Many readers have asked me the puzzling question how could the ss Nailsea Meadow be mistaken for the ss Waratah? It was a known fact that the Nailsea Meadow rested on the sea bed as an existing wreck in the area slightly north east of the Xorsa river where searchers for the Waratah dived down expecting it to be the Waratah. The Nailsea Meadow had lain in this position since she was torpedoed on the night and the morning of the 11th/ 12th of May 1943 by U- boat 196, the wartime records clearly show that the Nailsea Meadow sank in a recorded position given as, Latitude 32 04S Longitude 29 13E.
Before I attempt to address any further questions by readers, we need to look at a number of versions and events along with comments given by Emlyn Brown who had been searching for the Waratah, when many years later he gave his story in three parts to the South African magazine DO IT NOW. Some of his comments as to his version of events are to say the least somewhat puzzling.
Here is an extract from part one published by that magazine in Issue 5-Oct/Nov 2010.
"There she is, I remember saying excitedly to Chris. The wreck was truly massive. She was just sitting there, resting quietly on the ocean floor. The odd fish darted about as the sub glided towards the wreck. The cameras were rolling and Chris commenced blowing the tanks just enough to raise the sub so we had an aerial view of the wreck before going in for closer inspection. As we cruised just above the wreck I felt the blood drain from my face. My heart was no longer beating, it was pounding. I chose to ignore the two military tanks, one with its cannon pointing at the sub and the other to the surface. I looked away from the sight of the many truck tyres still in the hold of the ship and an upturned tank. How could this be? I was in denial! This was the Waratah we all knew that. Theory and practice had been tried and tested. Science backed me up here too. Had I slipped up with the manifest and not accounted for the tanks? what had gone wrong?. The modern tanks did not match the vintage ones of the Waratah. I was profoundly confused. Looking on in disbelief how could it be possible that we had come this far only to discover some other damm ship. No other wreck has ever showed up within the search grid of the extensive side scan sonar surveys. So how did we miss the Waratah and dive on an unknown wreck.? The bridge requested a status and our reply was heard loud and clear by all the crew above. This is not the Waratah , this is a transport of sorts."
All very dramatic and obviously written to enthrall readers, but a number of questions present themselves from this short description given. What does he mean when he says, "had I slipped up with the manifest and not accounted for the tanks? looking at this last statement what manifest was he referring to? firstly it certainly could not have been the manifest presented to Lloyds by the Lund Company after the ship was reported missing, Why?, because there are no tanks mentioned in the manifest simply because there were none on board when the Waratah disappeared in 1909, secondly the first military tanks were not put into use until the 15th of September 1916 in France by the British, so how could the Waratah have had tanks from Australia and South Africa on board in 1909 on her homeward voyage to England.? It is interesting to note that there was indeed a solitary vehicle listed and on the Waratah's manifest. This was a motor car with its petrol tank drained then placed in a wooden crate and shipped in Sydney for London by the Pastoral Finance Association.
In part 2 of his article in the DO IT MAGAZINE Emlyn Brown mentions an eye witness by the name of Joe Conquer of the Cape Mounted Rifles. He writes, the Cape Mounted Rifleman had been stationed on the Wild Coast in the early part of 1909. On the 28th of July 1909 the soldiers had been ordered to carry out live shell fire practice at the Xora River mouth with signalling exercises via heliograph. As it was a cloudy day, the exercises where suspended until the sun reappeared, as the heliograph requires the sun to reflect the mirrored signal. Edward Joe Conquer was stationed on a knoll on the right bank of the Xora River with signaller H. Adshead.
Image courtesy of Google Earth.
Cape Mounted Rifles camped next to the Xora River.
He saw through the eye piece of his telescope, a large ship proceeding very slowly in a south-westerly direction and making heavy weather. Conquers' record notes the following. "I watched this vessel through the telescope and can still see her in my minds eye. She was a ship of considerable tonnage with a single funnel. Two masts and a black hull, the upper works were painted yellow. I gave the telescope to Adshead who remarked that she was having a very rough passage. I watched the ship crawling along and saw her roll to starboard and before she could right herself, a following wave rolled her over and I saw her no more." About three days later, the East London Dispatch newspaper arrived at our camp and the main page carried big headlines of the none arrival of the ss Waratah. I thought this was an extraordinary observation. This was no theory by Edward Joe Conquer. This was an observation witnessed by other soldiers as well.
EDWARD JOE CONQUER.
In his book Eight Bells At Salamander the celebrated South African author Lawrence Green interviewed Edward Joe Conquer and writes.
Of course sea mysteries that stand grimly above all others are the missing ships. Many would place the Waratah at the head of the list; but I shall finish with the Waratah here and now because I am sure that the greatest modern riddle of the South African Seas has been fully explained. I knew the man who saw the Waratah sink.
He was the famous Joe Conquer of the South African Air Force, sergeant-major when I first met him later a commissioned officer. Conquer was a signaller in the Cape Mounted Riflemen on July 28, 1909, stationed at the Xora River mouth in the Transkei for live shell practice. That day Conquer watched through his telescope while a ship exactly like the Waratah crawled down? the coast in a gale. Another signaller named Adshead was with him. "I saw her roll very heavily," Conquer told me, "she seemed to be overtaken by a following sea, and when I looked for her again she had gone. I am convinced that I saw the end of the Waratah. Three days later newspapers reached our camp reporting that the Waratah was overdue," Conquer marked on a map the spot where he had seen the ship disappear, a bearing of 240 degrees from the knoll at the Xora River mouth gives the direction, and he estimated that the ship was four miles offshore. He reported what he had seen to M.C.R headquarters, first by semaphore and later in writing. Wreckage was found in the neighbourhood soon afterwards. Deck chairs cushions and an oar drifted ashore but there was nothing bearing the name Waratah.
