Maiden Voyage of the ss Waratah.

Please note; this is an uncorrected copy, on page 15 third page back, it reads Clan Ranald which capsized on the north coast of Kangaroo Island is incorrect and should read, Clan Ranald capsized on the south coast of York Peninsular.

  

Thank you to my many readers

Thank you to those of you that have written their objections to a  vitriolic attack made on me for simply reporting the truth about the Waratah Disaster based on solid research for publishing an article on Monday the 23rd of July 2018 under the heading of my blog page, The Waratah Explained,which can be found on  Google. I was accused of castigating Emlyn Brown and of professional jealousy over articles he wrote in a magazine. I should like to point out that my post in no way was written with malice, or jealousy, but meant to be informative backed up with solid research and nautical expertise and to unravel the the mystery of the ss Nailsea Meadow for the readers. I expressed my opinions in an honest and forthright manner,  and will continue to do so which is my right, the Waratah story is not the personal property of one person, it is maritime history and must be shared for posterity and that is exactly what I am doing. The question arose why have have I not searched for the Waratah, I could have, and have been approached on a number of occasions over the years but the truth is she is deep down and there is no cargo or gold on board the ship that would warrant an expensive salvage operation which would not offer  a profitable monetary return to the investors. Other than finding an archeological  relic which wouldn't tell us any more than what we already know about the ship and her actual resting place, there would be no point in mounting such an expensive operation. The object of my pain taking research was to open up the story of the Waratah which takes away some of the mystery that has surrounded her and to give an insight into what caused her demise. 
My next post coming shortly will be a chapter from my manuscript entitled  The Maiden Voyage.
Once again thank you for your patronage and kind words and support.

                       

Conspiracy by a senior officials to misuse affidavits to favour Waratah

When reading and transcribing documents from the Waratah inquiry, a pattern began to emerge  that some affidavits sworn before appointed public notaries by crew members and passengers,they were in some cases coached as to how their affidavit should be written for presentation before the Court in  order to favour the Waratah and her owners. This was not in the spirit of the law regarding affidavits which makes it quite clear that when a person makes an affidavit, it is, for himself or herself to give their own honest version in relation to the matter that is to be put before the inquiry. All depositions taken in Australia on behalf of the Board of Trade Solicitor in England, had to be sworn in accordance with the provisions of section 691 of The Merchant Shipping Act 1894.

The Board of Trade Solicitor Mr.R. Ellis Cuncliffe wrote to all Australian ports and Durban in South Africa giving the terms of reference for an inquiry and at the same time requesting affidavits from former passengers and crew members that could be located in Australia. The following letter illustrates what the  B.O.T. Solicitor required when he wrote to the Registrar of Shipping in Adelaide dated the 1st of February 1910.

The following two affidavits shown are identical almost word for word it would appear that the normal process for obtaining depositions had clearly been breached by the Crown Solicitor.

                                 

                                      Commonwealth Crown Solicitor Sir Charles Powers.

       

Waratah's lifeboats and Captain Clarke Surveyor.

Note, Mr. Laing represented the Board of Trade.

A typical life raft of the the period as mentioned in the evidence of Captain Clarke, the rafts were placed next the hot funnel causing the timbers to become warped.

Captain Ilbery continued.C

Captain Ilbery learnt his craft of seamanship  under a very hard task master Captain J Fowler master of the barque Joshua which carried immigrants to Australia. The Barque Joshua was built at Brideport for Messrs J.Prowse &Company of Liverpool and under the old  measurement was rated at 804 tons.

   Article from a Welsh newspaper 1909.
                                                               The Waratah's Captain.  \

Cardiff shares an interest in the fate of the missing liner Waratah. Captain Ilbery the skipper of the missing ship is an old friend of Captain Fowler, who was formerly superintendent of the Bute Sailors home home at Cardiff, and now resides at 178 Kings road. The friendship started in 1855, when Captain Fowler  as master of the old sailing ship Joshua, took on Ilbery as a raw liverpool lad, and during the twelve years they were associated together on the same vessels the Joshua and the Normahal the missing captain worked his way up from apprentice boy to chief officer. In 1868 he was appointed captain of the tea clipper Mikado, which was owned by Mr. William Lund of Glasgow, and he remained in that gentleman's service for a period of forty years, the only mishap or accident he ever experienced being a collision with a Norwegian steamer during thick fog in the channel. Captain Fowler speaks very highly of Captain Ilbery as "a thorough good fellow and a good navigator, who was well up to his profession as a sailor". He was a man of about seventy years of age, and on the last occasion he visited Cardiff,Viz., about twenty two years ago, last June, he spent a good deal of his time ashore. During Captain Ilbery's first voyage in the Mikado he was presented by the American Government with a valuable chronometer gold watch for saving a crew from their waterlogged ship, and on another occasion he rescued a Dutch crew who had lost their ship in the Indian Ocean, and had been several days in an open boat when picked up by Captain Ilbery. Captain Ilbery used to correspond regularly with his old captain at Cardiff, the last letter he wrote to him  being from Adelaide in June last, It was the captain's intention to retire from service at the end of this voyage, and to hand over the control of the vessel to Captain W.G. Lingham,who also spent his apprenticeship with Captain Fowler.

The Sailors Home in Cardiff which Capt Fowler was the head of when he retired from the sea.

Captain Ilbery and Captain Lingham were great friends from the old days with Lingham also joining the Blue Anchor line as a second officer. He was second mate on the ss Riverina when she ran aground near Point Hicks on the Victorian coast in Australia in 1890 becoming a total wreck. William Lund gave him his first command the ss Hubbuck in 1894, his longest command with that company was with the Wilcannia which lasted 8 years until she was sold to the P&O Company in 1910 after the Waratah went missing and  the company finally folded up. Had this not have happened he would have been the next master of the Waratah when Captain Ilbery retired. Captain Lingham was famous in his own right as was  Captain Ilbery. He commanded the the new ss Ballarat of the P&O company on her maiden voyage from London to Australia carrying 1,101 passengers and set a record of 37.5 days to Adelaide.

                                                            The record breaking ss Ballarat .

Captain Lingham went on to command other sister ships to the Ballarat namely the the Beltana in which he made his 51st trip to Australia. His London residence was at 1 Calervale Road Clapham S.W. He was also a lifelong member and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

                                         
                                             A smart middle aged looking Captain Ilbery.