The 6,953 tons
steel cargo and passenger luxury liner Kyarra was a beautiful twin-masted
schooner-rigged steamer built on the River Clyde, Scotland in 1903 for the
Australian United Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. After ten years carrying
cargo and passengers around Australia, she was requisitioned by the British
government in October 1914, painted white with large red crosses and fitted out
as a hospital ship.Later in the War in 1918, after an eventful career which included service at Gallipoli, she arrived in London and was loaded with a general cargo to be shipped back to Australia along with a large number of war-wounded being repatriated. On 24 May 1918, she sailed from Tilbury for Devonport, Plymouth towards the western end on the Channel where she was to embark her human cargo. On 26 May however, before she could do so, she was attacked and fatally wounded by UB-57 near Swanage and sent to the bottom.
Today
her wreck lies in about 30 metres of water just a short boat ride out of Swanage.
Her rotting remains are perhaps England's most visited wrecksite and draw
thousands of divers to her each year. More details of the history of the
Kyarra and her sinking are in Dive England's
Greatest Shipwrecks.