YONGALA'S FATE UNKNOWN.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1089, 30 March 1911, Page 5

YONGALA'S FATE UNKNOWN.

NO MORE WRECKAGE FOUND. STILL HOPE THAT SURVIVORS MAY ' BE PICKED UP. THE SEARCH CONTINUING. By Telegraph—Press Associalion-OojiyriKlit „ (Roc. March 30, 0.50 a.m.) Brisbane, March 29. No further news has 'been received of the exact fate of the inter-Stiito liner Yongala. Several vessels have returned.after an unsuccessful search for additional'wreck- . age.' , ' ■ The search is being vigorously con: tinued, and there is still a lingering hop* in some quarters that surveyors will bo found on adjoining reefs or islands near Bowling Green Bay. EXTRAORDINARILY SEVERE STORM.:.'" DANGEROUS CKOSS. SEA. . ;l j Sydney, March 29. Up to last night there was a lingering hope that tho Yongala was still afloat, but the discovery of a lot of wreckage on Kcpplo Reef, consisting of a quantity of cargo and fittings, identified beyond doubt as belonging to tho missing steamer, shattered all hope. Tho "Herald" gives' the number of persons aboard the steamer as 141—73 of a crew and G8 passengers; the "Telegraph" makes the number 120 (crew 70, passen-' gers 50). Until tho HsU have' been thoroughly overhauled the actual number cannot be definitely stated. Probably tho larger number will bo found nearer tho mark. The captains of vessels who .passed through tho storm tho Yongala met describe it as of exceptional violence even for that part of the coast. When tho steamer Guthrie encountered it it was so violent as to render it impossible, for anyone to move about tho decks. Two of the Guthrie's boats were blown clean away, and everything movable washed overboard. The tarpaulins were stripped, from tho hatches. A sudden change of wind caused a dangerous cross 6ea, and sevoral times' the Guthrie was almost on her beam ends. ■'.. ■ ■, Other vessels had similar experiences. Shipping men agreed that no vessel in light trim could live in such a storm. LITTLE KNOWN OF PASSENGERS, WHERE THE WRECK OCCURRED, Brisbane, March 29. ""■ ,Two of tho Yongola's passengersMessrs. Greenfield and O'Brien—joined .' the vessel at Mackay, and' three,, left there, namely, Messrs. Must, Heal, and Bonner. It is believed now that the steamer struck ono of tho roofs between Flinders Passage and Keeper Reef. If this Is,cor:, rect, tho Yongala would have bcon twenty miles outside her course. ■ f Up to tho present little is known regarding the passengers beyond their names. It is understood that at tho last moment some who had booked passages changed their minds, owing to tho weather conditions other circumstances, and this to some'extent accounts ■ for tho discrepancies in tho accounts regarding the number of souls aboard. Captain Knight was. Commodore of the. Adelaide Steamship Company's fleet. Ho was married, but had no family. Most of tho officers were married men with families. Tho chief, stewardess was tho widow of Captain English, who lost liis life some years ago in the wreck of tho , steamer Glcnclg.• Search for possible survivors is being ' continued with great vigour. , However,' the general opinion is (hat there wai little hope of any escaping in 6uch a storm and in such wild and dangeroim ' surroundings. , The cargo consisted of flour, chaff, maohinery, and general merchjndfee. Tho Adelaide. Steamship Company i stato that the insurance on the Yongala i is .590,000, tho company holding, one-'I" ■ fourth, and tho balance divided between ! the South British. Company and the ' Union Company of Canton.