AEROPLANE'S DISCOVERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21980, 15 June 1933, Page 7

AEROPLANE'S DISCOVERY

LOSS OF WARATAH RECALLED ADMIRALTY TO INVESTIGATE CAPETOWN, June 14. (Received June 14, at 5.5 p.m.) An aeroplane with a marine surveyor on board left Durban on Tuesday in an attempt to locate an obstruction on the sea bottom off # the Umcababa River on the Natal coast, which recently holed a passing vessel. The aeroplane, flying at 2000 feet above the sea, saw a large, dark object 185 feet long and 45 feet broad, which is believed to be a submerged wreck, and Durban opinion inclines to the view that it is the remains of the Waratah, which was lost about July 28, 1909, . en route to Capetown. Further steps are being taken by the Admiralty. WARATAH SUGGESTION RIDICULED.

CAPETOWN, June 14. (Received June 15, at 0.25 a.m.)

The authorities ridicule the suggestion that the submerged object is the wreck of the Waratah, which was last spoken 150 miles southwards. The Waratah had high deck fittings, which would be observable periodically in the 60 feet of water where the supposed wreck lies. If it ’S a wreck it is believed to be the Trichera, which was last heard of in 1903 and which was carrying a cargo of sleepers from Bunbury. , >