| Name: | WATO |
| Launched: | 14/07/1904 |
| Completed: | 08/1904 |
| Builder: | JT Eltringham & Co, South Shields |
| Yard Number: | 249 |
| Dimensions: | 292grt, 30nrt, 125.0 x 23.7 x 12.4ft |
| Engines: | T3cyl (17, 28.5 & 46 x 30ins), 132nhp, 660ihp |
| Engines by: | GT Grey, South Shields |
| Propulsion: | 1 x Screw |
| Construction: | Steel |
| Reg Number: | 117418 |
| History: | |
| 29/03/1905 | Adelaide Steam Tug Co Ltd, Port Adelaide, Australia |
| 02/12/1955 | Broken up |
| Comments: | Wato means "take hold" in an aboriginal dialect |
| 01/09/1904: Sailed from South Shields for Port Adelaide | |
| 31/10/1904: Arrived at Port Adelaide | |
| 26/11/1917 to 1921: Requisitioned by the Admiralty & stationed at Gibraltar | |
| Employed as a minesweeper in the Mediterranean | |
| Later she was towing ammunition barges to Archangel | |
| 19/04/1941 to 1946: Requisitioned as a rescue tug by the Commonwealth Government | |
| 11/05/1941: Commissioned as HMAS WATO (W 127) & armed with 2 x machine guns | |
| 11/1945 to 5/1946: At Sydney, managed by Waratah Tug & Salvage Co | |
| 27/5/1946: Returned to owners | |
| 04/06/1946: Arrived at Port Adelaide | |
| 06/1949: On station at Fremantle | |
| 02/12/1955: Broken up by TE Hall at Freemantle | |
| Thanks to Buster J Browne for the above history |
Above: As completed by JT Eltringham
Above: Very early days in the Port River, Adelaide. Photo courtesy of Buster J Browne
Above photo copyright of Allan C Green
Above: As HMAS WATO. Photo courtesy of Buster J Browne
Shields Daily Gazette, Thursday, 01/09/1904