MV Banks Ulladulla was most recently operating out of the Whitsundays when it was run aground in cyclonic conditions.

Previous to that, the boat was used as a charter vessel from Ulladulla, ferrying passengers along the coast and stopping at ports between Eden and the north coast, including Sydney.

At the time, Peter Smith, of Pleasure Cruises Australasia Pty Ltd, owned the 30.8 metre steel ship, after purchasing it in 1996 following a devastating fire onboard at Port Macquarie.

However, since March 2017 when Cyclone Debbie pushed the boat ashore, MV Banks has remained stranded near Cid Harbour, Queensland. 

The salvage operation for the vessel is expected to cost in excess of $365,000. Once retrieved, it will be taken to Townsville to be cut up. 

The ship was originally a naval training ship and also performed fishing surveillance duties around Australia and overseas. 

It served in the RAN from 1960 until 1995. 

MV Banks was initially deployed to northern Australia for fishery surveillance, before being sent to Papua New Guinea from 1963 to 1966. 

In late 1966, MV Banks returned to Sydney for a refit and was then part of the Royal Australia Naval Reserve as a training vessel in Adelaide. 

The ship remained in South Australia until November 1982, when she was replaced by the patrol boat HMAS Aware.

It was then MV Banks made its way to the South Coast, assigned to HMAS Creswell in Jervis Bay before its official decommissioning in December 1982. However, it remained in service on the South Coast but was eventually resigned to the HMAS Waterhen navel base.

In 1995, Banks left Sydney to undergo a major refit in Port Macquarie when a fire, caused by a spontaneous combustion of oil-soaked rags, severely damaged the ship.

The refit was abandoned, and the burned out ship was sold six months later into private hands, with the new owner, Peter Smith, refitting the ship and bringing it to Ulladulla.