Recently I received an email asking me if I knew of the rumors that the Waratah carried 300 tons of gold on her last voyage to London when she disappeared off the coast of South Africa in July 1909 which could have resulted in the hi-jacking of the ship. To answer the question I made exhaustive inquiries at the Bank of England into the records held there and also in Australia, but could find no record of any gold being shipped aboard the Waratah or of any specie of any kind, (gold, silver or coins). The Blue Anchor Line ships over the years did carry small amounts in their strong rooms and this was usually published in the press, gold sovereigns minted here in Australia were often carried to South Africa for distribution in that country. Waratah on her last voyage did load in Sydney 300 tons of lead bullion which was placed in No 4 lower hold and in the hold just before the bridge. The bullion was automatically thought to be gold, the word bullion has obviously confused some people but base metals such as copper, nickel, zinc and lead were often referred to as bullion in the form of ingots. Looking at the prospect of carrying 300 tons of gold would in itself would produce logistical problems. The space that would be required to house such an amount, the weight and where it would be placed for stability reasons, the guarding of such gold and manpower required for the voyage. The specie or vault room on board the Waratah was certainly to small being about 110 cubic feet 2.75 tons, plus who would take the insurance risk on such an amount of gold which would have been worth 12 million 902 thousand 400 pounds in 1909. If there had have been that amount of gold on board the insurers would have certainly let it be known in the hope that a salvage company would step forward to recover it if possible, with a large share for themselves. If ever the Waratah was found and it proved to be in very deep water there would be no salvage value in trying to recover the lead and 75 tons of copper ingots on board, the cost of recovering these items would not be a viable proposition.
Lead bullion to be further refined to 99.7 pure lead.
Gold bullion in the Bank of England vault.
