S.S. Ceres; a watercolour sketch

Ceres was a regular and familiar sight in Gulf waters and lower Peninsula ports from 1876 until 1909. The ship was built for Charles Heath acting for a group of lower Yorke Peninsula settlers who needed a regular supply service and formed a company to do so. Ceres was an 86 ton, 90 foot iron hulled screw steamship built by Forman & Co. of Melbourne. The company formed to manage the ship was the Coast Steamship Company of South Australia. Originally it was planned to operate a twice weekly run across the Gulf to Edithburgh and Stansbury on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but this was subsequently altered to Stansbury only on Wednesday and Saturday. By 1884 population and demand caused an increase in the service and Ceres called at Stansbury every Monday, Thursday and Saturday and with a once weekly trip to Port Vincent on Tuesday. Ardrossan was added to the itinerary in 1888, and Ceres called at that port on Friday.

The Coast Steamship Company continued until 1906 when it was merged with other shipping companies to form Gulf Steam Ship Company.

John Germein was named in the company prospectus as the captain of Ceres. Germein captained Ceres for 27 years, retiring in 1903.The ship made 4212 trips across St Vincent Gulf from Port Adelaide to Port Vincent, Stansbury and Ardrossan and carried over 84,000 passengers and 180,000 tons of freight.

In 1909 Gulf Steam Ships sold Ceres to owners in Hobart, and she was subsequently in service with the Geelong Harbour Trust. Her entry in the shipping register was closed in 1934, but the actual fate of Ceres is unknown.

Germein, John, 1847-1928

Parsons, Ronald, Yorke Peninsula shipping Lobethal, S. Aust.: R. Parsons, c1998

Parsons, Ronald, Southern passages: a maritime history of South Australia Netley, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 1986

Parsons, Ronald, Ships of Yorke Peninsula: (the development of passenger/cargo shipping services to Yorke Peninsula ports in both Spencer and St. Vincent gulfs) Elizabeth, S. Aust.: Railmac Publications, 1984

Stansbury 1873-1973, 1986 [Stansbury, S. Aust.]: Stansbury Centenary Committee, 1986