A SEA MYSTERY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 16054, 9 November 1917, Page 5

A SEA MYSTERY.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MATUNGA.

(FROM OTJB oro CORTIESrONDKNT.)

SYDNEY, October 31. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the steamer Matunga continues to arouse much speculation, particularly within the past week, when a report by tho Superintendent of Navigation, Captain Cumming, has been made available.

Tho Matunga was a modern steel 6teamer of 1618 tons, was fitted with wireless, and had 60 passengers and a crew of 30 aboard when sho left Brisbane on her way from Sydney to Rabaul, on July 27th. On August sth a wireless message, purporting to come from the Matunga, was received in Rabaul. It stated that she expected to arrive in Rabaul at 2 p.m., on her duo date, August 7th. Calculating on the known speed of t~be Matunga, she was then about 300 miles from Rabaul. From that moment she has never been heard of, nor has any trace been found of her.

Search steamers have gone over almost every foot of tho ocean within a hundred miles of the spot where the Matunga was last heard of, and have

found nothing. Tho sea was calm at tho time the ship disappeared, and it is thought to be almost impossible that tho vessel could have been sunk without leaving a trace. Tho following theories are put forward to account for the mishap: — She was sunk by an internal explosion so destructive that the wireless was put out of action. 1-our eases oi dynamite wero carried in a magazine on tho bridge, and it is thought- that perhaps some kind of detonator was introduced among this, or that an infernal machine was placed in the liolds. This theory is discounted by the absence of wreckage. The vessel turned turtle. It has been 6aid that sho had a distinct tendency in this direction. havo enquired, and find no evidence to support this view. The vessel was overwhelmed by a seismic disturbance,_ known to have occurred in that _region —which is right on the Japan-New Zealand earthquake lie It—on August 6th. There was an. earthquake in New Zealand about that date. The experts say that there is no record, in tho locality, of a disturbance sufficiently great to overwhelm a vessel of the size of the Matunga. Tho vessel was taken by a raider, and is still afloat in the Pacific. This theory is favoured in nautical circles. An electric light globe, of a kind known to have been fitted on the Matimga, was picked up by the seavcheis, but as this might have, been dropped overboard by tho Matunga or any othor vessel, it is not accepted by the experts, apparently, as definite evidence of anything. .