The questions remain what happened to all this flotsam supposedly washed up and carried off by local natives. Surely some of these items (if they did exist) would have been recovered for identification. It must be remembered that at a later stage after the Waratah disappeared the whole coastline was searched by the Cape Mounted Rifles. This would have included them blitzing local coastline native villages in search of evidence from a shipwreck. Yet the Court of inquiry was informed that the result of the searches proved fruitless. On a more humerous note they didn't exactly find the locals sunning themselves outside their huts laid back on their newly found deck chairs.
The questions remain what happened to all this flotsam supposedly washed up and carried off by local natives. Surely some of these items (if they did exist) would have been recovered for identification. It must be remembered that at a later stage after the Waratah disappeared the whole coastline was searched by the Cape Mounted Rifles. This would have included them blitzing local coastline native villages in search of evidence from a shipwreck. Yet the Court of inquiry was informed that the result of the searches proved fruitless. On a more humerous note they didn't exactly find the locals sunning themselves outside their huts laid back on their newly found deck chairs.
A section of the field manual used by the Cape Mounted Rifles for the use of a heliograph. From the Xora river they could send messages very quickly back to headquarters situated inland in the town of Umtata 35.5 miles distant via relay of other heliographs placed on high points of land.
Years afterwards a military pilot pin pointed a sunken wreck he had observed while flying along the coast. He compared his map with the map Conquer had kept, the positions almost coincided. More about this pilot later but first lets analyse the Conquer story.
The most obvious question I asked in my research on the Waratah is where is Joe Conquers' report to his commanding officer detailing what he had seen on the 28th of July and a possible corroborated statement by the witness Conquer mentions, trooper Adshead? The second question is, did the Board of Trade Solicitor in London, Mr. Cuncliffe who was gathering evidence from all the other Colonies for a court of marine inquiry, make any inquiries to the military authorities in South Africa to verify the veracity of the story told by Joe Conquer? No where in the court of marine inquiry did Joe Conquer and his record of events receive any mention at all, why? Did Joe Conquer actually see a ship disappear? I believe he did, but I do not think he saw a ship actually sink. On the day in question there was a raging storm coming up the coast from the south west with heavy seas, in fact it was of cyclonic strength ( same a hurricane or a typhoon). Two ships travelling south west and battling against the storm were driven backwards, the Clan Macintyre was driven back thirty two miles and another ship twenty or so miles. In an earlier version of Joe Conquers' story which I came across in Cape Town many years ago. The men were sheltering from the bad weather in the camp tent playing cards with one man outside keeping a lookout for any officers that may be coming to their camp for inspection. Because there was no sun, they could not be forewarned by a distant heliograph and so required a lookout outside the tent,(I suspect the lookout was to keep an eye out for semaphore signals from a distant hill in view of the sun being obscured). The question here is, where was the officer in charge of the artillery group with Conquer and the other soldiers? surely if there had have been an officer there Conquer
should have called him to verify his sighting of the ship rather than the other soldier Adshead. Conquer claimed he saw the ship travelling slowly in a north westerly direction (not south westerly) which led everyone to believe that it may have been the Waratah that had turned back for Durban and was running before the storm. Next we need to look at the height of Joe Conquers' height above sea level, on the British Admiralty chart of that period the excellent topography of the knoll shows that it was 229.6 feet, or 70 meters above sea level which from this height the distance to the sea horizon would have been approximately 17.42 miles on a clear day with a clear atmosphere. This is based on the formula that (the square root of the height of the eye in feet x 1.15 = distance to sea horizon), If we transpose this to metric solution, the formula it would read,( the square root of the height of the eye in meters x 2.095 = distance to the horizon). Joe Conquer claimed the ship was about four miles off when he lost sight of her. He does not give a true description of the state of the sea which was obviously rough nor does he give the visibility in the terms of distance, along with cloud coverage or if there was any heavy rain. So how far could he actually see out to sea.? He gives a bearing of 240 degrees of the ship which in itself is incorrect as this bearing would be pointing inland in a south westerly direction. He probably meant a bearing of 060 degrees being the reciprocal bearing of 240 degrees which would point in a north easterly direction out to sea and make more sense. He does not tell us what instrument he used to take the bearing or whether it was a true bearing or a magnetic bearing which would make a difference to the actual position of a wreck if it sank in this area.
BEARINGS OF JOE CONQUER ON THE KNOLL AT THE XORA RIVER.
In the above picture the green line is a true bearing of 060 degrees (true) with the green circle indicating the ship four miles off. The white line is a magnetic bearing of 086 degrees with the white circle being the ship four miles off. If he had taken a bearing of the ship with a compass this last bearing takes into account the magnetic variation of 26 degrees west for that area in 1909. The distance between the two circled positions is 1.93 miles. There is a chance of the probability of error in his estimated distance the ship was from the shore, did he estimate the distance by the naked eye or when using the telescope.? If he estimated the distance through his telescope and depending on the magnification of the instrument, the ship could well be further offshore than stated, if a ship did founder then there should be another wreck on the sea bed off the Xorsa River so why then has it not been found? If he actually did see a ship disappear it was probably into heavy rain or a squall travelling along the coast at the time and did not sink as supposed. Note the position of the Nailsea Meadow, the ship lies in a north easterly direction some 12.4 miles from the Xora River not in the mouth of the river.
