The New Isle of Man Steam Navigation Company had ordered her to be a ferry between Liverpool and the Isle of Man. However, in 1888 Huddart Parker bought her, renamed her Coogee and registered her in Melbourne.[1]
On 20 May 1918 the Royal Australian Navy requisitioned Coogee and commissioned her as a minesweeper for the Bass Strait and as an armed patrol vessel. In 1919 the RAN returned her to her owners. In 1921 the Postmaster-General's Department chartered her to repair the Bass Strait cable.[citation needed]
^ ab"Lancashire Witch". Wear Built Ships. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
^
Victorian Archaeological Survey, "SS Coogee (1887–1928)"(PDF), Dive Information Sheet, archived from the original(PDF) on 10 April 2011, retrieved 24 January 2012
^Department of Planning and Environment, "SS Coogee", Shipwreck dive sites, archived from the original on 28 March 2011, retrieved 24 January 2012