Waratah found encased in ice in Antarctica

Daily Standard Brisbane Qld  Friday 5th Sept 1913.

                                                               ENCASED IN ICE
                                                                         _______
                                                          IS IT THE WARATAH?
                                     
                                                   MESSAGE FROM ANTARCTICA

Mawsons Startling Dicovery.
MELBOURNE, FRIDAY.

Late last night the operator at the Melbourne wireless station was startled into tenseness by a thrilling wireless message from Dr. Mawson, which appeared to indicate that the lost steamer Waratah had been discovered in the Antarctic regions. The first part of the message was distinct, but as he proceeded climatic conditions in the south changed, and the remainder of the message came through very dis-jointedly. Still, enough has been received to indicate that Dr. Mawson had made an important discovery, which might probably lead to the clearing up of the fate of the Blue Funnel liner Waratah which has for so long been wrapped in mystery.

The message which was received reads as follows:-

"Party including myself, exploring south main camp hundred thirty miles, came upon a long narrow inlet, broadening into a large bay covered with smooth ice, snow. Masts apparently top funnel, large steamer seen projecting, snow opposite shore eight miles off.  Three attempts (a number of words here missing) retrace. Ascended steep (more words missing) boat ice north westerly. Four hours difficulty travel, unable ... blizzard approaching ...direction camp... lifebuoy... name Waratah; apparently recently... encrusted ice, not attached ... indications tracks... owing heavy snow...camp safely. Preparing start... equipped, provisions fortnight. Blizzard raging ...instruments indicate moderate." (here message abruptly ended.
Whether there are any survivors from the steamer is not stated, but in one portion of the message the words "Indication Tracks", occurs, and again the message tantalizingly breaks off. Some hope is held out that the survivors may exist. The vessel was well provisioned, and enough stores and fuel would remain to enable the passengers and crew to exist in the bowels of the vessel for many months. Nothing further, however can be gleaned on the matter until the full text of the message has been received. The operator is now endeavoring to get in touch with the expedition.
       

                                                           "NO REASONABLE DOUBT."

When questioned on the matter this morning, Captain John Mackay, I.S.O. (Portmaster), said that although people would probably doubt the theory, there was no reasonable doubt in his mind that the lifebuoy marked "Waratah" discovered by Dr. Mawson's party in the ice at Antarctica was from the ill fated Waratah, which disappeared off the coast of South Africa several years ago. The currents on the coast were the Waratah went to her doom travelled in a south easterly direction into Antartica, and a lifebuoy from the Waratah off the Cape of Good Hope was just as likely to find its way to Antartica as one from the Australian coast. "Yes, I think it more than probable that the lifebuoy belonged to he ill fated vessel added Captain Mackay.

                                                                  A PROBABLE RELIC.

Officers of overseas vessels in port, which call at South Africa and have a wide knowledge of ocean currents in those latitudes, are generally of the opinion that the lifebuoy has on it the name "Waratah" it is more likely a relic of the ill fated Blue Funnel Liner, and some give credit to the supposition that the vessel seen buried in the ice by Dr. Mawson's party is the Waratah. It is probable, they think, that the Waratah never turned turtle and sank as is generally believed, but having broken down mid ocean was left to the mercy of the winds and currents. It is possible also that the vessel drifted with the currents for years without ever being seen, and that having gone many thousands of miles with the currents to the south,and was carried into the ice bound regions of the Antarctic. After leaving Durban, one officer explained the Waratah would have put far out to sea and would not be seen by vessels going up to Durban as they always kept in close to the land on the upward journey.

                                                          Dr. Douglas Mawson Explorer.

                    Mawson's huts and base, note radio masts used to communicate with Australia.

                     

Radio operator one of many in the Mawson Expeditions. circa 1911 to 1913.

            Mawson's Base at Cape Denison . 

Readers Questions Answered.

Question No 1, Mr. R. Fraser of Somerville Victoria wanted to know if there were actual bodies found floating off the coast in the East London area?

Answer No 1, Extract from the Annex to the report on the Waratah.

The sighting of the bodies emanate from two ships, the "Insizwa" and the "Tottenham." Both reports relate to the same day 11th August 1909.

1, The master of the "Insizwa" said that when about 10 miles off the Bashee River on that date, he sighted four objects in the water floating beneath the surface, and they looked suspiciously like human bodies. The sea was to heavy for a boat to be lowered to investigate. Two of his officers also saw the objects; one of the officers was inclined to agree with the master, the other declined to offer an opinion.