VISIBILITY ABOUT 3 MILES.
ROUGH SEAS LOW VISIBILITY IN WHICH A SHIP COULD DISAPPEAR FROM VIEW,
NOTICE THE LAND IN THE BACKGROUND ABOUT 4 MILES THROUGH THE RAIN.
NOTICE THE LAND IN THE BACKGROUND ABOUT 4 MILES THROUGH THE RAIN.
The Waratah left Durban at about 8.00pm on the 26th of July 1909 and headed down the coast for Cape Town, on the following morning of the 27th she exchanged signals at 6.00am with the Clan Macintyre then overtook that the ship and was last seen down towards the region of the Bashee River at about 9.30am. Conquer said he saw the ship making heavy weather of it in a gale at about noon on the 28th of July the day after the Waratah had passed his position on the day before the 27th, the ship he saw could not have been the Waratah. Some say he may have had his dates mixed up yet this could easily be verified by the signal book at C.M.R. (Cape Mounted Rifles Headquarters at Umtata)where all in coming signals would have been duly recorded in a signal book. Conquer was supposed to have signalled by semaphore (flag signals), as well as his written report he claimed to have submitted, yet there seems to be no record of any of this. I did read an article some years ago that when Lawrence Green the author spoke to Conquer, and later when asked by an interviewer did he question Conquer more closely on all matters, to which he replied "no, I didn't want to spoil a good yarn".
Next we come to the sighting from the air of the shape of a ship on the sea bed sighted by S.A.A.F Flight Lt. Dennis J. Roos in 1925 near the Xora River. The South African Air Force with 11 D.H.9 (De-Havilland) aircraft and ten pilots operated a mail service between Durban, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay, East London and Cape Town to connect with the overseas mail ships. This entailed two pilots being stationed at each of these ports for relay flying, although the air force rendered an efficient service it was disbanded after a period of time as a commercial failure. It was on one of these flights from Durban to Port Elizabeth that Lt.D.J.Roos sighted what he thought was a large outline of a ship on the sea bed near the Xora River and offshore.
Some years later when Joe Conquer who was now in the South African Air Force met Lt. Roos in the officers mess and they compared notes with the result that Lt. Ross drew a rough sketch of the area marking a ship on it.
The original sketch retained by Lt. Roos. The dotted line from the hill to another hill at Bijola, I believe to be Joe Conquers contribution to the drawing, showing the direction to another heliograph signal station on route to the Cape Mounted Rifles headquarters located further on at Umtata.
Lt. Roos flew the same route many times but only spotted the alleged ship once, was it a ship or something else resembling the shape of a ship? either way it was not there when the area was combed by sonar in one of the many searches that took place years later. I firmly believe that he saw a shadow that looked like a ship that could well have been a derelict wooden ship drifting below the surface or even a small misshaped cloud with the sun above it casting a shadow on the surface of the sea in the form of a ship.
Puffs of white clouds known as fair weather Cumulus casting different shadows.
Black arrow pointing to an extra large shadow in the shape of a ship, Did Lt. Roos see a smaller shadow of a ship cast by a cloud formation off the Xora river?
It has been said by some historians that he probably sighted the ss Kedhive a German ship that struck a rock 1.7 miles south of Cape Morgan some 47 miles further south west down the coast. This would have meant a serious error in his visual navigation , unless of course when he flew over the Xora River area it was obscured by cloud and when the clouds cleared he was over the Cape Morgan area where the wreck of the Kehdive was known to exist. I doubt the historians explanation Lt. Roos relied on visual navigation and would have known his speed over the ground and exactly where he was at all times. The ss Kehdive was a cargo ship of the Deutche Ost- Africa Line being of 5,930 Gross Tons which was carrying machinery with reels of electric wiring and zinc for the South African gold mines. The ship came to grief on the 16th of August 1910, the crew abandoned the ship making it ashore through the breakers and surf except for the third officer who was drowned. A local farmer assisted the crew with food and shelter then took them by horse and cart to East London. The German Government later presented him with a bronze statuette in appreciation of his kindness to the crew.
THE KEHDIVE WRECKED AT CAPE MORGAN IN 1910.
DO IT NOW MAGAZINE Vol.2-6-Dec/Jan 2011, in this edition Emlyn Brown writes,
"More excitement was to follow in the form of a side scan sonar undertaken by the CSIR on board the M.V. Meiring Naude. A research and survey ship I was later to place under charter in 1989. The 1997 survey report was handed to me by Dr. Berg Fleming at a Synposium at the University of Cape Town. The cruise report contained information of a shipwreck located off the Xora River mouth in 375 feet of water (117 metres). The side scan was not an intense sonar investigation but most certainly confirmed an elongated anomaly on the ocean floor that it was without doubt a shipwreck.
RESEARCH VESSEL M.V. MEIRING NAUDE.
