111 YEARS AGO THE WORLD WAS SHOCKED BY THE LOSS OF THE ss WARATAH

                       
                                            
                                     ss WARATAH DEEPLY LADEN AT CAPETOWN.

                                        
                          CAPTAIN IILBERY FAR LEFT WITH WHITE BEARD.

ss JOHANNESBURG Spoke to Waratah on the evening of the 26th of July.

      ss CLAN MACINTYRE SPOKE TO WARATAH 0600 hrs JULY 27TH 1909.

  CAPTAIN PHILLIPS WHO WAS THE CHIEF OFFICER OF THE CLAN MACINTYRE AT THE TIME, AND SPOKE TO THE WARATAH AT 0600 hrs JULY 27TH 1909.

ss STRATHSPEY OVERTAKEN BY WARATAH ON THE AFTERNOON JULY 27TH 1909 

ss GUELPH THOUGHT SHE SPOKE TO WARATAH BY SIGNAL LAMP AT 2150 hrs ON THE EVENING OF JULY 27TH 1909. 

I have included some photographs as a reminder to to the followers of the Waratah, most I have dealt with in past blogs apart from the ss Strathspey. Many events never reached the court of inquiry and were kept under wraps but were forthcoming  coming after the inquiry closed including the latest stability figures which were too late to be included at the hearing. Once the great storm in which the Waratah was lost between Durban and Cape town started to filter through there were a great many nervous insurance brokers in London looking at late ships they had insured and had no word of them to date. The Strathspey was one such ship, owned by by Burrel and Sons of Glasgow she was built in 1906 being of 4432tons 111.8m x15.9 m, with a speed of 9 knots. Under the command of Captain Osbourne she was bound for Hamburg with a load of phosphates and had left Durban some 5 hours before the Waratah on the 26th of July 1909. Late in the afternoon of  the 27th of July Waratah overhauled the Strathspey which had taken the offshore shore course in the hope of picking up some more speed with the prevailing current. There is no record of signals exchanged but if in daylight it would have been by signal flags and therefore merely a short one with regards to identity of each other.

According to Mr. Pomeroy 3rd engineer the passengers could be clearly seen on deck in the late afternoon and the ship appeared in good trim. Toward the late evening a fearful gale blew up.  The sea became mountainous and the vessel had to be turned stern to the wind and his opinion of the fate of the Waratah is that she caught the gale beam on, and the sea immediately smashed right over her and caused her to founder. 
A second witness 
that saw the Waratah was the second officer of the Strathspey Mr .G.M Miller who said,"Later that night a fierce westerly gale bore down on his ship.A mountainous sea was quickly  worked up, and the Strathspey was completely helpless. She rolled heavily and shipped sea after sea,and as night  wore on the elements were fiercer than ever.Stout deck fittings were torn from their setting and the officers and crew passed a very trying time until daylight broke.In a few hours she had been driven back on her course line 23 miles and a continuance of heavy weather for some days delayed her arrival at Las Palmas to such an extent that 14% Re-insurance was paid on the vessel.Mr.Miller said "he does not hold with the theory Waratah put her nose into it and took a header,(nose dive). He thought that in the heavy weather her steering gear was damaged, or else her engines broke down. In such a gale, no vessel momentarily out of control could hope to live, and before repairs could be affected the Waratah was overwhelmed and foundered.

Prior to the Court of Marine Inquiry the Board of Trade would have been aware of the ferocity of the storm and damage to the ships.This gave them the opening of saying she she foundered in a storm of exceptional force and thereby over looking the Latent defects in the ship which could well have contributed in her loss leaving no one to blame in her design and construction.

After 111 years we shall not forget them and will continue to remember those 211 souls including Stoways

READERS QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

Please note all my work is Copy-write.

MR. J. OOSTHUIZEN  from the Western Cape in South Africa asks; Did the Waratah have the same crew when she sailed from Australia or did some leave her before she sank?

   

ANSWER, No, she had crew members pay off in Australia and was actually short handed for the voyage back to London,

             LIST OF CREW MEMBERS THAT LEFT THE WARATAH IN AUSTRALIA.
 NAME                NATIONALITY          RATING              RACE                      DISCHARGED.

H. S. Thomas          British                        Surgeon               Australian                    Sydney
E.D. Dischler          Finnish                          AB                       Finn                          Sydney
W.Smith                  British                           AB                       European                  Sydney
D. Cunningham      British                           AB                       European                   Melbourne
C. Crisp                  British                           AB                       European                   Sydney
W.M.MacDonald   British                           AB                       Australian                 Melbourne
E.Lewis                  British                           AB                       Australian                   Sydney
W. Baker                British                           AB                       European                    Sydney
W. Marshall           British                           Trimmer               European                    Sydney
A. Thompson         British                           Trimmer               Australian                  Melbourne
T. Bloomfield        British                           2nd Steward         European                    Sydney
A.B. Wilson          British                           Gen.servant          European                    Sydney
W.W. Shore           British                           Gen.servant         European                    Sydney
Mary Anderson     British                           2nd stewardess    European                    Adelaide
W.S. Power           British                           Gen.servant        European                    Sydney
W. Merry              British                           Gen.servant         European                    Adelaide
S.Lyons                British                           Gen.servant         European                     Sydney
W.W.Dewey         British                           Gen.servant         European                     Melbourne
N. Sharpe             British                            AB                      European                     Sydney
F. Little                British                            Gen.servant         European                     Durban
R.Young              British                             Trimmer              European,failed to join ship Sydney
A.E Harmall        British                             Trimmer              European, failed to join ship Sydney


