Waratah one hundred and six years on.

It was one hundred and six years ago today that the Waratah vanished with 211 souls on board  in 1909  leaving no trace of her demise. Here in Australia we remember and will never forget and as a fitting tribute to all those that go down to the sea in ships I have included the first verse of that wonderful hymm  For Those In Peril On The Sea, written in 1860 by William Whiting.

                                

                                  Eternal Father, strong to save,

                                  Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

                                  Who biddest the mighty ocean deep,

                                  Its own appointed limits keep;

                                  Oh hear us when we cry to thee,

                                  For those in peril on the sea.

 

On the 27th of July 1909 a gathering of  100 descendants of the passengers and crew of the Waratah

gathered at the Queenscliff Museum for the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the sad occasion.

They later boarded the Queenscliff ferry across Port Phillip Bay in Victoria Australia and cast a wreath and flowers on the sea surface, then attended a luncheon at the Victoria Hotel Queenscliff to hear speeches. It was a wonderful and touching experience.

 

                                                                The Queenscliff Ferry.

 

 

Ted Ebsworth Grandson of passenger Mr John Ebsworth, getting ready to cast the wreath on to the waters over the track the Waratah took out of Melbourne on the 1st of June 1909.

 

Waratah reported close to the shore .

Many newspapers of the period carried the story that the s.s. Waratah was sailing close inshore at a reduced speed on the morning of the 27th of July 1909 when she passed the s.s. ClanMacintyre heading for Capetown. One paper will write the story and many other papers  pick up the same  story and very soon it is broadcast all over the world. Where the story came from is a mystery as there was no truth in the article, papers while not being 100% correct  did give some degree of truth in their reports, however having said that one paper gave an account that the Waratah spoke to the ClanMacintyre in lat 32 degrees 17minutes south and longitude 29 degrees 17 minutes east, this would have put the two ships inland near the western border of Lesotho. The Waratah was not close to the shore at any stage, Captain Alexandra Weir noticed the Waratah lying at the wharf at the Point, which is at the other side of the bluff , he did not notice any list of any kind and she was about a quarter to half a mile from his ship. Captain Weir states, "early on the morning of the 27th of July 1909 the Waratah was overtaking us and passed distant about one mile on our starboard side, I was myself on the bridge and with the assistance of my fourth officer spoke to the Waratah. At the same time  as I and my fourth officer were carrying out a conversation with Waratah, my chief officer was taking a bearing of Cape Hermes which then bore south 88 degrees west true, and our position at that time was Lat 31 degrees 36' south Long 29 degrees 58' east". We can see from this that the Waratah was no where close to the shore, cadet Lamont thought the Waratah looked close about 5 or 6 ship lengths away.

 

 

                                                                      s.s. ClanMacintyre 2.

Another ship to join the search for s.s. Waratah.

At a meeting of the Melbourne search committee on the 19th of February 1910, the Lord Mayor read a letter received from captain Currie (Messrs. A. Currie & co., owners of the s.s. Hymettus which sailed this week for India). Captain Currie stated that the Hymettus had been specially fitted, and he enclosed the following extract from a letter of instructions to Captain McDonald, of the Hymettus, dated Melbourne, February 11, 1910:-"After rounding Cape Otway, proceed to Colombo, sailing the great circle track as near as possible, which we define as passing Cape Leeuwin in latitude 36.35, and longitude 115, the next point being latitude 33.20, longitude 95.12. From there proceed to the equator, to be crossed in longitude 83.20. We reckon on this distance will be nearly as short as a straight course from Cape Otway to Cape Leeuwin. A strict lookout must be kept at night and day

night after passing Cape Leeuwin, the object of taking a westerly course with a view to picking up the missing steamer Waratah, or any wreckage or flotsam that may exist in the course indicated. The Hymettus passed Cape Otway at 4.40pm on February 12th and was due abreast of Cape Leeuwin on the night of February 17th. The Hymettus has two crows' nests 75ft above water giving a range of vision in clear weather of from 20 to 25 miles both ways from the hull. (This last line in the press report is incorrect, visibility from 75feet would only be 10.0 miles, visibility would be all round the horizon).  Many ships leaving Capetown put on extra coal so they could zig zag the Southern Ocean on their way to Australia in the hope of finding the Waratah and claim large salvage money if they had to tow her to the nearest port.  No doubt captain Currie had the same thing in mind by ordering a look out day and night and giving specific courses to follow.     

                                                                      s.s. Hymettuss.
Note the dark water coming out of her hull alongside the white water which is her ballast tanks being
emptied out. The darker water is a slurry, ash from the furnaces watered down then put into an ash ejector and sealed tight, the slurry is then pumped up and overboard by water pressure, this prevents ash from being blown over the ship and in this case the 50 first class passengers she carried. Some ash ejectors pumped out the ash slurry through the hull below the water line. This was probably what the passengers noticed on the Waratah and mistook it for rusty bilge water on the first voyage. Note her hull is high out of the water and her derricks up in the air, (known as topping the derricks) , she is obviously going into port to receive cargo

Washed up lifebuoys but no Waratah.

