The S.S. Coweambah ("Cowie")
Adolph Engel decided to build a seaworthy vessel at Tea Gardens to carry freight and passengers between Tea Gardens and Newcastle.He planned to use it to establish a supply chain for the firm, the roads of the time being totally inadequate for this purpose. His eldest son, Henry Melvin Engel, supervised the construction of the wooden hulled S.S. Coweambah on Witt's Island and she was launched in 1919. The Cowie had a coal fired boiler and a two cylinder compound steam engine for propulsion. She was described as "a wooden vessel, gross tonnage 76, length 82 ft 7 in, breadth 22 ft 4 in, depth 5 ft 5 in, horsepower 14, constructed in Port Stephens 1919".

This remarkable little weather-beaten ship proved more seaworthy than most had expected, despite the navigational hazards at the entrance to Port Stephens. She became a vital link for the firm and her requisition in World War II (1943) was a major blow to the Company. The Cowie was decked out in her "jungle greens" and sent to New Guinea where she ferried stores from the U.S. Liberty ships into the bays and inlets of the region. In June 1945, her war service over, she was wrecked on the return journey during a cyclone in Trial Bay near South West Rocks.

The S.S. Myall River and S.S. Iluka
The Company purchased two other vessels for use in the local timber trade. The first was the S.S. Myall River which had been used as a lighter at Morpeth by the Newcastle and Hunter River Steamship Company. After being moored at Morpeth wharf for two months she sprang a leak and sank in 1928. The owners refloated the vessel and brought it to the Myall River system to carry timber from Bulahdelah to Port Stephens under the command of Captain Sadler. Subsequently this operation was taken over by the Engel firm under the command of Captain George Davies. After some years of service the old vessel was declared unseaworthy and she was placed on the slip on Witt's Island following World War II. Her remains were destroyed by fire in 1992.

The second boat was the Iluka, a narrow, steel-hulled steamer which had an eventful career on the Myall waterways carrying timber to the mill operated by her owner, R. Rigby, in Tea Gardens. A submerged log holed her in 1926 in Boolambayte Creek and after refloating was repaired on Engel's slip followed by further repairs in Newcastle. The Iluka again sank at her mooring at Bulahdelah in 1934 and the Engel firm reputedly purchased her for £4 ($8) when she was at the bottom of the river. After being refloated and towed to Tea Gardens, a crew of boilermakers replaced the hull below the waterline with hot riveted steel plate. She was again put into service to carry logs to Port Stephens where they were stored on hulks awaiting the arrival of ocean-going vessels. The Iluka ended her days on the shore opposite Tea Gardens where she was blown from her moorings during a southerly gale.