                                                         12 crew discharged Sydney
                                                          4 crew  discharged Melbourne
                                                          1 desertion in Melbourne
                                                          1 failed to join ship in Melbourne
                                                          2 crew discharged Adelaide
                                                          1 crew discharged Durban.

                           Extract from Victorian police gazette offering rewards for deserters. 

Deserters were only hunted within a fifty mile radius of the port where they jumped ship, this is why William Lund later to become the owner of the Blue Anchor Line when he deserted a sailing ship  in Adelaide was getting ready to travel inland for work outside of the police due restriction knowing he would be safe from arrest, unfortunately he was arrested before he cover the fifty miles from Adelaide.

Before leaving Adelaide for Durban Captain Ilbery could only manage to to get six passage workers signed on at 1 shilling per month for the voyage back to London. In the case of Frederick Little who left the ship in Durban, told the Court of inquiry on  day three the  3rd of December 1910 that he had left the ship to find work ashore. In actual fact reading through his evidence I believe he left the ship because he was frightened of her and had over heard the officers talking about the severe rolling along with other crewmen telling him the ship was top heavy. Whether or not he found work ashore is not mentioned but he did find his back to London on another ship and appeared before the inquiry.  

    

READERS QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

Mr.  B.  Peterson from Oslo Norway asks, why did the Waratah have different doctors instead of one regular surgeon on her voyages?

Answer; The doctors that signed on the ships articles for the Waratah were usually working their passage say from London to Australia as a means of not having to pay passage money for the voyage and it was the same for the doctors wanting leave Australia to go and work in places within the U.K. or London itself. Some doctors would sign on with ships of other companies just to see the world and at the end of such a round trip were given the option to sign on again if they so desired. The average pay for a ships surgeon was about nine pound per month but in the case of two shipping companies Thompson's Aberdeen Line and Lund's Blue Anchor line, surgeons were not paid. Under the Merchant Shipping Act they were placed on the ships articles and had to be paid 1 shilling per month which they received when signing off the ship. In the case of Doctor H.S. Thomas who was the surgeon on the second  voyage  of the Waratah to Sydney, he was accompanied by his wife and would have been required to pay only for her meals or a token fare of about 10 pounds, he signed off in Sydney on the 17th of June 1909 and proceeded to Kyogle in Northern New South Wales where commenced a private  practice in that town on the 24th of November 1909.

                                                           
                                                           Old style medicine chest.

The surgeons filled two roles on Board the Waratah and other ships,he is the official Medical Officer for the health of the ship, and also of the third class emigrant passengers. In the case of saloon passengers he is purely a practical private practitioner, and is considered to to be at their  convenience  if called upon, providing the official health of the ship is not in question.

The Merchant Shipping Act at the time required the presence of a duly authorized medical practitioner' on all British Foreign Going Ships Having:

1. More than fifty steerage passengers on board,

2.One hundred or more of a crew,

3. Three hundred or more total souls on board.

The Act states that his services are to be provided Gratis by the owners for steerage or emigrant passengers and crew.
On most ships of that period the medical officer was known by the slang term of PILLS among the officers and crew of the ship.

                                                       Ships doctor uniform epaulettes.

   To all my readers world wide wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year



.                      

PART 2, WAS IT OFFICIALDOM THAT ALLOWED THE WARARTAH TO VANISH

                                     PART 2 CONTINUED.

A further letter one of many written to Samuel Plimsoll,
A letter written from Sir Henry Elliot, her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople with his house close to the water.
Dear Mr. Plimsoll, - you ask whether I have observed that English vessels were frequently over-loaded, I can have no hesitation in saying that I have constantly seen English ships pass so deep in the water that they looked to me quite unfit to face bad weather. Last year a considerable number of vessels past with a more or less serious list, showing that the cargo had shifted in the short passage from across the Black Sea.
Yours Sincerely,    HENRY ELLIOT.

                                                   Sir Henry Elliot British Ambassador. 

It wasn't just clipper ships sailing in the overloaded and listing conditions as described, this situation and losses extended to steamships  with the Board of Trade showing  a disinterest into such losses. One would have thought that after all the years and arguments to finally have a load line made compulsory known as the Plimsoll line painted on all ships, that  the same thing could still happen to ships, now mainly steamers being lost.

                                                    
                                                        The loading lines explained.

 Plimsoll  lines on a modern ship, L- R means the ship is in survey with Lloyds Register.

The Board of trade was the main body for investigating shipping casualties and appointing a board of inquiry in accordance with the sections 465/466/467/468 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894. The Board of Trade did not always act in the spirit of the law for reasons only known by them. There were many cases of ships lost with all hands and yet no inquiries were held.

