THE MISSING WARATAH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2614, 23 September 1909, Page 5

THE MISSING WARATAH.

CABLE NEWS.

AN UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH

United Press Association— Copyright (Received September 22, 9.55 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 22.

The steamer Wilcannia reached Durban from Sydney,, and reports that she did not see the Waratah. She deviated from her course in the liope of meeting the latter.

A PESSIMISTIC VIEW. A veteran shipmaster, who for many years has traded between England and New Zealand, and who has rounded l the Cape of Good Hope many times in the course of his voyagings, informed a “Christchurch Press’’ reporter last week that it was his firm conviction that it was in every way unlikely that 1 the Waratah was afloat. He pointed out that she was almost a brand-new vessel, of the most modern type, fitted with powerful engines and twin-screws, and therefore it was extremely improbable that both engines or both screws had broken down. With one engine and one screw the vessel would have reached port without difficulty. He further no in ted out that if the rudder and steering gear had been broken or disabled, the Waratah could still ’have been taken into port. There were several instances of twin-screw steamers, having disabled rudders or steering gear, reaching port in safety. In this, connection might be cited the case of one of the Norddeutscher-Lloyd’s fast trans-Atlantic mail steamers which last year broke her rudder several hundred miles away from land. She was steered by means of her twin screws and made her usual' calls at Queenstown and Cherbourg on her may to Bremen, and was not 'a great deal behind time. The shipmaster stated that, assuming the correctness of the theory that the Waratah had broken down, the “set” of the current frOm Durban would preclude the possibility of her drifting very far from the African coast. He stated that there was a well-defined current of about 14 to 2 knots an hour down the coast past Durban, round the Agulhas Bank, and thence in a northeasterlv direction into the Atlantic. Thus the Waratah, if she had been disabled, would have drifted in this current, in sight of the coast, and in the track of the many steamers trading round the South African Coast. Assuming again that she had drifted round past the Cape of Good Hope, the current would have carried her in a northeaster’v direction into the Atlantic. Thus the Waratah, if she had been disabled, would have drifted in this current, in sight of the coast, and in the track of the many steamers trading ■round the South African Coast. _ Assuming again that she had drifted round past the Cape of Good Hope, the current would have carried hep in a north-westerly direction and still in the fairway of the trade routes and stea 1 - mer “tracks.” The caotain stated that he did not hold with the popular idea that the Waratah had drifted to the southward and eastward, as to do so she would have had to be a hundred miles or more from the coast to get into the current, which set to the southward. The Waikato, when she broke ber shaft, was at least two or three days’ steaming time to the south-east of Capetown. The reporter’s informant stated that he called at Durban last year on his way from Adelaide to London, and took precisely the same course as was followed by steamers round the South African Coast. After leaving Durban, he kept about ten miles off the land, and had the benefit of the current all the way round the coast. His theory regarding the Waratah was that, shortly after leaving Durban the Waratah “turned turtle” in the night time. Asked why no wreckage or bodies had been found, he stated that most of the ship’s company would be below at the time, and as the weather was very ’ bad, everything movable about the decks would be securely lashed to prevent its getting adrift. Furthermore, the sea was very deep, 100 to 130 fathoms being the depth to within three or four miles of the land. He scouted the idea that the vessel was carrying 300 or 400 tons of coal “on deck,” "but he understood that her bunkers extended by means of trunkways up to her boat decks. The vessel probably landed a quantity of wheat and flour from Adelaide at Durban, and would replenish her hunkers at the latter port, so that if she were in any way “tender,” as had been hinted, the probability of thq theory that she capsized in the terrific seas would be s materially strengthened. J/f the ship sank upon a rocky bottom she would gradually break up and disgorge her contents. If, however, the bottom was sand or silt, she would be engulfed in the course of time, and all trace of her lost for ever. T,n conclusion, the shipmaster cited the case of the' big White Star liner Nomadic, of aliout 6000 tons, and at the time one of the latest steamers in the fleet, which “went missing” as the Waratah had gone. That was a good many years ago, and not the slightest trace of her was ever found.