 12.1 knots (22.4 km/h; 13.9 mph) |
| Capacity: | 60,900 cubic feet, and fitted for refrigerated cargo |
| Crew: | 20 |
The Nimbin was a steel screw steamer built in 1927 at Copenhagen, that was the first motor vessel placed into the New South Wales coastal trade it was owned and operated by the North Coast Steam Navigation Company and was the first Australian registered merchant ship to be lost during World War II when it struck a mine laid by the German auxiliary cruiser Pinguin. The Nimbin was on its way from Coffs Harbour to its home port, Sydney, with a cargo of bundled three-ply timber and a large number of pigs. One third of the ship was blown away and it sank in three minutes. Seven men were killed. The remaining thirteen clung to bundles of plywood. Some hours later an air force plane from RAAF Base Rathmines saw the survivors and directed the coastal ship SS Bonalbo to the scene to pick up the survivors.
The Nimbin was the first motor ship to be employed on the New South Wales coast, and run between Sydney and the northern rivers. The vessel was built on the slips at the yards of the builders, Burmeister and Wain in Copenhagen and completed in late June 1927 Upon arrival in Sydney the vessel was described as
The Nimbin is a vessel of 1,052 GRT with a length of 215 ft 0 in (65.53 m), a width of 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m), and a depth of 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m). She has a total cargo space of 60,900 cubic feet, and is fitted for the carrying of refrigerated cargo. She ¡s a single-screw vessel, propelled by a Burmeister and Wain 6-cylinder 4-cycle Diesel marine engine, with two auxiliary engines for maintaining the electric light and refrigerating services, and for working the winches and other gear. At her speed trials she developed 12.1 knots. A feature of the vessel is the accommodation for the crew, who have, for Instance, a bathroom fitted with hot and cold showers, in fresh and salt water. The three lifeboats are fitted with patent disengaging gear, which it is claimed, can be set afloat by unskilled hands in the space of half a minute.
The Nimbin left Copenhagen, her launching port under the command of Captain R.M. Beedie on June 21 with a cargo of 305,000 superficial feet of Baltic pine from Hargshamn, Sweden and completed the journey to Sydney on the 27 of August in 65 days. During the delivery voyage the vessel ran into a gale in the Red Sea (the so-called “calm belt”) which continued unabated for four days. Upon passing out of the Red Sea, the vessel then encountered the full force of the monsoonal winds, which persisted until it reached Colombo. Then from Colombo to Cape Leeuwin the ship was, in the words of her officers, "under water the whole way," and lost a quantity of her deck cargo of timber. Through it all the Nimbin did not once develop engine-trouble.
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Wikipedia