                                                WHY ?
It had got to such state that this same question was asked in the House of Lords in July 1908, (one year before the Waratah went missing).
Here, I now refer to Hansard.

Lord Muskeery rose to address the Lords to call attention to the fact that the Board of Trade have not ordered formal investigations in respect of two steamships, the GRINDON HALL, and the NEPTUNE both given up with all hands.

In addressing the Lords, he said, 

"It is a serious moment and well worthy of your Lordships attention. The tragedy of a missing ship and the unknown fate of her crew, is unfortunately, not uncommon, and it is an occurrence which we all deplore when we hear of it. In justice to  the men who have gone to their doom in such away, and even more so, in justice to their widows, and orphans and other dependents they may have left behind, it is our bound duty to cause a public investigation into such disaster. "
Lord Muskeery went on to say; 

"He was astonished to find the Board of Trade look at matters from quite a  different stand point. If a ship runs ashore, and there is a chance that an unfortunate Captain of officer may be implicated and punished, a formal investigation is speedily ordered and proceeded with. But evidently missing ships receive by no means the same zealous attention by the Board of Trade. In their case all that seems to be necessary is a preliminary inquiry conducted in private by somebody nominated by the Board of Trade. Usually it is the Collector of Customs, who can hardly be deemed a competent judge on nautical affairs. We are denied an investigation in open Court, where all the witnesses obtainable who can give material evidence and be called to be subject to cross examination which would allow the Court to come to some form of conclusion. It is only by cross examination that the veracity of a witness and the worth of his evidence are properly tested, and preliminary inquiries, where ex parte statements only are obtained, and absolutely worthless.

The first case I wish to desire to bring to your Lordships notice is that of the steamer "NEPTUNE" which left port on the 1st of January last, and has never since been seen or heard of. Even though I understand that the Imperial Merchant service Guild has informed the Board of Trade that they feel the matter is one which demands thorough inquiry, and so far as I can gather, the Marine Engineers Association representing the certificated engineers of this country, are of the same opinion. 

The Board of Trade, in reply to the Guild state that;
From the information before them concerning NEPTUNE, they do not think that any useful purpose would be served by a formal inquiry, but that they would be prepared to reconsider the their decision should any fresh facts of importance be brought to their notice.
(Pity those poor relatives and their feelings over the loss of their loved ones gone missing)

Lord Muskeery continued;
"It is the clear business of the Board of Trade itself to elicit as many facts as possible in connection with shipping casualties, and my contention is that they cannot do so without public investigation and the cross examination of the various witnesses who are able to give any evidence bearing on the case. The information supplied to the Board of Trade as a result of the private preliminary inquiry is, I presume quietly pidgeon holed, and the public are absolutely in the dark as to ay details connected with the NEPTUNE on her last voyage. Her Captain did not I believe have a Board of Trade certificate, though I do not mention this as having anything to do with the loss, I have, however, seen letters from a near relation of one of the leading crew members of the NEPTUNE who refers to different matters which seem to warrant thorough investigation, if only, as I have said before, for the purpose of quieting what might be unnecessary and unjust suspicion.

               

                          Lord Muskeery showed utter disdain towards the Board of Trade.  

The second ship that was mentioned before the House of Lords by Lord Muskeery was the GRINDON HALL owned by Messrs. Edward Nichol and Company of Cardiff, This ship I feel would never have been investigated if it were not for the fact that the Board of Trade came under scathing attacks from Lord Muskeery and other members of the house, obviously feeling the pressure the Board decided to act. The GRINDON HALL was a Doxford designed turret ship and was launched in 1905 and disappeared in 1907 after only two short years in service was still a relatively a new ship. The first inklings of the GRINDON HALL'S fate started to trickle in via newspapers.

 On the 3rd of December 1907. Feared loss of a steamer; It is feared that the Cardiff steamer Grindon Hall, has been lost at sea with all hands in the Black Sea.

31st of December 1907, The British steamer Grindon Hall, which left Sulina on December 4th with valuable grain cargo for Glasgow, is regarded as hopeless. Nothing has been seen or heard of her and reports from Constantinople indicate she never passed through the Bosporus. The vessel was insured for 30,000 pounds.

9th of January 1908, A damaged lifeboat of the British steamer Grindon Hall, believed to have sunk in the Black Sea , has been picked up in those waters, it is practically certain that this vessel was lost about December 7th.  

The Grindon Hall official number 119978 steam screw ship of the turret type, constructed of steel built at Sunderland by Messrs. William Doxford &Sons, Ltd. 

length 342.2 Feet X Breadth 46.6 feet, with a depth of the hold from the tonnage deck amidships 24.75 feet. Powered by a triple expansion engine giving 313 HP (nominal), speed 9.5 knots.

Her  registered tonnage was that of 2380.30 net tons, the ship was delivered to her owners on the 21st of September 1905.