On the face of it, it appeared on all accounts that what Edward Joe Conquer had witnessed in 1909 and what Lt. Roos had observed from the air in 1925 were now confirmed in the 1977 CISR report. Evidence enough to warrant a full investigation, albeit circumstantial. I needed to take a closer look to confirm or deny. These events spanning some 68 years had always been the very basic ingredient for my search and the basis to sell the project on to find the finance to carry out further investigation. Further on in the article he writes. The wreck thought to be that of the ill-fated Waratah was the Nailsea Meadow a 4,296 ton ship transporting a cargo of tanks and military hardware for General Montgomery's eighth army on a voyage north towards Egypt via the Suez Canal, and torpedoed by the the U-196 in 1942, correction 1943. According to the records, the U-196 torpedoed the ship off Port St John's. But this is not where the ship eventually sunk. She had drifted south with the current to a point just off the Xora River mouth, where she finally settled on the ocean floor. This was the wreck the sonar had picked up in all the previous surveys. Nobody expected this. However it was not the ship Edward Joe Conquer had witnessed roll over and sink as the Nailsea Meadow sank some 33 years later correction 34 years later. Neither was it the ship that Lt. Roos had apparently seen from the air. It sank only some 17 years later correction 18 years later. The Nailsea Meadow could not have drifted as described above, because the commander of the U-196 submarine stood by and watched the Nailsea Meadow actually sink by the bow after administering the Coup de grace with a final torpedo. Another point to consider is that when Captain Eric Lambert of the Nailsea Meadow ordered the radio officer to send the rrr message (being attacked), he would have included his position which he would have known and he was not near Port St Johns but well south of it.
Emlyn Brown continues. The 1977 side scan sonar survey report indeed confirmed a wreck off the Xora River, supporting both eye witness accounts of Joe Conquer and Lt. Roos. The Nailsea Meadow was not even considered and at the time was an unknown wreck and ship for that matter. My own collective surveys and the 1999 high resolution survey with Dr. Ramsay seemed to prove beyond doubt that the wreck, with the assistance of independent opinions in post survey analysis, confirmed the unshakable belief that this was the Waratah. It had to be the Waratah. In an article published in 1987 by Numa, The National Underwater Marine Agency founded by Clive Cussler who was now backing Brown financially. Clive Cussler stated that records show no other iron steamer on the bottom within 60 miles, and those are accounted for. So why was Emlyn Brown denying the existence of the Nailsea Meadow????
In Vol.3-Issue -Feb/March 2011 of the Do It Now Magazine.
In this issue of the magazine Emlyn Brown once again states that the Nailsea Meadow was torpedoed off Port St Johns and drifted south and finally sank in 117 metres of water.(same depth of water as given by the Meiring Naude and her sonar scan image of a wreck).This now raise the question of what Lt.Roos witnessed from the air in 1925, as the Nailsea Meadow only sunk in 1945, 20 years later.! correction 1943, 18 years later.
If the nailsea Meadow could drift down south with the current and sink at the Xora, then the ss Waratah could have rolled over at the Xora, as witnessed by Conquer, and also drifted down south to a point unknown. The only problem with this theory is that the storm or hurricane was raging up the coast and had retarded the current to a standstill and overwhelmed its effect, which would mean if this theory had any credence to it, the ship would have been driven northwards not southwards. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Clan Macintyre was steaming dead slow head on to the high mountainous seas trying to keep up steerage but was driven back 32 miles instead.
It is interesting to note that in the same edition of this magazine he writes. That on the previous day, 25th of July the Clan ship Clan Macintyre left Durban bound for the United Kingdom via Cape Town. In the same paragraph he repeats once again the Clan Macintyre had departed a day earlier. In actual fact the Clan Macintyre sailed from Durban on the same day as the Waratah the 26th of July at 5.00pm after she had completed taking in coal at the Bluff coaling berth. The Waratah sailed some 3 hours later from C shed berth at about 8.00pm.
The loss of the ss Waratah had assumed epic proportions and had a devastating effect on the Lund's Blue Anchor line, with the entire loss of the Turner family on board at the time of this Poseidon adventure. This was a tragic event and a reality, not a scene from some film in the seventies The fictional Poseiden Adventure was based on the Queen Mary during the second world war when she almost capsized in the North Atlantic when hit by a 90 foot rouge wave and was heeled over to 53 degrees.
To compare the tragedy of the Waratah to a fictional film indicates a loss of reality by the writer and in poor taste. The Waratah with her stability problem along with the cargo below and the way it was stowed would not lend her to floating upside down if she capsized. The reality is that the Waratah was very sluggish to steer and to try and control her head at night in high seas with no visibility it would only be a matter of time before she fell away and broached leaving her to the merciless sea. One rouge wave of a great towering height would have inflicted so much damage she would have gone down almost immediately. We only need to look at some examples of the power of such waves and their effect on ships larger than the Waratah.
THE BULK SHIP SVEALAND DAMAGED ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE IN 1973.
Length of ship 1,105 ft (338 m) Beam 178.8 ft (54.56 m) Draft 70.4 ft (21.69 m) dead weight 258,000 tons. Svealand was steaming along at a reduced speed 3 knots through 30 to 40 ft waves driven by gale force winds from the south west and was one mile outside the 100 fathom line. The bow dropped into a trough and while she was down, she was hit with force by a large wave. The power of this massive wave tore open No 1 and No 2 hatches as if they were made of balsa wood. The deck hatch covers on modern bulk carriers usually have a structural capacity of around 2.0 to 2.5 tons/ per square metre of uniformly distributed load (U.D.L) without being reinforced. This load corresponds to the green sea pressure used in approval of the vessel.
