Ada and Ethel
Ada and Ethel was a wooden schooner that was wrecked southeast of Seal Rocks, New South Wales, Australia, on 26 October 1887.
Ship description and construction
On 9 January 1886, Mr. Roderick of Eagleton, New South Wales, launched a new vessel built to the order of Messrs. Captain C. T. Messell and E. Davies, of Sydney, New South Wales. The christening ceremony was performed with champagne by Miss Ada Messell, Captain Messell's daughter. The vessel was named after Ada and her infant sister Ethel May, who died approximately 12 months later.Ada and Ethel then was taken to Sydney, entering Sydney Heads at half-past eleven on the night of 19 February 1886 under tow by the steamer Malua and was brought up in Pyrmont Bight to have her mast and other fittings installed. The passage down from Williams River was made in 10 hours.
Ada and Ethel was rigged as a fore-and-aft schooner, intended for the coasting trade. Her dimensions were long, beam, and depth, which gave her a gross register tonnage of 73 tons. She was built substantially of the best colonial hardwood, coppered, and copper-fastened. She was a sister ship of Julian, which was launched about eight months earlier and belonged to the same firm.