As previously mentioned by Lord Muskeery, the general practice is for the  preliminary inquiry to be held before the Collector of Customs, but in this case of the GRINDON HALL, the Board of Trade specially nominated the Stipendiary Magistrate at Cardiff, assisted by Captain W.B, Bigley as nautical assessor, to conduct the preliminary inquiry, and so did the solicitor for the owners of the steamer. Various witnesses attended for the purpose of giving evidence, at the outset of the proceedings, the stipendiary magistrate ordered the Court be cleared, stating it was only a preliminary hearing, and the shorthand writer was alone allowed to remain in his official capacity as shorthand writer to the Board of Trade. The solicitor for the owners inquiring whether he was to leave the Court also, the stipendiary curtly replied "certainly". the proceedings were then conducted in privacy.

It was later shown from the report emerging from the inquiry, that certain witnesses described how the Captain was branded as a perjurer and responsible for taking his own life and that of the crew members with him by sailing from Sulina. The Captain had made a declaration in writing before the British Consul, stating that he had loaded his cargo in accordance with section 454 of the Merchant Shipping Act, as was required by law. Once again Lord Muskeery said he had seen letters from shipmasters that took an interest in the case, and knew a great deal about the GRINDON HALL, but thought it improper to discuss it before the Lords. The inquiry determined that the GRINDON HALL had foundered in consequence of her instability as laden.

Law Courts and Town hall Cardiff where the Inquiry of the Grindon Hall was held in secret.  

                             

                                   

WAS IT OFFICIALDOM THAT ALLOWED THE WARATAH TO VANISH?

       MEN AND SHIPS WERE LOST BUT WHO CARED?

For many years men and ships were lost under the British flag but no one officially cared and there were very few and far reaching inquiries conducted by the Board of Trade. To understand the background to this legalized bloody  slaughter caused by one single factor GREED which still existed up to the days when the ss Waratah and other three decked ships disappeared in 1909., we must go back to the period of when sailors suffered privation on board unsafe ships living under the fear of prison if they refused to sail on these floating coffins. It was this combined with the such heavy losses of ships and lives that induced Mr. Samuel Plimsoll M.P. to fight to save the thousands of lives of men going to sea in unseaworthy, overloaded, rotting ships, never to complete their voyages,  also to  introduce legislation to prevent or significantly reduce future losses of men and ships.

                             
                                                             Samuel Plimsoll M.P.
Samuel Plimsoll made many enemies in Parliament controlled by some of the wealthiest ship owners of the land. Every reform  and Bill he tried to introduce into Parliament was bitterly contested by them and any interference in to their un- safe practices of sending unseaworthy ships and men to sea with minimum cost to them was deeply resented. Over loading ships was only one of the crimes he fought against.

                                                               Overloading of Timber Ships.
There were laws in place for the loading of timber carrying ships both steam and sail with the main supply of timber coming from Canada and some from America. Even though there were laws regarding the carriage of timber restricted to below decks which Canada strictly adhered to, when vessels completed their loading at Canadian ports, shipowners soon circumvented these laws resulting in many ships and lives being lost. As far back as 1839  it was brought to the  public attention the dreadful loss of life which was caused by the overloading of timber cargos on deck. To by pass the law a, ship for example would load timber in Canadian Port  accordingly then crossing the river St. Croix, which divides Canada from America, then take on board deck cargo which was prohibited on the other side of the river.

                                          
                                   St. Croix River, Canada one side America the other.

Vessels would also load up in the St. Lawrence and the bay of Fundy then proceeded down to the American port of Eastport to take on a load of timber as deck cargo. (I  can imagine how this timber must have impeded the working of those  poor sailors on deck especially trying to work the sails of a sailing ship in heavy weather.

           
    It must have been a nightmare with many leg injuries sustained amongst the timber, note the upright vertical wooden preventer props in front of the men, they show how much higher the cargo will be stacked on the deck as she is only partially loaded.

The loss of life in this trade was horrendous planked timber or logs on deck were the cause of the capsizing of  many ships, stability was greatly affected due to water being in wet logs loaded , rain and sea water absorption at sea, formation of ice on the cargo when applicable, shifting cargo due to poor lashings also if the bottom cargo shifted in the holds this led to heavy listing making the ship hard if not impossible to handle with the heavy deck load. Some of these vessels took ages to reach home ports and some became disabled and drifting running out of water and supplies, others just simply vanished. Hunger and starvation took place on some of these ships to such an extent that cannibalism was a common practice. In earlier days it was known as the law of the sea and those to be sacrificed were usually selected by lot. Plimsoll in one of his many speeches mentioned the following vessels found to be in dire straits, In one ship the FRANCIS SPAIGHT, the crew numbers were reduced in numbers by running out of water and provisions, it got to such a stage that four of their number were sacrificed, by lot, for the preservation of the rest. In another ship the EARL KELLIE, the second mate and two crew members were reported to have starved to death. On board the ship CALEDONIA  two crew members when close to  near death, had their throats slit for the sake of their blood. A passing  ship the DRYGDEN came upon the CALEDONIA and saved the crew just before they were to sacrifice a boy. The ship EARL MOIRA, four bodies were found under the maintop, ( usually the platform used as the crows nest) all dead,  They had cut away a canvas sail and rigged it around themselves as protection from the wind with part of one of their comrades hung up and swinging by the  neck next to them  a like butcher's meat in a stall. The body had been disembowled and eaten with another part of a leg chewed on.  Another ship ANNA MARIA, five bodies were found dead, with part of a leg of a woman by the side of one of them, who had evidently been feeding upon it.

