Once again we are starting to see tired old repeats from the blog site Waratah Revisited, the latest post from the 29th of December 2017 gives the headline, Proceeding to Close to Shore. The post opens with a part report from a newspaper and is as follows,( when sighted by Captain Weir the Waratah was proceeding very close to shore at about 12.5knots the Clan MacIntyre making about 10 knots. The Waratah was seen to be steering a little more southerly than the other vessel, or taking a course further out to sea.)
The author of the blog quotes this one paragraph of the of the article to give the reader impression that Waratah was sailing very close to the shore which was untrue. He conveniently left out an earlier paragraph which reads, Captain Weir, the Clan MacIntyres' skipper says, he sighted the liner at 6.00am in Lat 31 36's long 29.58'e. The Waratah crossed starboard to port bow, and went out of sight about 9.30am. This position puts the Clan MacIntyre some 14.7 miles off shore from the nearest land.
In his actual sworn evidence before the Court Captain Weir said, "early on the morning of the 27th day of July 1909 the ss Waratah was overtaking us and passed us at a distance about 1 mile on our starboard side. I was myself on the bridge and with the assistance of my fourth officer, spoke to the Waratah , by the Morse code of signals." He also said, " at the same time, as I and my fourth officer were carrying out he conversation with the Waratah, my chief officer was taking a bearing of Cape Hermes, which gave us a position of lat 31 36' e long 29.58e. " If the Waratah was 1 mile inshore from the Clan MacIntyre
this would put the Waratah 13.7 miles off shore from the coast line and no where near the beach.
The green line represents the south west course of the Waratah and the red Line the Clan MacIntyres' course south west. The yellow pin maker is the Clan MacIntyres' position at 6.00am and the red cross is the Waratahs' position at the same time when she was abeam at I mile from the Clan MacIntyre.
Captain Ilbery or his navigating officer responsible for laying out the the voyage plan towards Capetown would certainly have avoided a course close to the shore after leaving Durban. The reason for this is that due to the configuration of the coastline north of the Durban Bluff, the Agulhas current is deflected from the shore line at Durban, but strikes it again in the vicinity of Port Shepstone. This of course causes an interval of slackness of the current between Port Shepstone and Durban. In some instances this can be felt further offshore, the Waratah was not feeling any perceptible current of significance and this is most likely the alteration of course further offshore near Cape Hermes to pick up the stronger part of the current on the 100 fathom line.
Clan MacIntyre 2. entering Capetown on another occasion, this gives a good view of the starboard side on which the Waratah passed her on the morning of the 27th of July 1909.
In the same post we see another article taken from The Argus Melbourne 30th December 1933 with the heading Sea Mystery Recalled.
The commander of the liner Moreton Bay (Captain H.C. Elford). "In 1909 at the time of the disaster I was a junior officer on the Ellerman steamer Johannesburg bound from East London to Durban' said Captain Elford " It was my watch on the bridge. The lights of a steamer passed us INSHORE. That was near the dreaded Aliwal Shoal, about 70 miles south of Durban. The passing vessel signalled that she was the Waratah from Durban bound for Capetown."
The author of the post has emphasized the word inshore in bold letters to give the impression that the Waratah was sailing close to the shoal. Captain Elfords words are only one paragraph from the actual newspaper article. The author of these posts appears to cherry pick parts of news articles to press his points, in these two cases the Waratah was sailing to close to anything that may endanger his ship. The actual article from the Argus reads, "It was my watch on the bridge, a terrific gale was blowing, during which the lights of a steamer passed us inshore. The passing vessel signalled that she was the Waratah from Durban bound to Capetown. She rapidly disappeared into the storm and was never seen again. Captain Elford said, "it was not surprising that no wreckage was found, as during such a heavy gale all movable articles would be lashed fast, and would go to the bottom with the ship". Formerly in command of the Pakeha and the Themistocles, Captain Elford is making his fourth voyage as master of the Moreton Bay. He has a deep interest in scientific subjects, and has submitted papers on astronomical and meteorological phenomena to the Royal Geographic Society, the Ministry of Air and the Hydrographic Department. After some research on the matter it became obvious that the newspaper reporter had beefed up the story for sensational and dramatic effect for the readers in order to sell papers, it was after all part of the great depression of the 1930's in Australia and newspapers had to survive.
If we look at the truth of the matter it was known that the Waratah sailed from Durban at about 8.15pm local time and the weather was fine along the coast with a light northerly wind and good visibility. Aliwal Shoal lies approximately 27.7 nautical miles south of Durban and not 70 miles as reported in the paper. The shoal lies 3 miles off Green point on the mainland, at times a weak south westerly current passes over the shoal. In daylight a vessel may pass without with out difficulty between the land and the shoal, (I have done this many times in small craft). In thick weather either by day or night ships must keep well clear of the shoal and not venture inside the 40 fathom mark. The sailing directions of the period which Captain Ilbery would have carried by law gave the same description and warnings about the shoal, so why would he sail close to a known danger on a routine course down the coast which he had done many times before.?
