THE WARATAH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2695, 28 December 1909, Page 5

THE WARATAH.

ALARMING REPORTS.

A SERIES OF SENSATIONS

• One of the most remarkable features in connection with the missing Waratah is the number of reports of a sensational and varied character made from time to time, apparently on the very best authority, and yet which on investigation proved to be without foundation.

Another extraordinary coincidence is the fact that two commanders, of two British steamers reported having witnessed undoubted traces of shipwreck, and yet, contrary to the traditions of the mercantile marine, made no effort to investigate or to offer any help that might have been required. COAL ON THE BRIDGE DECK. The first alarming report circulated after the Waratah was reported overdue was that the steamer took 300 tons of coal on her bridge deck, after discharging at Durban. This statement, following quickly on a widely-circulat-ed rumor that the Waratah was topheavy, created a profound sensation, not only in the minds of the friends of passengers, but also among underwriters and those interested in shipping generally. But inquiry elicited the fact that the report was by no means true. The Waratah took on board 2000 or 2500 tons of bunker coal at Durban, which had an important bearing on her stability. The remaining 250 or 300 tons tons were loaded in a compartment under the bridge deck, known a s the bridge space, which has frequently been used as a bunker hold. As a matter of fact, she had coal in this compartment on departure from Sydney. There was absolutely no space on the steamer’s bridge deck where coal could be stacked.

According to the plans of the Waratah, the bridge deck was just beneath the promenade deck, and most of the saloon accommodation was situated there. Above the promenade deck was the boat deck, and above that again the bridge. The bridge deck socalled was not used by the officers for the purpose of navigating tlfe vessel, and the term had no doubt caused confusion.

Mr G. S. Richardson, an engineering expert, of Geelong, who was a passenger from Melbourne to Durban by the Waratah, praised the vessel and her machinery, and declared that, so far from being’ a source of danger, the Waratah’s bunker coal assured her a maximum of steadiness. VESSEL REPORTED IN SIGHT.

The next report circulated was that the AVaratali had been sighted. This was on August 10, when the vessel was 12 days overdue at Capetown. The agents of the Blue Anchor line at Durban received the following telegram: “East London Signal Station. Monday.—Blue Anchor vessel sighted a considerable distance out; slowly making for Durban, where she' will probably arrive * Tuesday.” It was suggested that the vessel was the Waratah, no other Blue Anchor liner being on the South African coast at the time, and hope was once more renewed. This notification was followed by a statement that the sighting of a Lund steamer out from East London signal station had not been confirmed. It was noted that the wind had been blowing shorewards, and this discredited the theory that the Waratah had been carried very far eastward. PASSENGER’S STARTLING STORY. About the same time Mr Claud G. Sawyer, who joined the Waratah at Sydney and disembarked at Durban, unfolded a story of a startling nature, and declared that he abandoned the vessel before he had completed his journey to Capetown for the reason that he did not regard her as safe. He continued his journey by the UnionCastle liner Kildonan, and on arrival at Capetown he said: “It was about 10 days before we arrived at Durban that I decided .to leave the ship; because I was not quite satisfied with her. and the way in which she behaved. She pitched and rolled, as the case might be, so dead; she was anything but lively. She recovered herself very slowly, and stayed in the position in which she was when rolling or pitching for a long while before recovering. I even spoke about the rolling to one of the officers ; on another occasion I spoke to a passenger, a solicitor, of Melbourne, who conducts most of the leading shipping cases there — Mr Ebsworth and who had been a sailor and an officer for seven years. I spoke to him about the rolling. We decided one day, accordingly, to watch the Waratak’s behavior. ■ It was a calm, fine day, with big rollers coming straight toward s us, going fore and aft. Whenever a particularly big roller came the ship did not take it as she, should have done, but put her nose right into it and remained there, apparently without any life m her. Mr Ebsworth was, I thought, rather upset, and said that it was the first time in the whole of his experience that he had seen a ship do this. I often watched this afterwards, and several times told other passengers that I wished I were off her, the last time 1 said so being to a Mr Muller, when we wrire within sight of Durban on the Sunday morning. T “Several times during the voyage I looked at the list of the passengers, as distributed by the captain amongst the various boats in case of an emergency. Mine was No. 4 with Morgan, Muller, ‘ and rivith the ; third officer in charge, and" on drill day I saw that our boat had a water-cask. -However, if -the , ship turned turtle,..there would not, cn course, have been "time to get the boats out. On that account I made the change at Durban, and 1 tried to persuade several other passengers to do the same. Several times after leaving Sydney I thought she was higher,out

of the water than any ship I had seen, except one. “One morning while in my bath I was astonished to see the water suddenly rush to one side of the bath, the ship having heeled over to an angle of apparently over 54 degrees. The water remained in this position so long that it brought to my mind what befell H.M.S. Captain in the Bay of Biscay. I spoke to one of the officers, and asked him what angle the ship registered. He said he did not know, whereupon I asked him it he had an instrument on the bridge, to which he replied that they had not, but the builder had seen to this, and he supposed it was all right.” The alarming statements of Mr Sawyer were contradicted publicly by three other passengers, -who also disembarked at Durban —Mr Saunders, Mr Richardson, and Mr Morgan—all of wUdm declared that the Waratah behaved splendidly. _ > The story was also greatly discounted by a statement by Messrs Gilchrist, Watt, and Sanderson, the agents at Sydney, who reported that Mr Sawyer booked his passage to Durban only,

and not to Capetown. THE FARMER’S STORY.

