The Australian Titanic that went missing for almost 50 years featuring Carlo Ritchie

On March 23rd, 1911, the luxury passenger ship, the SS Yongala started its 99th voyage from Mackay to Cairns. But much like Betty White and Prince Phillip before her, the SS Yongala didn’t live to see its 100th voyage. Not long after setting sail from Mackay, a tropical storm warning forced all ships to return to port. All ships heeded the message...except the SS Yongala, which never arrived in Cairns and was assumed to have sunk. It would take 47 years before a recreational diver named Bill would find the shipwreck, almost perfectly preserved off the coast of Ayr, Queensland. The ship didn’t make headlines again until 2003 when an American couple took a honeymoon diving trip to the Yongala and only one of them survived.

Skip straight to the story: approx 17:25

Jacob shares the story with Carlo Ritchie

Check out Carlo's podcast 'Did Titanic Sink' https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/did-titanic-sink/id1640615093

We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there's this: 

Check out the Townsville Maritime Museum’s page https://www.tmml.org.au/yongala-artefacts/ 

The ship’s Wikipedia page has a solid list of links to articles from the time ship sank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Yongala 

Relive the story, but with pictures of the wreck today https://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-special-features/article/ship-storm-racehorse-moonshine-yongala-wreck-queensland-australia/ 

https://www.scubadiving.com/history-australia-yongala-shipwreck#page-5 

Watch some pretty footage from a diver’s perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNch9dTAoQI 

Start here to learn more about the Tina Watson tragedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Tina_Watson  

Listen to Rosie's episode about the Titanic: https://link.chtbl.com/47kg7Wi4 

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