THE WARATAH MYSTERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14300, 21 February 1910, Page 5

THE WARATAH MYSTERY

||t ' , Jl GRUESOME STORY. If A GRUESOME OTOttY. Bodies AFLOAT IN THE SEA: iifcv , ■•■-/ :--h < ~ - . fc\ -KEEP THE THING QUIET. \ - • " '"■'''- t"l ' [lit TEI/EQBAPH.—-PBESS ASSOCIATION.] E?. ' ( ' WESTPoat, Saturday. I" ' A statement, with regard to the Waratah ! mystery was mad© to the Press Association 11 agent by/a member of the crew remaining II in Westport of. the s.s. Tottenham, which • 'recently called at Westport for bunker coal, and has now gone to Ocean Island. He ears the Tottenham left Durban about; 10 / 'days after the Waratah, and steamed over the same course, bound to Antwerp. While ;'. off East London, at noon one day, an ap,prentice, who was at the*wheel, reported to the third officer,. who was in charge of the bridge, that he saw float past the ship the body of a little girl clothed in a red dressing gown. The third officer looked round, but did not see the body. He, howi'y ever, went down to the chart room, where 'the captain and the second officer were lay- •''■., ing off the ship's position, and reported 'that some bodies had just floated past the * 'vessel. The captain and second officer rush"ed up on to the bridge, and the second officer stated that he saw something white - '.floating on the water. • f "-The captain gave "the order "Hard astarboard/.' and tho vessel steamed round is the vicinity of the floating objects, but i "did not catch sight of the body previously % reported as being fully dressed. However, I, they saw " a lot of other pieces of flesh P ' floating round, and one piece in particular looked very much like the trunk of a body - .mutilated by sharks. The weather being heavy, the steamer was unable to pick up f »ny of the floating objects to make a tho- ; rough" examination, so she proceeded >■ on ■* '.'hat voyage. When she put into • Simon's 'Bay a boat from H.M.S. Forte, with an officer aboard, made inquiries whether the .Tottenham had seen anything of the Wara-; *tah. A reply was given by the chief-of-,ficcr.that there was nothing to report. That .-'evening, the second officer, signalling with a Morse lamp, inquired of H.M.S. Forte if she had got any further news of the Wara- '''• tah, and was informed that the 'is. 8.. Director and s.s. Incizwa, which had left' Durban about the same time as the Tottenham, had reported; seeing bodies floating • r about off East London, and that the man- ! o'-war had orders to proceed to. the vicinity iind ascertain what, these bodies .were. It will be remembered that the Forte J - aiterwards reported that she had seen some ?:■'. large fish floating, and that it was sur■V • raised that these were what the captains a of the Director and Incizwa had seen. V; "But," emphatically said the man now in S#i Westport, " the chief and ■. second officers of the Tottenham stated to him and others • on board the" ship that they saw the body of the little girl reported by the apprentice, ; ' and could stake their lives, that it was , that of a girl 10 or 12 years of age, and : not a fish. The second engineer also stated ■ that he- saw the body of a woman in a ' nightdress, with an albatross perched on ; ' top of it, also that the trunk of another : body floated by so close to the ship as to ' . receive on it the water of the main discharge. The sea was Tunning mountains "- high when the Tottenham was proceeding on her voyage ; and the conclusion come to • aboard the ship was that the Waratah took • a head sea, and before she had time to recover .took another, staving in , the fore- >.■ h«fch* 4fid foundered/*- .--■' ■--« •'.- .?;».■■*• = ■ •:*',• .', -v" " "" Westpokt, Sunday. ' Day, ex-second officer of the Tottenham, in a further interview ' to-day, ■ said .that : when the lieutenant of H.M:S. '■••;; Forte put off in a boat in Simon's Bay, into which the Tottenham had run for ; shelter, to make inquiries .whether the .Tottenham, had seen any sign of the Waratah, . strict y instructions were given on the Tottenham to say nothing of the affair. He overheard an apprentice by '"': request give : an account of what he had i seen to a gentleman whom he believed ' to be the agent for the Tottenham, or 'who had something to do with the ship's vM cargo at Melbourne, and' the apprentice . was 'advised to say nothing of the affair, '''■' y■as it might- cause friction." < » .■ , ~ " Let me remark," added ; Day, " lest >k- people think I bear prejudice against any- ;]'•. one, that such a suggestion, if it is made, „ is •"absolutely. incorrect. I deny any pre- '*. judice and any statement I have made ' here! am willing to make on oath. My reason for making this statement now ,is that while I was on the . vessel orders ! were given to keep the thing quiet, and -' now I am off the vessel I am free to 0:.- speak -"my mind in regard to what I. saw | ■• and what others on the ship told me they saw. I have clean discharges and , credentials from all the ships on which I .'.have served." - y ■ /.Three gentlemen in Westport state they ! heard the story of what was seen from the - second engineer, who, is reported .as ■slating that he is positive '.he saw the .. body of a child float past the ship, and that the effect of what they .saw. that ,"-' day put.them off , their food for several •■/days. The Tottenham carried Chinese firemen, one of whom is reported as hay. ing. remarked, at the time: "Plenty-of 1; people in the sea."