SS Kate was a wooden carvel screw steamer built in 1883 at Balmain that was twice struck and sunk by Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company ferries.

[1] The vessel was a wooden single deck and the bridge ship with 2 masts fitted as a fore and aft Schooner and an elliptical stern it dimensions were: The vessel had a 35.87 gross register tons (GRT) and a 24.39 net register tons (NRT) when first manufactured[1] and was fitted with a Robertson of London surface condensing compound steam engine, with cylinder diameters of 9 in (22.9 cm) and 17 in (43.2 cm)and had a stroke length of 14 in (35.6 cm) producing 20 hp (14.9 kW) The early years of the Kate was mainly spent as a tug bringing in vessels such as the South Sea's Island trader Avoca,[2] the barque Freetrader,[3] the 3 masts ship Dunfillan,[4] the schooner Pioneer[5] and the American barque Nona Lutum[6] into Sydney Harbour and to their anchorage.

In May 1884 just 3 months after its registration the Kate was put forward to the Colonial Treasurer in a tender for the "supplying and maintaining an efficient steam tug for use at the Cape Hawke River".

Mr. F. Buckle submitted the tender describing the Kate as a steam tug of 25 hp and asked for a subsidy of £600 per annum a £250 per annum greater than the steam tug Forster[7] which also entered the tender and hence the Kate stayed in Sydney Harbour Over the summer months the vessel was also used for Harbour cruises in February 1885 following the Kirby-Moore Trophy sculling race[8] whilst in October 1886 Capt.

Byrne's Sunday excursions to Watsons Bay and Middle Harbour are now in full swing, the favourite steamer Kate being employed on the service.

[12] Captain Henry Denham Bellett was a veteran pioneer of Sydney Harbour Ferry Service and was then appointed to the Mercantile Explosives Department, firstly as the master of the steamer Sea Breeze, and then to the Kate.

He remained master of the Kate for 17 years until he entered upon his retirement in October 1901[13] In October 1888 Captain Bellett saw the body of Henry Meyer floating in the water near Milsons Point who was a 50 years of age a native of Germany, and a butcher by occupation who had been drinking to excess lately, and appeared to be depressed in spirits whose dead body was found floating face downward[14] From early 1891 to late 1895 the Kate made monthly trips to Barrenjoey towing powder barges[15][16][17] In early January 1891 the officers of the Colonial Secretary's Department held their annual picnic on board the steamer Kate they steamed to various noted spots in the harbour, and eventually lunched at Fig Tree Point.

[20] On 22 August 1898, the ferry Narrabeen left Manly at 07:15 and ran into a dense bank of foe shortly after leaving, and had to slow down and proceed cautiously up the harbour.

[23] The subsequent Marine Board inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the collision found that the collision was due to the dense fog, which prevailed at the time, and to the fault of James Drewette, the master of the Narrabeen[24] In April 1889 the Kate assisted with the New South Wales Naval Brigade in training exercises (as a powder boat) for HMS Wolverine, which had been formed in 1863 and consisted of five companies, four of which were in Sydney and with an overall strength of 200 men.

Captain Doran was informed of a bench for having ten cases containing detonators on the ship while it was in Port Jackson, and to the westward of Garden Island, contrary to the provisions of the Gunpowder and Explosives Consolidation Act of 1876.

Again and again Peter yelled out, and then someone rushed to the wheel, and attempted to alter the course[28] The Kate, almost immediately struck the skiff on the bow, and the powder barge coming along also hit the boat.

The brother went overboard, and the collision bloke the bow of the boat, which half-filled[28] During the marine court of inquiry into the collision with the skiff Toreador shortly after the evidence had been opened a point arose as to whether the Court had jurisdiction to hold tho inquiry as "nothing in this Act shall apply to any ship belonging to or in the service of the crown" and the Kate was a ship within the meaning of that section and additionally as the Toreador was a skiff and was propelled by oars it was not a ship within the meaning of the Act causing the inquiry to close[29] The Explosives Department budget for 1 July 1910, to 30 June 1911 also show that Captain Collins wage increased from £168 to £174 per annum[30] On 25 May 1911 there were a hundred or so of passengers on board the tourist steamer Kookaburra owned by Sydney ferries late in the afternoon when the vessel was between the Bluff and Green Point Middle Harbour in close proximity to the powder hulks.

The tug then left and was towing the lighter up the harbour to Woolloomooloo Bay, when just past Dobroyd Head the master of the Kate saw a half-sunken boat out to seaward of him, some 200 yards (182.88 m) away.