NORWEGIAN TANKER WILSTAR LOST HER BULBOUS BOW IN 1974.
WILSTAR.
Length 902 feet (275 m) Beam 137.7 feet (42 M) 132,700 tons dead weight. In 1974 off Durban she fell into a trough and had a freak wave shear off about 24 feet of her bow. The ship was then steamed at low speed to Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth. Here she discharged 36,000 tons into another tanker then sailed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands for repairs. There are so many ships damaged and sunk by freak waves of the coast of South Africa one could almost fill a book on them, strangely enough I have never heard of one floating upside down drifting with the current after encountering such large waves off South Africa. The Waratah with her 3" inch pine hatch boards would have been no match for such conditions that she sailed into on the night of 27th/or the morning of the 28th of July 1909. The glass dome over the piano lounge would have certainly been an area of weakness under heavy seas and would have been a point of rapid ingress of water once smashed in.
GLASS DOME OVER THE MUSIC SALOON.
THE LOSS OF THE ss NAILSEA MEADOW IN 1943.
ss NAILSEA MEADOW.
The Nailsea Meadow was built in 1937 and was one of a series of ships belonging to the E.R. Management Company Ltd of Cardiff in Wales U.K. Her official number was 162118, signal letters GZKW. Her dimensions were 420.3 feet x beam 56.0 feet x draft 25.4 feet, with a moulded depth of 37 feet. The ship was fitted with a White built 4 cylinder engine of 255 N.H.P with LP turbine giving 35% more on fuel economy. One deck & shelter deck, G.R.T 4,963 tons with a deadweight of 8,900 tons including bunkers, the vessel was also fitted for oil fuel. Bunkers consisted of 960 tons of oil fuel in the midships double bottom tanks. 1,170 tons of coal is carried in the tween decks and in the usual cross bunker for a steamship. Ballast water in her double bottoms consisted of 1,460 tons.
In 1941 the Nailsea Meadow suffered damage during an air raid over London. On the 19th and the 20th of March 1941 bombing was heavily concentrated on East London and in the London docks there were more major fires than any other since the bombing of December the 29th. The fires and other damage killed about 750 people, in addition to this many ships in harbour were damaged and sunk including the Nailsea Meadow which was damaged in Victoria Dock, killing 2 men on board when a bomb struck the stern of the ship exploding in the after peak tank. The Nailsea Meadow was trapped in the docks and it was six months before she was finally repaired and ready for sea again.
LONDON DOCKS DURING A GERMAN BOMBING RAID.
The Nailsea Meadow had left Hampton Roads, New York carrying 7,104 tons of war supplies for General Montgomery and his Eighth Army in Egypt, part of her passage was via Cape Town up the South African Coast to Durban. It was between these two ports that she was spotted by the commander of the U-boat 196 who attacked and sank the Nailsea Meadow.
U-BOAT 196.
U-boat 196 was of the long range type known as the IXD class. The submarine was launched on the 24th of April 1942, her length overall was 87.6 m x 7.50 m x 5.40 m. She had a maximum speed of 19.2 knots on the surface and a maximum of 6.9 knots when submerged. The submarine could dive to a maximum depth of 230 m or (755 feet), she carried a crew of between 55 to 63 men . The vessel carried 24 torpedoes which could be fired through 4 bow tubes and 2 stern tubes, and was commanded by Eitel Friedrich Kentrat holder of the Iron Cross.
U-BOAT 196 READY FOR LAUNCHING ON THE 24th OF APRIL 1942.
KORVETTENKAPITAN KENTRAT
(Commander)
The U- 196 left Keil Harbour on the 13th of March 1943 with orders to steam for the Southern Indian Ocean and harass enemy shipping off the South African Coast and Madagascar. Steaming south the U-196 crossed the Equator at night on the 16th of April at 2240 hours it wasn't until noon on the 18th of April that the crew celebrated the crossing of the Equator with Korvettenkapitan Kentrat playing the part of King Neptune.
KAPITAN KENTRAT ACTING AS KING NEPTUNE CROSSING THE EQUATOR.
Kapitan Kentrat notes in his war diary 9th May 1943 course 020 degrees, intend to run up the coast. Difference between dead reckoning and actual position after a navigation fix; 30 nautical miles, 24 degrees true. He obviously was unable to obtain either a sun sight or star sights for some time.
10th of May, 0400 hrs course 020 degrees in operations area.
11 of May, 1600 hrs course 0 degrees intend to head for Port St Johns.
2130 hrs shadow in sight abeam to port, maneuvered ahead. Course and speed matched: course 30 degrees, speed 7 knots, (Nailsea Meadow). Low long silhouette, fully loaded freighter, estimated 6,000-8000 tons. Intention surface attack after moonset (23.10 hours) off the coast. Shot with tube 1 (T3) electrically driven torpedo, depth 5 metres, target speed 7knots, bow left, target angle 90 degrees, range estimated 1,000 metres, after 2 minutes 46 seconds hit center. High sheet of flame. Stopped, lies on an even keel. Transmits twice rrr at 20.59z on 600 m wave, Coastal Radio Center "ZSC" (Slankop Radio) gives: quick AR. Then the coastal radio center (Walvis Bay Radio) "KSV" and QRK UDQRK R, SFD HAHSHWHAHW. The freighter gives one long dash.