The loss of the Waratah on the 28th of July 1909 off the coast of South Africa left no trace of wreckage which would indicate that she went down very quickly  and anything on deck would have been securely lashed down leaving little hope of any tell tale signs. Lifebuoys however have been discovered from time to time which in all probability came from the Waratah. In  December 1911 a lifebuoy,  was found on a beach on the west coast of New Zealand near Manuka, an officer from the Customs department inspected it, the buoy  was heavily encrusted in barnacles and growth. He managed to make out the name Waratah and on the back of the buoy were two flags but he could not make out the writing. many sceptics  at the time pointed out that there were other vessels named Waratah this was in fact true but they  were not as large as the Waratah. I strongly suspect it could have come from the Waratah given the amount of time that had elapsed since the ship disappeared  and the time taken to drift the distance to New Zealand.  A second point is that large passenger ships of the period especially British ships usually either had two crossed flags or a flag on either side  of the buoy, one would be a red flag of the merchant navy with the union jack  in a top corner, the other flag would be the company flag, in the case of the Waratah this would have been a white flag with a blue anchor on it. Smaller vessels just had a name and their home port painted on the buoys.

 

In January 1910 a lifebuoy was washed ashore on a beach near Freemantle in Western Australia and it appeared to have been in the water for some considerable time and was also badly knocked about. An examination was made under a microscope and the letter 'W' was made out and separated at  intervals with the letters 'A' and 'H' it was believed to have come from the Waratah, the wire which was attached to the buoy was badly rusted through. The lifebuoy was probably fitted with a Holmes light canister and attached to the buoy with about a six foot length  of wire, the canister had obviously broken free and floated away after the wire had rusted through. A Holmes light canister admits water in and is filled with calcium carbonate,  calcium phosphide which when wet produces acetylene which gives of an exceedingly bright white light for up to half an hour in the sea, these were usually carried on passenger ships.

Did the Waratah founder between Port St John and the Bashee River on the coast of East Africa? many seem to think this may be so. Lawrence Green the South African journalist in his book , HARBOURS OF MEMORY, makes mention of a white trader on that part of the coast saying that local natives tried to sell him a lifebuoy with the name Waratah on it. Due to the isolation of his trading store he was not aware at the time that the Waratah was missing. It was usually a week or more before papers would reach him. When news of the Waratah finally reached him he contacted the police and made an affidavit about the natives trying to sell him the buoy and also the fact they told him they had seen a ship sink near the Bashee River. A search was made along the coast but no trace of the natives could be found or the lifebuoy.    

 

 

Affidavit of Alfred Ernest Harris of the s.s. Harlow.

AFFIDAVIT.

I, Alfred Ernest Harris, of 120 Whitehall Road Gateshead on Tyne, make on oath and says as follows:

I am the chief engineer of the steamship Harlow of Sunderland owned by Messrs. J&C Harrison of London, and in June 1909, I sailed in her from Newport to Durban. On July 27th 1909 the vessel I believe, was about 180 miles from Durban, and at 7.30pm on that day I went out of my cabin on to the after deck. The weather on that day at that time was generally fine and clear, the sea was practically smooth, the vessel was proceeding at full speed ahead, and the coast was kept insight. For some time prior to this I had noticed a number of bushfires on the land, and practically they were all along the coast. I immediately after coming out of my cabin at 7.30pm aforesaid, I noticed two white lights apparently those of a steamer, on the port quarter, and as far as I could judge about 4 or 5 miles distant. I went immediately to the lower bridge and asked the master what the lights were, he replied they were the lights of a steamer. When I got to the lower bridge I also saw a red light which in my opinion appeared to belong to the same steamer as the one showing the two white lights. After a time I noticed large volumes of smoke which appeared to be in the vicinity of the lights, and I concluded that the smoke was coming from the steamer, though I could not see the hull of the vessel. There appeared to be a glow amongst the smoke. Five or ten minutes later, as far as I can remember, there was a large flare up in the heavens lasting a moment or two. It then died away, and the smoke and lights previously seen had entirely disappeared. I heard no noise of an explosion and no signals of distress rockets were seen. In talking over, these to me, unusual phenomena with the master and officers of the Harlow, I accepted the explanation which they as practical mariners deemed satisfactory, vis., the lights which I and the master had at first supposed to be those of a steamer were really from a signal station in the vicinity, (I believe Cape Hermes) and the flare was ascribable to the bushfires a number of which we had passed during the day. This seemed more probable to me owing to the absence of any signals of distress from the supposed steamer. It was not till after arriving at Manila, some forty odd days later, that we learned through  the newspapers of the Waratah being missing; and the incidents of the lights and flares recurred to me. I am now of the opinion that the lights seen might have been those of the Waratah. At the time the flare appeared I remarked to the master if that was a steamer she appeared to be on fire. I do not remember him making any reply. The chief officer during the time was, to the best of my memory, on the upper bridge out of earshot, I should say, from were we were standing.

1/1/1910 sworn at Barry in the County of Glenmorgan, before F. Jones a Commissioner to administer

Oaths in the Supreme Court of Judicature.

Below I have included some pictures of what I believe would have looked similar to his description,

Harris gives a slightly different version to that of Captain Bruce who gives two different versions, one in the court that differs to his own affidavit. I do not believe that they saw a steamer. 

