She capsized during a heavy southerly gale off Port Kembla while steaming from Kiama with a load of blue metal, and her wreck, close to the main harbour entrance, is a popular dive location.

It was immediately placed into service under Captain Arthur Robert Bell, and assigned the task of freighting bulk blue metal (basalt aggregate) from Kiama on the NSW South Coast to Sydney, a round-trip distance of around 130 nautical miles (240 km; 150 mi) which the Bombo could complete in 22 hours.

A year later, shortly after leaving Kiama Harbour heading for Sydney, and again in treacherous conditions, she developed a severe list due to shifting load but once again continued safely to her destination.

Her initial assignment was as an auxiliary minesweeper, and for this role she was fitted with a 12-pound deck gun on an elevated platform forward, two heavy machine-guns amidships, and four anti-submarine depth charges set-up at the stern.

At the conclusion of the Pacific War, HMAS Bombo relocated to Koepang in West Timor to participate in reconstruction, and was finally released by the RAN and returned to her civilian role in February 1946.

[1][2] In September 1947, the SS Bombo, refitted as a coastal steamer, returned to Kiama under the command of her pre-war master Captain Bell to resume her blue-metal carrier role.

Heavy rain greatly reduced visibility, and the big south-easterly swell hitting the Bombo on her stern starboard quarter made steerage difficult and at times the vessel broached into the passing seas.

Over the next hour the Bombo's progress slowed as the conditions worsened more, and at 4pm with the vessel some 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) north of Stanwell Park a very large wave impacted the ship causing her to roll severely to port.

Due to the size of the seas and depth of water coming across decks, any act of opening the hatches to square-up the blue metal cargo would have been fatal, so Captain Bell determined to make for the shelter of the Port Kembla harbour for the night, some 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) away.

[6][2][7] At 5pm, a wireless message was sent by Captain Bell via the radio station at La Perouse to the stevedores at his Blackwattle Bay, Pyrmont destination, advising:[5] "Cancel gang tonight, hove to.

Captain Bell had told his crew his intention of sheltering at Port Kembla harbour for the night, and to that point things appeared to be in-hand with the vessel's post list stable and not increasing.

With now only 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) to run until the safety of the harbour, fireman Michael Fitzsimmons went down to the engine room to stoke to the three boiler fires, usually a task taking a little over an hour.

Those crew able to get to the deck then gathered on the high starboard rail as the list continued to increase, until they all leapt into the water, followed shortly after by Captain Bell jumping from the bridge with capsize imminent.

[6][2][7] Once the Bombo had disappeared beneath the waves, those crew able to escape the sinking vessel initially clung together to floating debris while being pounded in the dark by the atrocious conditions.

The gale-force winds and seas were carrying the men north, and before much time had passed Chief Officer Henry Stringer, a strong swimmer, announced he would make for the shore in the direction of a red light assumed to be Bulli.

Stringer's body was found washed ashore on Corrimal beach at 11am the next morning, approximately 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) north of where the Bombo foundered.

[2][6] The remaining eight crewmen clung to the wreckage throughout the night but by dawn the next morning, Captain Bell and seaman Bill Cunningham had succumbed to hypothermia and died, still afloat nearby in their life-jackets.

After about an hour Fizsimmons passed the earlier two, still alive but near exhaustion, and at around 10am he stumbled onto Woonona beach where he flagged down a Hubbards Bakery truck driven by a Mr Hobbs, who took him to Bulli Police Station where he broke the news of the shipwreck.

The local fishing trawler Pacific Gull, skippered alone by Albert Barnett, made the first discovery near Coledale, being the body of Captain Bell, still wearing his binoculars and cap.

Further searching was carried out the next day, including by a Tiger Moth aircraft of South Coast Aviation Services, but the bodies of the remaining ten men were never found.