WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WARATAH?

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 10

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WARATAH?

Mystery Unsolved After Fifty Years [By JOHN McMILLAN] SYDNEY, July 13. ONE of the most baffling sea mysteries of all time will be half a century old this year. On July 27, 50 years will have passed since the twin-screw steamer Waratah of Lund’s Blue Anchor Line vanished—as. completely as if she had never existed—between Durban and Cape Town. She was on her second homeward passage from Australia to England.

The Waratah sailed from Sydney at noon on Saturday, June 26, 1909. She was a twin-screw passenger and cargo steamer 9339 tons, built on the Clyde by Barclay Curie and Co. She was completed in 1908, up to date in her equipment, save that she carried no wireless, and was classified “100A1” after inspection by the Board of Trade and by Lloyd’s. Her run was between England and Australia via the Cape of Good Hope. She was commanded by Captain Josiah E. Ilbery, Commodore of the Line—a sailor of unimpeachable reputation, who had been seagoing for more than half a century and had commanded Lund ships for many years. On that Saturday in far-off 1909 I stood with my parents on the balcony of our Randwick home, watching this- newcomer, whose launching and fitting-out had been completed only the year before, steam past Coogee. To us, as to all who had seen her leave Central Wharf at Miller’s Point less than two hours before she was just another new ship. There was nothing to suggest that this was the, beginning of a voyage that was to end in tragedy and remain an insoluble mystery for 50 years. Premonition The Waratah called at Melbourne and then at Adelaide. From Adelaide on July 7, she steamed non-stop to Durban, arriving on July 25. Here, one passenger, Mr George Sawyer, disembarked and continued his voyage to Cape Town on another ship. Afterwards he cabled to his wife that he had been warned of impending disaster to the Waratah in a nightmare, and had decided to get off when the ship docked at Durban. ' The Waratah sailed for Cape Town on July 26, with 10,000 tons of cargo, 92 passengers and a crew of 119. On the morning of July 27 she overhauled and passed the Clan Maclntyre, smaller and slower, with whom she carried on a brief conversation. The Waratah’s end of that conversation was the last conclusive message ever to be received from her. Later that day the Clan MacIntyre Was pitching in a heavy head sea and a gale from the south-west. The wind moderated in the evening and shifted into the north-west. But the weather of July 27 was the precursor of worse. It blew a hurricane the next day, with conditions which were described as amongst the worst remembered in those waters. Anxiety The day arrived when the Waratah should have arrived at Cape Town. Ships which had left Durban after her and completed the run of about 800 miles safely arrived in Table Bay without being able to givb any news of her. Anxiety mounted as day followed day. In Australian and New Zealand ports few conversations it seemed, could begin or end without coming round to “the Waratah.”

Sydney people who had been passengers on the Waratah’s maiden voyage from Tilbury added spice to all this excited discussion with reports that the ship had behaved badly on her first voyage out A large number of the original crew had deserted her since that first voyage and company rumour had it that the ship was definitely unstable and top heavy. Further inevitable rumours arrived in the shape of bottles containing messages which purported to come from the missing liner. One report stated that ’the Wara-

tah was heading for Cape Town at reduced speed. In the midst of all this, mtn whose knowledge of the sea and of ships was professional, refused to believe that the Waratah had met with disaster. She might have had trouble with her engine*, possibly with her steering gear, or, at worst, one of her propellora. But she would turn up eventually, they declared. Finally the time came to begin searching. Five ships took partthree warships, a vessel whose expenses were paid by the Australian Commonwealth Government and one chartered by the Waratah’s owners. This last left the Cape on September 11, and steamed over 14,000 miles before returning after 88 days at sea. The Board of Trade investlg*. tion was opened in London on December 15, 1910, and extended into January and February. It was conducted by a stipendiary magistrate assisted by lour assessors who included an admiral and a professor, the latter being also a naval architect The Court faced an unenviable task. There was really no direct material evidence of any kind. The ship had vanished— no wreckage; no bodies; no eye-wit-ness accounts, except conflicting stories about bodies seen floating in the sea and a ship seen on fire on a distant horizon. Evidence was taken from architects who had helped in the design, that at least three extra feet of beam, should have been added to ensure* adequate stability. On behalf of the owners on the other hand, it was pointed out that the seaworthy condition of the boat, at any rate after it had been fitted out, was hot in doubt. It had already been passed by Lloyds and the Board of Trade. No evidence wu available concerning the trim of the vessel after it had loaded at Durban and obviously it was impossible to ascertain if the proper precautions had been taken about battening hatches, securing coaling doors, etc. After sitting for two months the court delivered its finding on February 20, 1911, but the mystery remained unsolved. A Court might deliver a finding, but astute indeed would have been the assessors who could have reconstructed conclusively or in detail, the tragedy that had taken place on the high seas. Nothing To Add *4 The main conclusion of the court was “that the ship was lost in a gale of exceptional violence, the first great storm she had encountered, and the vessel capsized.” So said the court Little has accrued since 1911 to add to its verdict. Two years ago a corroded steel plate was hauled up by a fishing vessel off the sea bottom, 60 miles south of Durban. This fitted in with one theory that the Waratah had had engine trouble, and had turned back towards Durban before she foundered. The plate was examined by the Engineering Department of the University of Natal then sent on to Barclay, Curies, the shipbuilders on the Clyde. A recent message from London indicates that neither have been able to confirm or deny the suggestion that it belonged to the Waratah. The mystery is therefore as deep as ever. The possibility remains that the ship broke down gnd drifted helplessly towards thb Antarctic, ice to be lost for ever. —Associated Newspapers Feature Services.