s.s. WARATAH
I note with interest the blog WARATAH-REVISITED dated 27th of June 2015 the headlines read
WARATAH -PASSENGERS UNAWARE OF FIRE. I should like to correct this, the passengers on the Waratah were well aware of the fire on board. A passenger from the steerage class on that voyage wrote from his diary the following. DEC 13th, This is a different Sunday to all other Sundays on board, but me so far as the weather was concerned, it was lovely on deck as there was a nice breeze blowing, and the sea was as calm as a mill pond, but otherwise it was a day of unrest. The first I heard that there was a fire on board. One of the coal bunkers got heated up or what they call (spontaneous combustion) that is, coal being together and no ventilation, it heats up and gets alight. I was told it was a very common occurrence, and not dangerous. After breakfast I went up to see the fire but could not see anything with the smoke, they kept playing hoses on it all day.
This is just an ordinary man with no knowledge of ships describing in his own simple way that particular day of events. Evidently many of the lower deck class passengers also went to view the fire as this provided them with a break from the boring day today voyage as was described in an earlier entry of his diary.