It was not uncommon in those days  of 1863 onwards to have at least several ships a year reduced to the necessity of existing on the remains of their fellow seamen. Most of these timber ships overwhelmed in heavy storms opened up at the seams due to straining with the heavy cargo, the  ships then became waterlogged depending on the type of timber on board would then float about aimlessly until rescued or until they perished. In nearly all of the cases in these storms boats and deck housings were washed away  along with provisions and water casks leaving the men no choice but to climb aloft to avoid the seas washing over them.

                                                     Main top or the crows nest platform.

                                                         OVER LOADING OF GRAIN SHIPS

Samuel Plimsoll in his campaign for safer ships and their men was beginning to gain the attention of the public that began to stand behind him in spite of the opposition from some of the shipowners who despised him, it must be said however that some honest and good ship owners were on his side and backed his fight, One such owner was that of  George Thomson of the Aberdeen line who in 1837 launched a clipper ship the named the Samuel Plimsoll who was fast becoming known as the seamen's friend. Letters began to pour in from some very influential people who could see what the heartless ship owners were getting away with. The loss of grain ships was of some concern, and it was not only unseaworthy ships carrying this commodity being  the single cause but that over loading the ships until they were so deep down in the water that their ability to encounter the normal perils of a voyage and reach England safely was strictly a matter of chance.

Samuel Plimsoll  of the Aberdeen line in Sydney; later on steamship tickets of the  Lund's Blue Anchor Line and the Aberdeen line were inter changeable.

Most of the grain in the early 1870's was imported into the England coming from five corn loading ports in the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea has many more ports, it is fringed all round with many large and important commercial ports, all vessels loading at any of these ports for places outside the Black Sea Marmora, called the Bosphorus, and it is upon this channel that the city of Constantinople Istanbul is built. The channel  is narrow  at one bend  being 660 meters wide, on the banks of the channel many houses adorn each side allowing ships to be observed closely when passing this point.

                                                                                 
                                                                         Sea of Azov.

                                   The Bosporus Channel leading into the Sea of Marmara.



Plimsoll received letters from all parts of the world informing him of British homeward bound ships  being low in the water, eg, a letter from Dr. E. Dickson physician to the British Embassy at Constantinople.

Dear Sir, In reply to your inquiry, I beg to state that i have been living in Constantinople ever since 1857. During this interval of time I have seen thousands of vessels of all descriptions pass through the Straits of Bosphorus, a narrow channel about the width of the Thames, and allowing full view of every object in it. Amongst these I have noticed steamers coming from the Black Sea overladen to a frightful degree, the waterline appeared to be on a level with  the deck.In some instances the ships were tilted on their side, just as they would appear under canvas impelled by a strong side wind.In every instance that has come under my notice these vessels carried British colours. I have never seen a foreign vessel in similar circumstances. What I have stated is a matter of common notoriety in this port. I have often called the atttention of other spectators to these facts, and often had my own drawn to it by others. The recklessness and immorality of those who are responsible for such occurences cannot be to serverly censured. 

                                                                              Yours very truly, E.D. Dickson.  

                                                                       To be continued.                

AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT MYSELF TO NEW READERS

           WELCOME TO THE MANY NEW READERS.

IN RESPONSE TO MY LAST POST MANY  READERS HAVE ASKED ME TO DESCRIBE A BIT ABOUT MYSELF AND MY SEA EXPERIENCE. I SHOULD POINT OUT THAT TO FULLY WRITE ABOUT MY YEARS IN THE MARINE INDUSTRY WOULD INDEED FILL  A VERY LARGE VOLUMIOUS MANUSCRIPT FAR TO MUCH TO CRAM INTO A POST. TO OFFSET THIS WITHOUT THE FEAR OF APPEARING VAIN OR OSTENTATIOUS I HAVE ASSEMBLED A FEW BRIEF SNIPPETS TO GIVE READERS A SMALL INSIGHT INTO WHAT WAS A VERY REWARDING AND HAPPY CAREER.

                                                                     

                                                                     Home at last.

At a very early age  I ran away to sea just below the required age of sixteen for joining a ship that was required by the employment laws. Coming from a seafaring family it was inevitable that I should follow in the family members footsteps, my early childhood was filled with stories of distant lands and colourful ports described  in detail by them, which gave me a yearning to travel and see the world for myself. My first experiences at sea were aboard the small cargo auxiliary ketches that plied the waters between Melbourne Tasmania and the many islands of the Bass Strait that separated them, and is one of the most treacherous  stretches of water in the world having claimed many lives and ships.

