THE MISSING WARATAH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 26 August 1909, Page 5

THE MISSING WARATAH.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE VESSEL. ; Some interesting recollections of a trip which he made on the Waratah during her maiden voyage are related by Mr O. C. Beale, who appears to have been a close observer of the general working of the ship and life on board.

“Captain Ilbery,” says Mr Beale, “is a watchful, earnest, and cool commander, who maintains excellent discipline without a display, of authority. His chief officer, Mr Owen, was previously on the Commonwealth, another Blit Anchor liner, and was considered by Joi colleagues to be an exceptionally accurate and careful navigator, eminently qualified to take command of a ship. In general admirable discipline was maintained. The engineering staff consist* of sterling and industrious men, from the chief engineer to the firemen. I was frequently in the company of all of them, and many became my personal friends. Chief-engineer Hodder himself received the w’hole of the machinery when it was erected in the ship, and the entire mass was delivered in 36 hours, while she was under the sheerlegs. It is a magnificent installation throughout of the most modern type, and it workd with perfect smoothness throughout the voyage. “Upon the trial of the Waratah a portion of the main steam-piping was considered by Mr Hodder to be inadequate, and it was removed on his advice, and replaced by more reliable work. She carries spare sections of the main driving shafts, with couplings of a new type, to admit of repairs and. replacements at sea that were before deemed -impracticable. She also carries a fine jobbing lathe and powerful drilling machine, both electrically driven, and a handsome outfit of engineers’ tools.

“During our voyage a fire broke out in one of the coa] bunkers, and it was subdued by the staff without flooding the bunkers, which would probably have been the last resort had serious danger threatened. It is perhaps not generally known that no intoxicating liquor of any kind is permitted to the working staff while at sea, and if, as a treat in the tropics, one desires to send a bottle of beer to each man, the captain’s permission must be obtained. The Waratah carries much top hamper, because of her numerous decks far above the water, her enormous funnel, many boats, and rafts, water tanks, ana some few stores. Nevertheless she was very stable during the whole trip. ‘Fiddles’ were scarcely once required on the tables, and on my dressing-table pot plants stood the whole voyage.” DIRECTION OF THE DRIFT. Nautical men agree that if the Waratah is helpless the direction of her drift will be east-south-east, but that there is little if any prospect of her being carried so far south as to be in danger of ice. It rarely occurs that ice is seen north of lat. 48deg. south, which is approximately 1000 miles below’ the latitude of, say, East London, in which locality the missing vessel was reported to have heen seen by the Union Castle liner Guelph. Even assuming that the Waratah broke down in the latitude of Capetown, she would have to drift 700 or 800 miles towards the south before there was any risk of her encountering ice, but the experiences of previous disabled vessels teaches that the tendency is to drift considerably more in an easterly direction —that is, towards Australia —than to the southward. A striking example of this is supplied by the movements of the Bovsric, w’hich lost her propeller in the Indian Ocan. and drifted for five weeks. Whilst in that period she wa s borne about 200 miles to the eastward, she hardly altered her position as regards latitude the whole time, the difference being only a few miles. Experienced, mariners, therefore, scout the suggestion that the Waratah might meet with icebergs during her drift.