Third officer saves the Waratah at Kangaroo Island.

On her maiden voyage home to London the s.s. Waratah left Melbourne on January 15th  1908 for Adelaide via Backstairs passage which lays between Kangaroo Island and the mainland of South Australia. The passage at its narrowest point is 15 kilometres wide and its maximum depth is 75 meters, it is a treacherous passage in high winds with a current running up to 4 knots and can easily set a vessel off course if not watched. It was dark when the Waratah approached the passage from the south with the Willoughby light ahead. The third officer  Mr. Bennet was on watch with Captain Ilbery on the bridge at the same time. A series of signals were made to the Waratah from the lighthouse by the keeper Mr. George Angus which read, " you are running into danger" the third officer drew the signals to captain Ilberys attention. Shortly after the same signals was repeated then became continuous. Mr. Bennet said to the captain, "aren't you going to turn her out?" Captain Ilbery replied, "wait till I go down and get my glasses" Ilbery then left the bridge, (how long for is not mentioned). After a while Mr.Bennet turned the ship out and on sounding the depth of water with the hand lead it was found to be only six or seven fathoms, Waratah was drawing about four and two third  fathoms (28 feet) which meant she had only 8 to 10 feet under her keel.

It was not known what was said when Captain Ilbery returned to the bridge but once the officers found out it was said, that there was a want of confidence in Captain Ilbery amongst them and they thought he ought to be relieved. Bennet who held a masters certificate was paid off in London and told the Court of inquiry that he had been promoted. Whether he and Captain Ilbery got on after the incident is not known. Perhaps Ilbery wanted him removed and the real reason for his leaving the ship was kept quiet in the court  they certainly did not want the incident revealed in public. Captain  Ilbery was taken sick after the Waratah docked in London and whatever his illness was we can only guess. Was Bennet given the promotion to keep his silence? 

                                                            Backstairs Passage.

                                                           Cape Willoughby Lighthouse.

s.s Director mistaken for Waratah.

The above ship was mistaken on the South African coast by observers on the shore thinking the slow moving steamer moving up the coast about the time the Waratah was in the area may have been the  Waratah.
                                        DEPOSITION OF CAPTAIN HENRY BICKERSTAFF.
On the ninth day of the Court of Inquiry, the court recorder mentioned that a deposition of Captain Henry Bickerstaff was to be put to the court. This was done but it is interesting to note that his deposition was not recorded or printed in the final summary book of the inquiry. Captain Bickerstaff claimed his ship was not similar to that of the Waratah as had been claimed by mistaken observers. His ship the s.s. Director of Liverpool was on the South African coast at the time of the Waratah was said to have gone missing. He further stated the following, "we left Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth), on the evening of July 27th 1909 and arrived at East London at 8.00am on the 28th of July 1909 and the passage was fine.  After working cargo at East London we left the port at 10.00am on the 29th of July bound for Durban, and on the same day we passed the Bashee River at 3.00pm. We arrived in Durban at 4.00pm on the 30th of July and stayed in Durban for nine days during which a Swedish or Norwegian vessel arrived having made heavy weather of it and sustained damage."

There is no mention of  who the observers were but there was a group of holiday makers at the Kei River mouth claiming they saw a ship east of the river labouring in rough weather. Captain Bickerstaff does not mention anything from is log book in connection with the weather on his passage to Durban, here we can only guess that the court was fully aware of the sea conditions . Because he was not in court or later called he could not be questioned on the sea conditions or what ships did he pass either going up the coast or down it. The Director was of  the same company as the Harlow in which Captain Bruce of the Harlow said he saw a ship explode south of Cape Hermes. Being both ships  of the same company and in Durban together, no doubt Bickerstaff and Bruce got together for a meal and drinks.

s.s. Director. built 1903 1year after the Harlow, L,398.5ft x 48.5ft x 30.5 ft  .
tonnage 4,931. Engine 481 H.P. single screw, signal letters V.C.S.C.

A WARATAH SNIPPET.

Over the years many articles have appeared on bottles being found that are supposed to have  come from either crew or passengers on the Waratah but all were found to be cruel hoaxes. One bottle that interested me was the one found in 1913 at Tanna in the New Hebrides north east of New Caledonia with the message there is no hope G.W.E. Waratah. This of course was another hoax but the bottle came from that of a Melbourne soft drink manufacturer Marchants and had a screw top. A spokesman for the agents of Waratah in Sydney said the bottle could not have come from the Waratah.  Mr. P Fawcett for the agents said Schweppes supplied the Waratah with their waters and it was the only brand served on board. On the maiden voyage some of the third class passengers went ashore at Melbourne for a meal and mention bringing back some Marchants soft drinks for the rest of the voyage to Sydney. This could be because of a shortage of all kinds of drinks by the time Waratah had reached Melbourne with 700 thirsty steerage class passengers . We know the ship was running low on supplies as the head barman informed Mr. Skails the purser that there was virtually no beer left on board and so at the last minute obtained enough supplies to quench their thirsts all the way to Sydney.  

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                                     1909 Mineral water bottle.