                                               Argonaut II typical of the ketches I sailed on.
In 1958 I was still on the waters of Bass Strait looking to extend my experience on larger ships when a tragedy over came another ketch with the loss of all hands. It saddened the local nautical fraternity at the time with the tragic loss, it has always remained indelible in my mind and in a way it encouraged me  even further to join larger ships.

                                          The ketch Wil Watch lost with all hands in 1958.

Eventually I made it on to steamships and later on aboard more modern motor ships, the only position I could find at that time was that of a galley boy not what I wanted but at least it was a start. If I thought that the rough life on a ketches was really bad living in primitive conditions and nearly always wet, it was nothing compared to the life and conditions I was about to endure on the dirty coal burning tramp ships that I signed on to. Working as a galley boy cleaning pots and pans as well as peeling vegetables resulting in long hours working until late at night, with my last job before retiring for the day involved cleaning down the galley floor tiles of grease and other matter with boiling hot water and caustic crystals, when finally falling into my bunk  at the end of the day I  was totally worn out. In those days of  the steamships I joined  there was no such a thing as we know it today of O.H.A.S (occupational health and safety), given a job you carried it out without question not knowing it could have been injurious to your health in the long run. The crew apart from the officers, all lived together in the forecastle which included, seamen, stokers and trimmers. There were often squabbles ending in fights in these confined quarters amongst them over trivial matters, each  man treated his bunk as his own private domain and was very possessive over this space allotted to him, for other men to leave things on his bunk sparked many an argument. In a way it was a good learning curve in studying men of all nations at close quarters being of various characters along with their traits which put me in good stead in later years when selecting and signing on crew that could do the job required of them. My  first real break at becoming a  sailor came when the serving deck boy on  my ship took up with a lady ashore and jumped ship. The bosun whom I had become friendly with in my spare time and by my showing an avid interest in all deck matters spoke to the mate and I was duly appointed the position of deck boy as soon as a replacement for my job with the ships cook was found. It was from here in on that my career moved forward by working my way through the many hard situations I encountered, until finally reaching  the rank of master.

                                 Working on deck painting the scuppers with red lead paint.

During the many years I had developed a few hobbies and interests such as studying oceanography, marine archaeology purely as an amateur , hydrography, ship restoration, and also qualifying as an open water scuba diver. This latter interest saw me become a part time partner in a dive boat business when ever I had long leaves in between ships, we operated in Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef. I managed to dive on quite a few wrecks but none so famous as the Australian passenger ship the ss Yongala that perished in a ferocious cyclone off the Queensland coast in 1911 with the loss of all passengers and crew. When visiting Ascension island  in the mid South Atlantic Ocean, I dived on the now famous China wreck, a steamship lost in the 1920's in a storm carrying  what appeared to be Chinese porcelain. Both these wrecks I  believe are now visited by many recreational divers.

ss Yongala the passenger ship lost in a cyclone in 1911, now a popular diving attraction but is beginning to deteriorate rapidly after each cyclone that affects the sea bed  and the coral reef. 

Being a scuba diver came in handy especially  if I had my gear on board, I was able to dive under the ship and carry out an underwater survey of the hull much to the delight of the owners saving them an extension of time on dry docking.

Spending a number of years on the east coast of South Africa and Mozambique I had learnt to appreciate the south westerly flowing Agulhas current that at times could reach speeds up to as much as six knots. On occasions in suitable weather conditions I was able to utilize this current as a travelator to speed up my southerly voyages. When the winds from the south west blew against the current, the seas created some of the most dangerous conditions I have ever encountered causing many anxious moments and lack of sleep. On a number of occasions I was forced to run for shelter but on one particular voyage in the violent conditions encountered, I had no option but to hove to and ride it out to prevent further damage to deck fittings that had already suffered  as a result of shipping  green water, (heavy massive waves) (as point of interest, green water is also the term used by Naval Architects when designing the weight of water that deck plates can withstand before collapsing under pressure). I had at some stages through the years lectured at various institutes in Australia and overseas including South Africa and Mozambique both in navigation and seamanship. It while I was lecturing in Durban that I was seconded to the port of Beira in Mozambique on contract as a team leader to prepare student cadets to obtain their certificates as tug masters to operate the government tugs. This was a program funded by the Danish Government finance department who had donated two tugs and a pilot boat as part of the foreign aid donations being undertaken  by other countries to rebuild the  port of Beira after it was totally destroyed in the civil war by the Rhodesian forces supporting the rebels Remano fighting the then Marxist leader President Samora Machel and his Government troops the Frelimo, over 100,000 lives or more is estimated to have been lost in this bloody conflict. I saw this war at first hand when carrying cargo into the war torn ports giving me some heart stopping moments and actual fear of losing my life at times. Some of the things I saw and encountered still remain vividly with me sadly I can't shake those visions of war. I will probably put up an anecdote at some stage on the dangers of operating a ship in the war zone. At a Lions function I was  invited as a guest speaker and  spoke of the  the Mozambique war, I could see by the faces of the audience they were truly shocked by what I had to say. Here I am digressing a bit so back to the training of the cadets.

