RMS Quetta was an iron-hulled steamship that was built in Scotland in 1881 and wrecked with great loss of life in the Torres Strait in 1890.

[4] After her refit, first class cabins were on the upper deck, next to an elegantly appointed dining, music and smoking rooms.

There was no third class on Quetta, apart from temporary shelters erected when needed at the stern of the upper deck for Javanese labourers returning to Batavia from the Queensland canefields.

She also had a hydraulic system[1] to drive the cargo winches, steering gear and anchors, as well as electric lighting and refrigerated storage for meat and dairy exports from Queensland.

Her black funnel with two thick white bands were distinctive markers of her owner, British India Associated Services (BIAS).

In 1876 BISN created BIAS to run a scheduled service between London and Calcutta via Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, Colombo, and Madras (now Chennai).

[13] In 1881 Thomas McIlwraith, Premier of Queensland obtained parliamentary authority for to offer a mail contract for a shipping company to run a service between London and Brisbane via the Suez Canal and the Torres Strait.

BIAS won the contract, and formed the Queensland Steam Ship Company to run feeder routes to connect with it.

[21] She steamed from Keppel Bay to Cape Moreton in 24 hours, setting what was then a record,[22] and arrived off Brisbane on 5 June.

[25] On departing Cooktown on Thursday 27 February Quetta carried a total of 293 persons (passengers and crew) and live sheep in deck pens.

In addition to mail bags, the cargo comprised 2278 bales of wool, 4260 cases of meat and tallow, and 60 tons of metals with an insurance value of more than £50,000.

The pilot was experienced, the weather fine and visibility good, but at 21:14 hrs she struck an uncharted rock in the middle of the channel near Albany Island.

[32][5][35] A Somerset resident, Frank Jardine, organised a rescue with his own boats, and sent messengers to the nearest telegraph station, 15 miles (24 km) away,[36] to summon steamers from Thursday Island.

Albatross continued to Mount Adolphus Island, whence she picked up nearly 100 survivors, including the second and fourth officers.

They were separated in the sinking, but Nicklin was a strong swimmer and clung to flotsam: first a hatch cover, then a dead sheep, and finally a plank.

When she neared the islet, a lascar cabin boy called Alick, who had already reached the island, helped her ashore.

[43] After rescuing survivors, Albatross took soundings and found the rock thought to have caused the disaster, about 1⁄2 nautical mile (1 km) from Quetta's wreck.

[44] In April 1890 the Queensland Marine Board inquiry found that the Quetta shipwreck was purely accidental, noting that the damaging rock was not shown on Admiralty charts.

[47] It reported that the starboard side had been ripped ‘from right forward as far aft to the engine room’, and the ship had foundered so rapidly that nothing could have been done to save her.

It als recommendation that steamships should be equipped with speaking tubes between the bridge and the engine room to lessen the need for sending messengers back and forth.

The wreck lies on its port side in 18 metres (59 ft) of water and is protected by the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.

[44] These include one of Quetta’s portholes, a lifebelt, a photo of the ship and a copy of Queensland Marine Board’s report.

Thomas Hall, features a striking stained-glass window that depicts Quetta and the Thursday Island church.

[53] The hull was still largely intact in 2013 when Ben Cropp, marine conservationist and shipwreck diver, found it lying on the port side pointing east (orientation 270/090 degrees).

[54] More recently dive master Matt Testoni reported: ‘Due to its location, the Quetta is overflowing with amazing marine life, all of which seems to be huge.