THE WARATAH

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 24

THE WARATAH

GIVEN UP AS LOST.

LONDON, November 9. i Lloyds have abandoned all hope cf the Waratah, wihi2h is now uninsurable.

|" "Old Sailor." writing to the Sydney I Daily Telegraph regarding the disappeari anoe of the Waratah, says : — *' I do not : suppose thore is any part of the known j globe where more 6hips of the highest ' class and value have disappeared than off ' the coast of South Africa. Along the edge of the Agulhas Bank, to the S.W. about 250 miles or more, the Aguihas current at times will. run, five knots an hour to the S.W. Cai anyone imagine what a gale of wind blowing in the face of such a current •n the open ocean would be like? The vessels I have commanded have .at times nearly foundered. One voyage "my vessel was thrown on her beam ends "Under storm canvas, the cargo- shifted, and the decks swept of all movables. We jettisoned some cargo tc upright the vessel. At noon the next dayour p.R.' put : us -50 miles off the coasts; -by observation -we were 106 .miles off it, and set to windward in the teerK of the gale. v It took- ue two days to get back 1 to the' land-. -The Agulhas current always driv,es the vessel out to. the southward. A shjpj standing inshore rakes double the i time* tc , standing " otttshore. On a' former voyage I was' «et~ to windward against a gale- -85' miles in 24- hours. The current runs full strength along the edge of the bank. Every 10 miles outside of that the current will trend off to the southward, and in about 36Jjdeg south the stream will j run south-east. The Waratah, if afloat, would drift in the wake of the currents as ' above described, eventually drifting east in 37deg to 38deg S. lat I have many times run down the easting to the colonies in the , so-called Boaring Forties,- but the brave ; westerly winds I saw little of. All great runs made by the clipper ships were by N.SJ. winds, veering round by the N.W. westerly, but never remaining long west, yoing suddenly into a southerly buster or lulling a few minutes before the ehiffc, then recommencing from.N.E. Many times 1 have experienced an east, current. If the Waratah is' afloat . she . *ould :- never drift south of the icaraUefc of 40deg. Steamers bound to the colonies followed the sailer route, say 44deg to 45'deg southward, and are not at all likely to' -fall in with the Waratah ; but"' I do not think she is afloat,

although it is strange there is no report of any wreckage."