 The initial contract was for one year with a house and car supplied,  I was appointed a chief engineer from South Africa to train and prepare the engineer cadets in the group for their engineers examination. All cadets both deck and engineering had at some time served on foreign going ships for sea time and experience so this gave us a good starting point towards their training. I was further appointed a Mozambique merchant navy deck officer to act as a liaison officer between myself and the cadets. The contract to be serviced was for twelve months but we completed in ten months with the most rigorous training they had ever undergone. This resulted in a personal commendation from the Danish finance minister who at one time attended on board a tug with us along with the port Captain of Beira when carrying out night training exercises in very rough weather outside Beira.

 
      Buzi one of a pair of tugs on which training of cadets took place on at the port of Beira.

On board the pilot vessel carrying out an assessment on each individual cadet in  the task of bringing the pilot boat alongside ships in all seas and weathers to embark and disembark pilots taking ships in and out of the port of Beira.  

Discussing with the chief engineer if we had enough diesel fuel for the next day of training on the tugs. Fuel was rationed and scarce and only a small amount was allotted to us which restricted our training program, however after making noises about the situation to the contractor who negotiated our contract, fuel  all of a sudden came flowing into our almost dry tanks. 

After more than forty one years at sea, I was forced to retire due to ill health and was disappointed to leave operational duties at sea of which I loved dearly and was so passionate about. The time had come to look at other options once ashore in order to stay connected within the marine industry. At times I acted as a marine surveyor and consultant, my last position was that with a major ferry company as their pier master a most enjoyable position. I previously mentioned that ship restoration was one of my many interests. In Melbourne in 1973 a wealthy business man purchased a de-commissioned pilot ship with the view to scrapping her. The ship the ss Akuna was formerly an ex corvette minesweeper the H.M.A.S Gladstone which was one of 64 built in Australia during the second world war. After her naval service she was acquired by the company of the Port Phillip Pilots to be on station outside the Port Phillip heads with pilots living aboard to bring ships in and out of Melbourne and the port of Geelong. They made a few alterations in the way of extra cabins beautifully fitted out in Queensland maple timber. Being a steamship and because of her age along the cost of her upkeep in maintenance, Akuna was sold off after being replaced by a more modern diesel electric ship the Wyuna. The new owner was convinced not to scrap  this historic piece of  Australian maritime heritage. The problem was the engine room had been dismantled and some parts had gone missing. I became involved with the owner in finding ways to get her back into service along with overcoming financial problems which ship restoration can produce  in the way of berthing fees, electricity supplies to the ship, cost of materials and the labour required to restore her. To overcome these problems we came up with a few solutions. Firstly with the engine room we contacted the engineering instructor from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology who trained  students in marine engineering. He thought this was a good idea and his students soon set about putting the engine room back together. With the work to be carried out on the deck side painting rust removal and so on, university students were given free accommodation in some of the after cabins in return for their labour in their spare time. To meet the harbor dues the ship was turned into a floating restaurant at night and a conference center by day. I began teaching evening classes in coastal navigation one night a week on aboard, this proved to be so popular that it extended to five nights a week.

                                                         
                                                             H.M.A.S. Gladstone.

                                      The last of the Australian corvettes  in Melbourne.
From the left Whyalla, Castlemaine, Akuna ex Gladstone with the buff coloured hull.

Having a drink with students on the Akuna after completing a 10 week course in navigation

After three months we were ready to raise steam because the ship was oil fired and not coal we were looking at the enormous cost of running her with diesel oil which was not an option . Our engineers advised us we could burn treated sump oil instead. A one man  company who had a small tanker that picked up waste oil from factories and garages and sold it to be refined was contacted and a price was agreed to purchase his waste oil above what he was being paid by the refiners of such oil. We now had a tanker arrive weekly and our fuel situation was now no longer a financial problem . During this period of renovation the ship was painted in white to look like a Mediterranean yacht with blue decks.

                             
                       ss Akuna with her new yacht look including a blue and white funnel.

                         Getting ready to sail after restoration, checking the after lines with shore party.

Due the operation of the ship she was to be manned by volunteers and to avoid certain maritime regulations and interference from the seaman's union the ship was registered under the Australian flag as a private yacht. There are many fun memories for me running the ship and the voyages on her, she was eventually sold in 1978 to a charity group that was to operate out of Singapore assisting Vietnamese boat people in the South China Sea fleeing Vietnam. I was in Bundaberg Queensland at the time when I received a call to take her to Singapore to be docked and refitted for her future role. This voyage in itself would fill a small book but it all went well and I was sad to see her for the last time after leaving her in Singapore.

Akuna safely anchored amongst hundreds of ships at Singapore. A truly worthwhile restoration of a ship.

       

 

   

THE LOSS OF THE ss WARATAH IN 1909

   

THE LOSS OF THE ss WARATAH IN 1909

                      

                     THE ss WARATAH AT CAPE TOWN IN 1908 ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE.

                       

                                   A POSTCARD PROFILE OF THE WARATAH UNDER FULL STEAM.

