SY Ena

The Steam Yacht Ena is a steam powered yacht that was built in 1900 for Thomas Dibb, the commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. During World War I, the yacht was purchased by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and used as an auxiliary patrol vessel in the waters around the Torres Strait and Thursday Island, before later being used as a training ship tender. In the early 1930s, the RAN disposed of the yacht and it returned to civilian service, being used for a number of purposes including transportation of produce and fishing. After sinking in the early 1980s, the yacht was refloated and eventually restored. It subsequently circumnavigated Australia, as part of a visit to Western Australia during the 1987 America's Cup and then served as a private charter vessel. It was restored again in the 1990s and is currently based in Melbourne.

Design and construction
Built in 1900, Ena was ordered by Thomas Dibb, the commodore of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, as a replacement for his existing yacht of the same name. The vessel was designed by Walter Reeks and constructed by WM Ford Boatbuilders at Berrys Bay, Sydney, and was intended as proof that Australian designers and shipbuilders could build luxury craft to the same quality and standards as in Europe or North America.

The vessel, as built, had a length (not including bowsprit) of 88 ft, a beam of 16.5 ft, and a depth of 8.1 ft. Tonnage ratings were 65 tons gross and 44 tons net. Propulsion was provided by a 25 hp two-cylinder compound steam engine. The yacht was launched on 8 December 1900, and like Dibb's previous yacht, was named Ena after his wife, Tryphena. The steam yacht cost A£5,800.

Naval service
Ena was purchased by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in January 1917 for A£1,000, and converted for use as an auxiliary patrol vessel around the Torres Strait and Thursday Island. She was fitted with a QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss gun on the foredeck. The yacht was commissioned on 13 January 1917 as HMAS Sleuth. Unsuited for tropical patrol work, Sleuth was deployed along the Queensland coast after the war, then relocated back to Sydney and assigned as a tender to the immobilised training ship HMAS Tingira. One of the yacht's roles was to take recruits out to sea to "show them what being seasick felt like".

Civilian service
In 1933, Sleuth was sold by the RAN for A£1,350. The new owner used the yacht to transport apples from Tasmania to the Australian mainland. Shortly after commencing this work, the yacht was impounded by creditors. She was purchased in 1940 by the Roche brothers, renamed Aurore, and over the next few years was modified for trawling and scallop fishing; the stern was reduced, a diesel engine was installed in 1945, and facilities for keeping fish (including refrigerated storage and a wet well) were fitted. The Roches sold Aurore in 1974.

In 1981, Aurore sank in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel after hitting an unidentified object. The vessel was raised by a syndicate funded by Sydney businessman Pat Burke, stockbroker Rene Rivkin, and Rivkin's solicitor, David Baffksy. The wreck was restored by shipwright Nick Masterman to her original condition, and an 80 hp compound steam engine recovered and restored from the former Derwent River ferry Excella was used to replace the diesel engine. The yacht resumed operation in 1986 under the Ena name. During 1987 and 1988, Ena circumnavigated Australia, as the result of a visit to Western Australia for the 1987 America's Cup. On return to Sydney, Ena was used for private charter cruises until being seized a second time by creditors. She was sold to new owners in 1991, and after restoration works were completed, Ena was relocated to Melbourne in mid-2014 operating on the Yarra River and in Port Phillip Bay.