With regard to Captain Elford and his interview he more than likely told the reporter that a raging gale was blowing when the Waratah disappeared not when he sighted her at least 5 miles east of the Aliwal shoal. Captain Elford had a very distinguished career and went on to become Commodore of the fleet. After coming through the first world war at sea unscathed he was to succumb to a German submarine during the second world war.
On the 7th of December 1942 Captain Elford (Commodore) was in command of the Shaw Savill & Albion Company ship the ss Ceramic of 18,713 gross tons. When on route from Liverpool to St Helena, Durban and Sydney Australia, the ship was attacked 420 miles north northwest of the Azores by U-boat 515 commander Werner Henke. The Ceramic had 655 persons on board 654 of which died, with only one survivor remaining, at the time she was carrying general cargo of 12,362 tons which also included Government stores. At about midnight she was first was hit by one torpedoe, actions stations were sounded and two or three minutes later two more torpedoes hit the engine room below the waterline. The engines were stopped and the vessel was plunged into darkness. There was very little panic amongst the passengers and the crew launched approximately 8 fully loaded lifeboats, they did this despite the cold weather, rough seas and the poor visibility in the now darkened ship. The Ceramic stayed afloat and three hours later she was hit with two more torpedoes which broke her in half and she sank immediately. By this time the sea was very rough and it was raining.
The lifeboats were becoming swamped and needed constant bailing out, some lifeboats capsized and threw the occupants into the water to be left floating about in their lifejackets. Henke reported his action to U boat command and was ordered back to the site to find the master and find out where the Ceramic was bound for. At noon on the 8th he surfaced and returned to the scene, a lookout first saw a body, empty life jackets and other wreckage. A lifeboat whose occupants waved to him were also seen. it was reported that Henke was upset at the sight that greeted him. At this time the wind had almost reached force 10 ( A whole gale, winds 55-63mph, very high seas) which turned into a full storm. The sea was swamping the conning tower , so Henke ordered his men to take the first survivor that came close enough to his vessel. Two men threw a rope to one of the men in the water, Sapper Eric Munday of the Royal Engineers, they took him aboard and left the area. Ships that heard the distress call from the Ceramic and were in the area said that it was one of the worst storms they had ever encountered. Captain Elford was lost with the Ceramic when she broke in two, all those in lifeboats perished in the high seas.
SS CERAMIC.
U-boat 515 was itself attacked on April 9th 1944 and sunk with the loss of 16 crew and 44 survivors amongst them Werner Henke. He was transferred to Fort Hunt interrogation center in Virginia U.S.A. Here he was put under pressure by the Americans and threatened with extradition to Britain to be tried as a war criminal and face charges of shooting survivors of Ceramic in the sea(which was a totally false claim by the Americans). He committed suicide on the 15th June 1944 by climbing the perimeter fence and refused to stop when challenged and was fatally shot. The Americans put him through a hard time due to him being a top ace with some of the highest tonnages sunk by a U-boat commander some,166,000 tons of allied shipping.
WERNER HENKE.
The author of the blog quotes this one paragraph of the of the article to give the reader impression that Waratah was sailing very close to the shore which was untrue. He conveniently left out an earlier paragraph which reads, Captain Weir, the Clan MacIntyres' skipper says, he sighted the liner at 6.00am in Lat 31 36's long 29.58'e. The Waratah crossed starboard to port bow, and went out of sight about 9.30am. This position puts the Clan MacIntyre some 14.7 miles off shore from the nearest land.
In his actual sworn evidence before the Court Captain Weir said, "early on the morning of the 27th day of July 1909 the ss Waratah was overtaking us and passed us at a distance about 1 mile on our starboard side. I was myself on the bridge and with the assistance of my fourth officer, spoke to the Waratah , by the Morse code of signals." He also said, " at the same time, as I and my fourth officer were carrying out he conversation with the Waratah, my chief officer was taking a bearing of Cape Hermes, which gave us a position of lat 31 36' e long 29.58e. " If the Waratah was 1 mile inshore from the Clan MacIntyre
this would put the Waratah 13.7 miles off shore from the coast line and no where near the beach.
Captain Ilbery or his navigating officer responsible for laying out the the voyage plan towards Capetown would certainly have avoided a course close to the shore after leaving Durban. The reason for this is that due to the configuration of the coastline north of the Durban Bluff, the Agulhas current is deflected from the shore line at Durban, but strikes it again in the vicinity of Port Shepstone. This of course causes an interval of slackness of the current between Port Shepstone and Durban. In some instances this can be felt further offshore, the Waratah was not feeling any perceptible current of significance and this is most likely the alteration of course further offshore near Cape Hermes to pick up the stronger part of the current on the 100 fathom line.
In the same post we see another article taken from The Argus Melbourne 30th December 1933 with the heading Sea Mystery Recalled.