AFTER AN EXTENDED ABSENCE FROM POSTING OF MY PAST ARTICLES I HAVE DECIDED TO RESUME POSTING MORE HISTORY AND FACTS ON THE EVER INTRIGUING DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SS WARATAH. THE PASSENGER SHIP DISAPPEARED  EITHER LATE AT NIGHT ON THE 27TH OR IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING OF THE 28TH OF  JULY 1909 IN A STORM OF EXCEEDING FORCE OFF THE SOUTH AFRICAN COAST BETWEEN DURBAN AND CAPE TOWN. MANY READERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD HAVE REQUESTED ME TO CONTINUE WRITING WHICH I AM MOST PLEASED TO DO SO. I HAVE IN THE PAST BEEN INUNDATED WITH EMAILS FAR TO MANY TO HANDLE AND REPLY TO THEM ALL. BY WRITING AGAIN I TRUST THIS WILL EASE THE BURDEN OF TRYING TO ANSWER ALL THOSE EMAILS ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. IT HAS BECOME OBVIOUS TO ME THAT THERE ARE FAR MORE MANY PEOPLE THAN I ANTICIPATED  THAT HAVE A FASCINATION IN WANTING TO GLEAN INFORMATION ON THIS UNFORTUNATE SHIP ESPECIALLY FROM A MARINERS PERSPECTIVE. 

 MANY WRITERS AND BLOGGERS HAVE IN REFERENCE TO THE WARATAH DESCRIBED THE LOSS IN A SENSATIONAL MANNER CALLING IT THE GREATEST UNSOLVED  SEA MYSTERY OF ALL TIMES. I FIND THIS FAR FROM THE TRUTH BECAUSE MANY THREE DECK SHIPS OF THIS CLASS HAVE DISAPPEARED WITHOUT SO MUCH OF A MURMUR OR PUBLICITY EQUAL TO THAT SURROUNDING THE WARATAH. AT THE TIME OF HER LOSS WITH 211 SOULS, THE PRESS OF THE TIME MADE MUCH OF IT AND THE THEN PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH BOARD OF TRADE WINSTON CHURCHILL WAS FORCED TO INITIATE A COURT OF MARINE ENQUIRY WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A COMPLETE  WHITE WASH WHICH I  HAVE DEALT WITH IN PAST WRITINGS WITH MORE TO COME IN FUTURE POSTS.

I CANNOT ASCRIBE TO  THE OVER USED TERM MYSTERY IN THE CASE OF THE WARATAH, WITH THE LOSS OF EVERY SHIP THERE IS A CAUSATION OF ONE KIND OR ANOTHER. THIS COULD BE DUE TO HUMAN ERROR, POOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE VESSEL, EXTREME WEATHER AND VIOLENT SEAS, BAD MANAGEMENT BY THE SHIPS OWNERS, INCLUDING BAD MANAGEMENT OF THE SHIPS OFFICERS, ALONG WITH FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS AT SEA, INCLUDING POORLY PLACED CARGO RESULTING IN CREATING INSTABILITY.  THE ONLY REAL MYSTERY TO ME IS  THE ACTUAL LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE OF WHERE SHE LAYS RESTING ON THE SEA BED. THROUGH PAINSTAKING RESEARCH AND BEING MOST CAREFUL IN ASSEMBLING THE FACTS PRESENTED FROM RELIABLE SOURCES, AS A NAVIGATOR I BELIEVE THAT SOME TIME AGO I HAD CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED AN AREA OF PROBABILTY AS TO WHERE THE WRECK IS LAYING. THIS AREA IS NO WHERE NEAR OTHER AREAS WHERE MANY MULTIPLE SEARCHES HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED RESULTING IN AS MANY FAILURES.

,MANY HAVE BEEN LURED BY THE PROSPECT OF RECOVERING 300 TONS OF GOLD RUMOURED TO BE ON BOARD. THIS HAS PROVED TO BE A FALLACY  SPUN BY GOOD STORY TELLERS WHEN IN ACTUAL FACT IT WAS THREE HUNDRED TONS OF LEAD INGOTS WHICH IS ALSO DESCRIBED AS BULLION ON BILLS OF LADING, ALL THE MANIFESTS OF THE WARATAH FOR HER LAST VOYAGE SHOWED THAT NO GOLD WAS TAKEN ABOARD AND PLACED IN  THE STRONG ROOM. WHILE IN THE U.K. I PERSONALLY  VISITED THE BANK THE BANK OF ENGLAND IN LONDON AND OTHER BANKING INSTITUTIONS WHERE GOLD WAS USUALLY CONSIGNED TO BUT COULD FIND NO TRACE OF GOLD EVER BEING SHIPPED ON THE WARATAH FROM AUSTRALIA OR ANY OF THE COLONIES OF SOUTH AFRICA. I SHOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY OF THANKING YOU ALL FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT, ALONG WITH SOME OF THE COPLIMENTARY COMMENTS GIVEN IN YOUR PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE, ESPECIALLY FROM THE INCREASING NUMBERS OF READERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

IN MY NEXT POST COMING SHORTLY, I SHALL WRITE ABOUT THE POLICY  OF THE BOARD OF TRADE THAT ALLOWED UNSEAWORTHY SHIPS TO GO TO SEA.