HMA Ships HOBART, VENDETTA, ANZAC, DERWENT, YARRA, CURLEW, HAWK, and GULL, searched for survivors from MV NOONGAH, which foundered in heavy seas off Smoky Cape. Five of the ship’s crew of 26 were picked up.
On August 25th 1969 MV Noongah had left Newcastle with a cargo of steel for Townsville. She struck bad weather off Smokey Cape near Kempsey on the northern New South Wales coast. The vessel developed a list and sank with the loss of 21 members of the crew. At that time the wind was blowing at 70 knots (110 kph) with the seas at 30 feet. Two survivors escaped by life raft, and three others were found clinging to a plank. The search for survivors was one of the greatest in Australia’s history involving five destroyers, three minesweepers, seven aircraft, two helicopters and a number of other vessels.