Intend the coup de grace with tube 1V (T3) depth 7metres, speed 0, bow left, target angle 90 degrees, range 1,000 metres.
12th May 00.02 hours, shot from tube 1V (T3) was a surface runner, goes past ahead to port. After several internal detonations the freighter settles quite suddenly over the forestem.
00.04 hours a short time later heavy detonation, high black smoke cloud. Sinks.
Sinking at S = 31 42 degrees south
N =29 48 degrees east.
Abeam of Port St Johns ran off on course 070 degrees.
Here we have absolute proof that the Nailsea Meadow sank 54 minutes after the first torpedo was fired, The position given above I believe to be in error by the navigator when fixing the sinking position and may have been based on dead reckoning calculations or his navigator may have used a Plath gyro sextant which if not handled carefully could result in large errors. It is further proof that the Nailsea Meadow did not drift down to a position near the Xora River as suggested by Emlyn Brown. She sank where she was attacked, if the above position was correct then she would have sank abeam of Port St Johns but that was not the case. 42 two out of a crew of 44 were picked up later on the 12th of May by the S.A.A.F crash boat the R 6 from East London. Two members died as a result of the attack and a memorial plaque was placed at Tower Hill London to remember them by.
THE TWO CREW MEMBERS KILLED IN THE ATTACK ON THE NAILSEA MEADOW.
Next we come to the sighting from the air of the shape of a ship on the sea bed sighted by S.A.A.F Flight Lt. Dennis J. Roos in 1925 near the Xora River. The South African Air Force with 11 D.H.9 (De-Havilland) aircraft and ten pilots operated a mail service between Durban, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay, East London and Cape Town to connect with the overseas mail ships. This entailed two pilots being stationed at each of these ports for relay flying, although the air force rendered an efficient service it was disbanded after a period of time as a commercial failure. It was on one of these flights from Durban to Port Elizabeth that Lt.D.J.Roos sighted what he thought was a large outline of a ship on the sea bed near the Xora River and offshore.
FOUR OF THE ACTUAL PLANES USED ON THE MAIL RUNS.
Sketch obtained from a public forum on the internet.
Lt. Roos flew the same route many times but only spotted the alleged ship once, was it a ship or something else resembling the shape of a ship? either way it was not there when the area was combed by sonar in one of the many searches that took place years later. I firmly believe that he saw a shadow that looked like a ship that could well have been a derelict wooden ship drifting below the surface or even a small misshaped cloud with the sun above it casting a shadow on the surface of the sea in the form of a ship.
It has been said by some historians that he probably sighted the ss Kedhive a German ship that struck a rock 1.7 miles south of Cape Morgan some 47 miles further south west down the coast. This would have meant a serious error in his visual navigation , unless of course when he flew over the Xora River area it was obscured by cloud and when the clouds cleared he was over the Cape Morgan area where the wreck of the Kehdive was known to exist. I doubt the historians explanation Lt. Roos relied on visual navigation and would have known his speed over the ground and exactly where he was at all times. The ss Kehdive was a cargo ship of the Deutche Ost- Africa Line being of 5,930 Gross Tons which was carrying machinery with reels of electric wiring and zinc for the South African gold mines. The ship came to grief on the 16th of August 1910, the crew abandoned the ship making it ashore through the breakers and surf except for the third officer who was drowned. A local farmer assisted the crew with food and shelter then took them by horse and cart to East London. The German Government later presented him with a bronze statuette in appreciation of his kindness to the crew.
THE KEHDIVE WRECKED AT CAPE MORGAN IN 1910.
DO IT NOW MAGAZINE Vol.2-6-Dec/Jan 2011, in this edition Emlyn Brown writes,
"More excitement was to follow in the form of a side scan sonar undertaken by the CSIR on board the M.V. Meiring Naude. A research and survey ship I was later to place under charter in 1989. The 1997 survey report was handed to me by Dr. Berg Fleming at a Synposium at the University of Cape Town. The cruise report contained information of a shipwreck located off the Xora River mouth in 375 feet of water (117 metres). The side scan was not an intense sonar investigation but most certainly confirmed an elongated anomaly on the ocean floor that it was without doubt a shipwreck.
On the face of it, it appeared on all accounts that what Edward Joe Conquer had witnessed in 1909 and what Lt. Roos had observed from the air in 1925 were now confirmed in the 1977 CISR report. Evidence enough to warrant a full investigation, albeit circumstantial. I needed to take a closer look to confirm or deny. These events spanning some 68 years had always been the very basic ingredient for my search and the basis to sell the project on to find the finance to carry out further investigation. Further on in the article he writes. The wreck thought to be that of the ill-fated Waratah was the Nailsea Meadow a 4,296 ton ship transporting a cargo of tanks and military hardware for General Montgomery's eighth army on a voyage north towards Egypt via the Suez Canal, and torpedoed by the the U-196 in 1942, correction 1943. According to the records, the U-196 torpedoed the ship off Port St John's. But this is not where the ship eventually sunk. She had drifted south with the current to a point just off the Xora River mouth, where she finally settled on the ocean floor. This was the wreck the sonar had picked up in all the previous surveys. Nobody expected this. However it was not the ship Edward Joe Conquer had witnessed roll over and sink as the Nailsea Meadow sank some 33 years later correction 34 years later. Neither was it the ship that Lt. Roos had apparently seen from the air. It sank only some 17 years later correction 18 years later. The Nailsea Meadow could not have drifted as described above, because the commander of the U-196 submarine stood by and watched the Nailsea Meadow actually sink by the bow after administering the Coup de grace with a final torpedo. Another point to consider is that when Captain Eric Lambert of the Nailsea Meadow ordered the radio officer to send the rrr message (being attacked), he would have included his position which he would have known and he was not near Port St Johns but well south of it.
