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.