The top picture is of the Tyser Line ship Tomoana which sighted a life boat on January 2nd 1910 two days out from the Cape of good hope in the Southern Ocean. The lookout sighted a partly submerged lifeboat by the stern some twelve feet of its length under the surface. It was evidently a large lifeboat and painted white covered in marine growth indicating she had been adrift for some time. By the time the lookouts reported the boat to the chief officer on watch, the ship was well past it and the officer did not turn back for a closer look, he stated that he thought the lookouts had seen a large dead fish. There was no indication as to what the sea conditions were at the time, so we can't say why no closer inspection was made.
Picture number 2, is of the steamship Thistleroy 1. of 4,027 tons.
The ship arrived in Sydney Thursday 24th of February 1910, she had come from Newcastle on Tyne via Adelaide. On arrival Captain Hayter reported that he had passed an upturned lifeboat on January 23rd 1910, (21 days after the Tomoana sighted a boat) the captain of the Thistleroy gave the position of the sighting being as Lat 39degrees south, Long 21 degrees east. The Thistleroy was running before a heavy south west gale, and actually just passed the boat when he was alerted by the lookout from the bridge. An examination through binoculars convinced the captain that it had been in the water for some time. It was painted white and also covered in marine growth, a good lookout was kept at the time but no wreckage could be seen in the near vicinity. The position given is on a bearing of 160 degrees SSE from the Southern Cape and approximately about 300 miles from the Cape, the gale at the time was quite severe preventing the captain from turning back for a closer examination.
The question often posed were all the lifeboats on Waratah lashed down? answer yes, secured to the deck by chains to ring bolts on the deck. They certainly would have gone down with the Waratah except for one or two boats. What we do know from evidence is that number one lifeboat on the port side was always swung out for an emergency,(man over board etc.), along with the number one boat at times on the starb'd side. I have often considered that the drifting boat, or boats could have come from the steamship Maori, the Shaw Albion cargo ship that broke up and sank one hour after sailing from Capetown on the 6th of August 1909. The ship was completely wrecked when she struck Duiker Point and with the loss of two lives. Studying the currents and the pilot chart for the Southern Ocean, I am convinced that the lifeboat or lifeboats sighted were well into the current that would take them across the Southern Ocean in the direction of Australia and New Zealand for that time of the year.