Emlyn Brown continues. The 1977 side scan sonar survey report indeed confirmed a wreck off the Xora River, supporting both eye witness accounts of Joe Conquer and Lt. Roos. The Nailsea Meadow was not even considered and at the time was an unknown wreck and ship for that matter. My own collective surveys and the 1999 high resolution survey with Dr. Ramsay seemed to prove beyond doubt that the wreck, with the assistance of independent opinions in post survey analysis, confirmed the unshakable belief that this was the Waratah. It had to be the Waratah. In an article published in 1987 by Numa, The National Underwater Marine Agency founded by Clive Cussler who was now backing Brown financially. Clive Cussler stated that records show no other iron steamer on the bottom within 60 miles, and those are accounted for. So why was Emlyn Brown denying the existence of the Nailsea Meadow????
In Vol.3-Issue -Feb/March 2011 of the Do It Now Magazine.
In this issue of the magazine Emlyn Brown once again states that the Nailsea Meadow was torpedoed off Port St Johns and drifted south and finally sank in 117 metres of water.(same depth of water as given by the Meiring Naude and her sonar scan image of a wreck).This now raise the question of what Lt.Roos witnessed from the air in 1925, as the Nailsea Meadow only sunk in 1945, 20 years later.! correction 1943, 18 years later.
If the nailsea Meadow could drift down south with the current and sink at the Xora, then the ss Waratah could have rolled over at the Xora, as witnessed by Conquer, and also drifted down south to a point unknown. The only problem with this theory is that the storm or hurricane was raging up the coast and had retarded the current to a standstill and overwhelmed its effect, which would mean if this theory had any credence to it, the ship would have been driven northwards not southwards. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Clan Macintyre was steaming dead slow head on to the high mountainous seas trying to keep up steerage but was driven back 32 miles instead.
It is interesting to note that in the same edition of this magazine he writes. That on the previous day, 25th of July the Clan ship Clan Macintyre left Durban bound for the United Kingdom via Cape Town. In the same paragraph he repeats once again the Clan Macintyre had departed a day earlier. In actual fact the Clan Macintyre sailed from Durban on the same day as the Waratah the 26th of July at 5.00pm after she had completed taking in coal at the Bluff coaling berth. The Waratah sailed some 3 hours later from C shed berth at about 8.00pm.
The loss of the ss Waratah had assumed epic proportions and had a devastating effect on the Lund's Blue Anchor line, with the entire loss of the Turner family on board at the time of this Poseidon adventure. This was a tragic event and a reality, not a scene from some film in the seventies The fictional Poseiden Adventure was based on the Queen Mary during the second world war when she almost capsized in the North Atlantic when hit by a 90 foot rouge wave and was heeled over to 53 degrees.
THE BULK SHIP SVEALAND DAMAGED ON HER MAIDEN VOYAGE IN 1973.
Length of ship 1,105 ft (338 m) Beam 178.8 ft (54.56 m) Draft 70.4 ft (21.69 m) dead weight 258,000 tons. Svealand was steaming along at a reduced speed 3 knots through 30 to 40 ft waves driven by gale force winds from the south west and was one mile outside the 100 fathom line. The bow dropped into a trough and while she was down, she was hit with force by a large wave. The power of this massive wave tore open No 1 and No 2 hatches as if they were made of balsa wood. The deck hatch covers on modern bulk carriers usually have a structural capacity of around 2.0 to 2.5 tons/ per square metre of uniformly distributed load (U.D.L) without being reinforced. This load corresponds to the green sea pressure used in approval of the vessel.
Length 902 feet (275 m) Beam 137.7 feet (42 M) 132,700 tons dead weight. In 1974 off Durban she fell into a trough and had a freak wave shear off about 24 feet of her bow. The ship was then steamed at low speed to Algoa Bay near Port Elizabeth. Here she discharged 36,000 tons into another tanker then sailed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands for repairs. There are so many ships damaged and sunk by freak waves of the coast of South Africa one could almost fill a book on them, strangely enough I have never heard of one floating upside down drifting with the current after encountering such large waves off South Africa. The Waratah with her 3" inch pine hatch boards would have been no match for such conditions that she sailed into on the night of 27th/or the morning of the 28th of July 1909. The glass dome over the piano lounge would have certainly been an area of weakness under heavy seas and would have been a point of rapid ingress of water once smashed in.
GLASS DOME OVER THE MUSIC SALOON.
THE LOSS OF THE ss NAILSEA MEADOW IN 1943.
ss NAILSEA MEADOW.