When the Waratah was more than a fortnight overdue there arrived at East London from one of the far-away coastal districts an intelligent, farmer named Beet, who minutely described a vessel that he had seen in distress.

But for a discrepancy in the dates it would have been generally accepi-jd that the steamer sighted by him was the Waratah. * Mr Beet was positive that the s gnabs of the vessel in distress were m'toe cu Monday, July 26, on which day the Waratah was safely in port at Durban, many miles distant, for she onlpsailed at 8 o’clock that night. As Mr Beet, however, like many farmers calculated the dates by event s instead of by a calendar, there is a possibility that the date was July 27, and if this proves to be so there can be no doubt that he witnessed the Waratah going to her doom with nearly a couple of hundred' of valuable lives. Mr Beet’s story was to the effect that on that evening he saw a large R teamer at a point opposite Cove Rock, and about six miles out to sea, steaming slowly westwards. After proceeding some 10 miles along the usual trade route she stopped, blew off steam, and finally appeared to be drifting back towards East London, along a course two miles nearer in shore .rolling heavily, and showing signals of distress. On reaching a point near Cove Rock again she altered her course outwards, and finally disappeared. “My brother Arthur watched the vessel with me for some time, and said it appeared to be in distress.” Farmer Beet said, when giving his experiences to the officials at East London, “It is unusual for any vessel to approach so close inshore as this one did, unless disabled. The whole time that the vessel was under observation she appeared to be rolling heavily. “About 8 p.m. on the same day I was in bed when I noticed three flashes as if lightning- 1 remarked to my housekeeper that we were going to have a thunderstorm. She went outside, and came back, saying that the sky was quite clear. Subsequently, I met Mr Ronald Maclean, and he said about 8 p.m. on Tuesday lie was returning to his home at Cove Rock from East London, and saw three rocketsi discharged from beyond Cove Rock. Besides my brother and _ myself, my housekeeper "and two natives saw ihe vessel in distress. I am quite sure of the day (Monday), as I had to give my brother, who was going to East Lon-* don, an order for supplies for the shop. I had the vessel under observation for about an hour altogether.” The captain of the Guelph reported having sighted a vessel which he believed to be the "Waratah, east of East London at 10 o'clock on the night of Tuesday, July 27.

AN EXTRAORDINARY COINCIDENCE. Another report which resulted, in speculation as to the fate of the \\ a rata h was received on August 21, when it was announced for the first tima that the French steamer Menarandra, bound from Madagascar to East London, was 24 days overdue at her destination—practically the same number of days that the Waratah was overdue at Capetown from Durban. The fact that two vessels were missing on the same coast at the same time led. to many theories being advanced. It was suggested by the more hopeful that the Menarandra was standing by the broken-down Waratah, or perhaps was towing her slowly to a haven of refuge. The Waratah was a vessel of nearly 10,000 tons, while the Menar-, andra was of but 1065 tons, and it was realised that towage would be a* slow process. Pessimists suggested that the Waratah and Menarandra had been in collision, or that both vessels had foundered in the great tempest. Some days later the belief was ex—pressed that the Menarandra had been.’ lost, and it was not until September 3 that it was reported that the Frenchvessel had arrived at Diego Suarez >: Madagascar, in a. damaged condition. THE VESSEL SAILS FROM DURBAN. The Waratah left the port of Durban bound for Capetown, SO9 miie s distant, at 8 o’clock on the night of Monday,'July 2d, and was expected to arrive at Capetown on July 29.. When, she sailed she was drawing 28 feet 9 inches, and the weather was fine and the seas were calm. The Waratah usually steamed at a speed of between 13 i\nd 14 knots, and should have covered the distance in about 2£ days. The vessel was navigated out of Durban by a pilot, and he was therefore the last person to leave the ship before disaster overtook her. The pilot had no misgivings concerning the stability of* the vessel—indeed, he was. charmed with her. In giving his views some time later the pilot said that the. Waratah was just the sort of vessel! that any seafaring person would pick for a voyage, and wlien he left her outside Durban on the night of July 26 and she turned her bow s on her journey to Capetown he could detect nothing wrong. Tlie atmosphere was clear, and there was nothing unusual in the state of the weather on that night.