The commander of the liner Moreton Bay (Captain H.C. Elford). "In 1909 at the time of the disaster I was a junior officer on the Ellerman steamer Johannesburg bound from East London to Durban' said Captain Elford " It was my watch on the bridge. The lights of a steamer passed us INSHORE. That was near the dreaded Aliwal Shoal, about 70 miles south of Durban. The passing vessel signalled that she was the Waratah from Durban bound for Capetown."
The author of the post has emphasized the word inshore in bold letters to give the impression that the Waratah was sailing close to the shoal. Captain Elfords words are only one paragraph from the actual newspaper article. The author of these posts appears to cherry pick parts of news articles to press his points, in these two cases the Waratah was sailing to close to anything that may endanger his ship. The actual article from the Argus reads, "It was my watch on the bridge, a terrific gale was blowing, during which the lights of a steamer passed us inshore. The passing vessel signalled that she was the Waratah from Durban bound to Capetown. She rapidly disappeared into the storm and was never seen again. Captain Elford said, "it was not surprising that no wreckage was found, as during such a heavy gale all movable articles would be lashed fast, and would go to the bottom with the ship". Formerly in command of the Pakeha and the Themistocles, Captain Elford is making his fourth voyage as master of the Moreton Bay. He has a deep interest in scientific subjects, and has submitted papers on astronomical and meteorological phenomena to the Royal Geographic Society, the Ministry of Air and the Hydrographic Department. After some research on the matter it became obvious that the newspaper reporter had beefed up the story for sensational and dramatic effect for the readers in order to sell papers, it was after all part of the great depression of the 1930's in Australia and newspapers had to survive.
If we look at the truth of the matter it was known that the Waratah sailed from Durban at about 8.15pm local time and the weather was fine along the coast with a light northerly wind and good visibility. Aliwal Shoal lies approximately 27.7 nautical miles south of Durban and not 70 miles as reported in the paper. The shoal lies 3 miles off Green point on the mainland, at times a weak south westerly current passes over the shoal. In daylight a vessel may pass without with out difficulty between the land and the shoal, (I have done this many times in small craft). In thick weather either by day or night ships must keep well clear of the shoal and not venture inside the 40 fathom mark. The sailing directions of the period which Captain Ilbery would have carried by law gave the same description and warnings about the shoal, so why would he sail close to a known danger on a routine course down the coast which he had done many times before.?
 |
Aliwal Shoal depths shown in meters
.
SS JOHANNESBURG.
|
On the 7th of December 1942 Captain Elford (Commodore) was in command of the Shaw Savill & Albion Company ship the ss Ceramic of 18,713 gross tons. When on route from Liverpool to St Helena, Durban and Sydney Australia, the ship was attacked 420 miles north northwest of the Azores by U-boat 515 commander Werner Henke. The Ceramic had 655 persons on board 654 of which died, with only one survivor remaining, at the time she was carrying general cargo of 12,362 tons which also included Government stores. At about midnight she was first was hit by one torpedoe, actions stations were sounded and two or three minutes later two more torpedoes hit the engine room below the waterline. The engines were stopped and the vessel was plunged into darkness. There was very little panic amongst the passengers and the crew launched approximately 8 fully loaded lifeboats, they did this despite the cold weather, rough seas and the poor visibility in the now darkened ship. The Ceramic stayed afloat and three hours later she was hit with two more torpedoes which broke her in half and she sank immediately. By this time the sea was very rough and it was raining.
The lifeboats were becoming swamped and needed constant bailing out, some lifeboats capsized and threw the occupants into the water to be left floating about in their lifejackets. Henke reported his action to U boat command and was ordered back to the site to find the master and find out where the Ceramic was bound for. At noon on the 8th he surfaced and returned to the scene, a lookout first saw a body, empty life jackets and other wreckage. A lifeboat whose occupants waved to him were also seen. it was reported that Henke was upset at the sight that greeted him. At this time the wind had almost reached force 10 ( A whole gale, winds 55-63mph, very high seas) which turned into a full storm. The sea was swamping the conning tower , so Henke ordered his men to take the first survivor that came close enough to his vessel. Two men threw a rope to one of the men in the water, Sapper Eric Munday of the Royal Engineers, they took him aboard and left the area. Ships that heard the distress call from the Ceramic and were in the area said that it was one of the worst storms they had ever encountered. Captain Elford was lost with the Ceramic when she broke in two, all those in lifeboats perished in the high seas.
U-boat 515 was itself attacked on April 9th 1944 and sunk with the loss of 16 crew and 44 survivors amongst them Werner Henke. He was transferred to Fort Hunt interrogation center in Virginia U.S.A. Here he was put under pressure by the Americans and threatened with extradition to Britain to be tried as a war criminal and face charges of shooting survivors of Ceramic in the sea(which was a totally false claim by the Americans). He committed suicide on the 15th June 1944 by climbing the perimeter fence and refused to stop when challenged and was fatally shot. The Americans put him through a hard time due to him being a top ace with some of the highest tonnages sunk by a U-boat commander some,166,000 tons of allied shipping.
WERNER HENKE.