The Nailsea Meadow was built in 1937 and was one of a series of ships belonging to the E.R. Management Company Ltd of Cardiff in Wales U.K. Her official number was 162118, signal letters GZKW. Her dimensions were 420.3 feet x beam 56.0 feet x draft 25.4 feet, with a moulded depth of 37 feet. The ship was fitted with a White built 4 cylinder engine of 255 N.H.P with LP turbine giving 35% more on fuel economy. One deck & shelter deck, G.R.T 4,963 tons with a deadweight of 8,900 tons including bunkers, the vessel was also fitted for oil fuel. Bunkers consisted of 960 tons of oil fuel in the midships double bottom tanks. 1,170 tons of coal is carried in the tween decks and in the usual cross bunker for a steamship. Ballast water in her double bottoms consisted of 1,460 tons.
In 1941 the Nailsea Meadow suffered damage during an air raid over London. On the 19th and the 20th of March 1941 bombing was heavily concentrated on East London and in the London docks there were more major fires than any other since the bombing of December the 29th. The fires and other damage killed about 750 people, in addition to this many ships in harbour were damaged and sunk including the Nailsea Meadow which was damaged in Victoria Dock, killing 2 men on board when a bomb struck the stern of the ship exploding in the after peak tank. The Nailsea Meadow was trapped in the docks and it was six months before she was finally repaired and ready for sea again.
LONDON DOCKS DURING A GERMAN BOMBING RAID.The Nailsea Meadow had left Hampton Roads, New York carrying 7,104 tons of war supplies for General Montgomery and his Eighth Army in Egypt, part of her passage was via Cape Town up the South African Coast to Durban. It was between these two ports that she was spotted by the commander of the U-boat 196 who attacked and sank the Nailsea Meadow.
U-BOAT 196.
U-boat 196 was of the long range type known as the IXD class. The submarine was launched on the 24th of April 1942, her length overall was 87.6 m x 7.50 m x 5.40 m. She had a maximum speed of 19.2 knots on the surface and a maximum of 6.9 knots when submerged. The submarine could dive to a maximum depth of 230 m or (755 feet), she carried a crew of between 55 to 63 men . The vessel carried 24 torpedoes which could be fired through 4 bow tubes and 2 stern tubes, and was commanded by Eitel Friedrich Kentrat holder of the Iron Cross.
U-BOAT 196 READY FOR LAUNCHING ON THE 24th OF APRIL 1942.
KORVETTENKAPITAN KENTRAT
(Commander)
The U- 196 left Keil Harbour on the 13th of March 1943 with orders to steam for the Southern Indian Ocean and harass enemy shipping off the South African Coast and Madagascar. Steaming south the U-196 crossed the Equator at night on the 16th of April at 2240 hours it wasn't until noon on the 18th of April that the crew celebrated the crossing of the Equator with Korvettenkapitan Kentrat playing the part of King Neptune.
KAPITAN KENTRAT ACTING AS KING NEPTUNE CROSSING THE EQUATOR.
Kapitan Kentrat notes in his war diary 9th May 1943 course 020 degrees, intend to run up the coast. Difference between dead reckoning and actual position after a navigation fix; 30 nautical miles, 24 degrees true. He obviously was unable to obtain either a sun sight or star sights for some time.
10th of May, 0400 hrs course 020 degrees in operations area.
11 of May, 1600 hrs course 0 degrees intend to head for Port St Johns.
2130 hrs shadow in sight abeam to port, maneuvered ahead. Course and speed matched: course 30 degrees, speed 7 knots, (Nailsea Meadow). Low long silhouette, fully loaded freighter, estimated 6,000-8000 tons. Intention surface attack after moonset (23.10 hours) off the coast. Shot with tube 1 (T3) electrically driven torpedo, depth 5 metres, target speed 7knots, bow left, target angle 90 degrees, range estimated 1,000 metres, after 2 minutes 46 seconds hit center. High sheet of flame. Stopped, lies on an even keel. Transmits twice rrr at 20.59z on 600 m wave, Coastal Radio Center "ZSC" (Slankop Radio) gives: quick AR. Then the coastal radio center (Walvis Bay Radio) "KSV" and QRK UDQRK R, SFD HAHSHWHAHW. The freighter gives one long dash.
Intend the coup de grace with tube 1V (T3) depth 7metres, speed 0, bow left, target angle 90 degrees, range 1,000 metres.
12th May 00.02 hours, shot from tube 1V (T3) was a surface runner, goes past ahead to port. After several internal detonations the freighter settles quite suddenly over the forestem.
00.04 hours a short time later heavy detonation, high black smoke cloud. Sinks.
Sinking at S = 31 42 degrees south
N =29 48 degrees east.
Abeam of Port St Johns ran off on course 070 degrees.
Here we have absolute proof that the Nailsea Meadow sank 54 minutes after the first torpedo was fired, The position given above I believe to be in error by the navigator when fixing the sinking position and may have been based on dead reckoning calculations or his navigator may have used a Plath gyro sextant which if not handled carefully could result in large errors. It is further proof that the Nailsea Meadow did not drift down to a position near the Xora River as suggested by Emlyn Brown. She sank where she was attacked, if the above position was correct then she would have sank abeam of Port St Johns but that was not the case. 42 two out of a crew of 44 were picked up later on the 12th of May by the S.A.A.F crash boat the R 6 from East London. Two members died as a result of the attack and a memorial plaque was placed at Tower Hill London to remember them by.
THE TWO CREW MEMBERS KILLED IN THE ATTACK ON THE NAILSEA MEADOW.
