Historical information
Steel screw steamer launched 1889 at Newcastle on Tyne by Palmers & Co., built for Archibald Currie and Partners - the Currie Line of Melbourne. Gross tonnage: 2,792, Length: 99.06m (325'). Width: 12.3m (40.3'). Triple expansion steam engines producing 363 nhp. Avge speed 11 knots. Coal consumption 26 ½ tons per 24 hours. Steel hull, one funnel, two masts, barque rig.
• 1889: Argus launched. Worked in the Australia to India trade, passengers, goods and horses.
• 1891 July: While taking coal from Newcastle to Singapore, ran onto sunken rock in Gaspar
Strait (in Indonesia). Watertight bulkheads held, got to Singapore, was repaired for two
months, 60,000 Straits dollars (about £12,000).
• 1895 July: While taking 400 horses to Colombo, ran onto reef near Somerset, North
Queensland. holed, water in two compartments. 400 tons coal jettisoned, finally got off in
spring tides.
• 1901 Feb: During Boer War took Victorian contingent, 5th Mounted Rifles, fromMelbourne
to Durban and Cape Town, with 500 horses.
• 1901 Dec: Took horses for Boer War from Brisbane to Durban.
• 1903 31 July: Leaving Sydney for Calcutta with 86 horses, 20 passengers including the Sultan
of Johore, was rammed by the incoming steamer Mildura (on the wrong side of the channel).
Argus's side plating was cut from deck to below waterline, had to be beached on Goat Island
to prevent sinking. Refloated 2 August and repaired.
• 1905: Argus sold to the Japanese shipping company, Osaka Shosen Kaisha. Renamed Giran Maru.
• 1907 11 Sept: Wrecked in Soya Strait, between Hokkaido & Sakhalin Island.
Significance
Built for Archibald Currie & Partners, Melbourne. Carried passengers between Australia and India and between western and eastern Australia.
Physical description
Large ship builder's model in glass case
