Cargo book for the ketch Prima Donna, owner/captain James Llewelin Lewis. Entry for 23 May 1879, Lacepede Bay records the consignees and the cargo he delivered including floor boards and bales of wire and various sundries. The following page records deliveries of wheat from Beachport to Wallaroo and copper ore from Wallaroo to Port Adelaide.

Cargo could be as miscellaneous as described above, or consist of the one item: wool, wheat or other grain, potatoes or ores and gypsum.

Prima Donna was built in 1870 in southern Tasmania; 50 tons, 69 feet by 18 feet and a depth of 5.5 feet. She arrived in South Australia shortly after this and traded in the gulfs and on the south-east coast. In 1879 Prima Donna was purchased by Captain James Llewelin Lewis who had his Certificate of Competency as Master from the South Australian Marine Board. Lewis was held in high regard by his fellow ketch captains.

In August 1880 after loading a cargo of potatoes at Port MacDonnell, Captain Lewis left port bound for Port Adelaide and his family. Prima Donna was lost at sea with no survivors.

Gillespie, James, Captain. Traders under sail: the cutters, ketches and schooners of South Australia Largs Bay, S. Aust. : J. Gillespie, 1994
Fyfe, Dorothy M. Maritime history of Wallaroo: an outline, 1802-1978 Wallaroo, S.A.: D.M Fyfe, 1979
Chapter 5: The small fry; Chapter 6: Cargoes

Thiele, Ron N. Ketch hand: the twilight of sail in South Australian waters Portland, Vic.: Main'sle Books, 1987

Duruz, Rosamund. The history of Port Macdonnell Warrnambool, Vic.: PAP Book Co., 1978