THE WARATAH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14144, 20 August 1909, Page 5

THE WARATAH.

By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. London, August 18. The absence of wreckage encouragesthe owners of the Waratah to believe that she is still afloat.

A PESSIMISTIC VIEW. (Received August 20. 1.30 a.m.)

Perth, August 19.

The captain of the Bannockburn, which arrived at Albany to-day, reports that he left Durban two days ahead of the Waratah, and experienced rain and a violent gale two days later. The vessel was thrown on her beam ends, and only righted after a deck cargo of coal had been washed overboard. The captain takes a pessimistic view of the fate of the Waratah in view of his own experience.

THE RUDDER THEORY.

Master mariners generally still hold to the opinion that the Waratah is perfectly safe, and is merely drifting about the Indian Ocean while repairs are in progress. The failure of the British cruisers sent in search of her to discover the missing steamer is not regarded as an indication that she has come to grief. On the contrary, the fact that the cruisers covered an enormous area without sighting traces of wreckage has convinced nautical experts that the Waratah is still afloat. Helpless vessels, at the mercy of the winds and currents, drift in a most erratic sometimes in circles, in squares, and in triangles, but seldom in a straight line. The difficulty of discovering a disabled ship is apparent, and mariners will not give up the Waratah as lost until many more searches have been made. The agents in Sydney incline to the theory that the rudder of the Waratah is the cause of the delaythat it has either been lost or worked loose, or been jambed. An accident of this nature occurred to the Blue Funnel liner Idomeneus in 1903. She lost her rudder off the South African coast, and with great difficulty eventually suceeded in making Port Elizabeth. The voyage home, however, occupied 98 days, instead of 46 or 47.