Ability was a wooden ketch of 48 tons, owned by J. Breckenridge and built at William Woodward in 1878. She ran aground at Cape Hawke, New South Wales, Australia, in 1897.
On 5 January 1897, traveling from Cape Hawke to Sydney with a load of timber, Ability broke her moorings and was beached at Cape Hawke, near Forster, New South Wales. There were no reported deaths.