DEPOT SHIP ON SANDBANK

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25090, 23 January 1947, Page 8

DEPOT SHIP ON SANDBANK

QUEENSLAND COAST ' MISHAP VESSEL OFF UNDER OWN POWER (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11.45 p.m.) BRISBANE, Jan. 22. H.M.S. Bonaventure, a 10,000-ton Royal Navy depot ship, which was aground for 24 hours on a sandbank off Cape Melville, North Queensland, came off to-day under her own power. The Bonaventure ran aground yesterday near Cooktown on her voyage from Hong Kong to Sydney. The Navy Office in Sydney advised that the ship had sent a radio message saying that she was undamaged and was continuing her voyage to Sydney, where she was expected early next week. The naval vessels ordered to proceed to her assistance had all been instructed to return to their various tasks. A sloop and four corvettes of the 20th Mine-sweeping Flotilla, which were engaged in exercises more than 1000 miles south of Cape Melville, had been ordered to the assistance of the Bonaventure. The Bonaventure, which left Hong Kong on January 2. is due at Sydney on January 25. She carries a crew of more than 500. and 158 passengers, nearly all of whom are British servicemen. The Bonaventure, whicn was built at Greenwich in 1943, became famous as a oepot ship for the six midget submarines which crippled the German battleship Tirpitz. and on July 31. 1945. blew up the Japanese heavy cruiser Takao in Johore Strait. Since the war she has been carrying troops and supplies between Australia and Singapore.