The Goolwa was a three-masted, composite-hulled clipper ship that was built for the trade between Great Britain and South Australia.

[2] Hall built the ship for Anderson, Thompson & Co, who ran the Orient Line of clippers between London and South Australia.

[citation needed] The Goolwa left Penarth in Wales under Captain Cornwall on 23 December 1887 with a cargo of pig iron and coke bound for San Francisco.

She experienced heavy weather in the Channel, and sprang two leaks, with which her two manual pumps were unable to cope.

Meanwhile, the ship was rolling heavily, the waves carried away her hatches, water poured into her holds and she began to sink.