2,  Certain officers of the steamship "Tottenham' state that when she was 20 or 25 miles south of East London on the same day, they saw some human bodies in the water. This was reported to the master, who at once put back, and from what he saw he was disposed to consider that what were taken for human remains were nothing more than dead sunfish or whale offal. It was stated by a witness that there is a whaling station at Durban from whence a large amount of such offal is set adrift. The Court is inclined to accept the explanation offered by the master of the "Tottenham". The "Waratah" was last seen by the "Clan Macintyre" at 9.30am on the 27th of July 1909, and was then abreast of the Bashee River. Throughout that day "Waratah" must have made considerable progress to the south; she was not at any rate overhauled by the "Clan Macintyre". She must consequently have passed East London before she met the heavy storm to which she probably succumbed, and if she did so succumb, her loss must have taken place some distance south of the most southerly point where the presence of dead bodies was reported. The whole set of the current in that part of the sea is southward and westward, and, on the above mentioned supposition, any bodies from the "Waratah" would have drifted with it in a direction away from the Bashee River. Even if it be suggested that they at the time of observation not long risen from the submerged ship, the facts that the latter, if she had foundered would be lying much further south, and that the set of the current is southward and westward, are still against the possibility of the bodies being where they were said to have been.

                             SS INSIZWA LEAVING DURBAN, CAPTAIN MOORE IN COMMAND.

The two yellow crosses in the bottom left hand corner of the map show the positions where the Insizwa and the Tottenham sighted bodies on the 11th of August 1909. 

Another ship the Director was reported in newspapers as having also sighted bodies in the same area.

              

                 ss DIRECTOR, HARRISON LINE COMMANDED BY CAPTAIN BICKERSTAFF.

The Court made it quite clear if there were bodies they could not have come from the Waratah as she would have been much further south than were the bodies were sighted. The Court further gave the impression that there were no bodies after two search vessels went out to investigate and reported back there were no bodies only whale blubber and dead fish and skate. The captain of the Insizwa and the officers of the Tottenham gave a vivid description  of bodies and body parts as sighted by them. So why disbelieve navigating officers and engineers who are all trained observers and what possible reason could they possibly have to make up such a story, these bodies were sighted independently by three different ships. There is no doubt in my mind after reading their observations that the bodies existed but the question remains where or what vessel did they come from?. At first I thought they may have come from a French trading vessel  Menarandra that operated between Madagascar and East London. At first it was reported on the 26th of August 1909 that she was 24 days overdue and may be assisting the Waratah. On the 7th of September 1909 another report by cable news reported that, the French steamer Menarandra 1,065 tons which left Madagascar for East London 300 miles south of Durban on the 25th of July last, and was therefore 35 days overdue on a voyage which usually occupies 4 days, has made her appearance at last. The ship has put into Dieago Suarez in the extreme north of Madagascar in a damaged state.
I can only draw one conclusion that the bodies and whale blubber, dead sunfish and skate etc, could have only come from a whaling ship that was either destroyed by fire or  in  the cyclone that hit the South African Coast at the time the Waratah foundered. Whaling ships left their home ports and stayed away for up to three years or more so if one was lost it would be some great length of time before the ship and crew were missed.

  Charles W. Morgan Last wooden whaler in the world was typical of the whalers that found their way into South African waters, they were fully independent and processed the whole whale at sea.
Wives and children of the captain often accompanied him on voyages due to the long separation they would have suffered if not allowed to do so, it also  helped keep families together. Perhaps the lady in a nightdress seen floating by and a young girl in red could well have been  daughter and wife of a whaling ships captain that perished off South Africa in that period. One thing is for certain and that is the vessel must have foundered or burnt well to the north of East London and the remains drifted down with the current. There was a report of a warship sighting a ship on fire  at  night somewhere in the vicinity of Cape Hermes near port St John, however it could well have been a whaler boiling blubber down in the try pots to produce oil and mistaken for a ship on fire.

Whaling ships with their try pots blazing away boiling blubber down to produce oil, a single whaler at night from a distance might appear to be a ship on fire.

                            Try pot fire place where whale blubber was minced up and fed into giant pots. 

                                            Giant try pots in which whale blubber was rendered down.

                                                                Mincing the blubber ready for the Try pots. 

                               Whale blubber being hoisted aboard prior to chopping up for the pots.
Whaling ships were covered everywhere in oil or grease so if a fire did break out it would be a raging inferno and soon burn down to the waterline and sink the ship just below the surface. The question is did the ship catch fire and they all took to the boats only to be drowned in the storm. The next question arises where did the blubber, offal, sunfish, and skate come from?  At that time of the year they would have been hunting the massive sperm whale on it migration to the warmer waters of Madagascar for breeding. If the crew were in the process if of dismembering the whale its stomach contents would have disgorged various sea creatures. These whales were bottom feeders and ate sharks skate sunfish seals and other large creatures. So if the storm struck when the crew were in the process of cutting up the whale this would account for the floating contents of the whales stomach along with the human remains sighted by the ships. A tug was sent out from East London to search for the bodies and when at Mazeppa bay came across birds feeding on dead skate and pieces of whale but did not see any bodies. The bodies by this time were probably taken by sharks as one of the observers on the ss Tottenham had earlier saw the remains of a torso of a human being, obviously it had been attacked by a shark.

  Pictures show the South African black stingray weighing up to 250 kgs and 6 feet across, they are one of the largest stingrays in the world, sperm whales feed on them.

Readers Questions Answered

Question No 1. Mr. David Thomson of Southport Queensland Australia writes, did any of the Blue Anchor line ships avoid the Cape of Good Hope by using the Suez Canal on their way to Australia and did they carry enough coal for the journey?

Answer Question 1, Yes only a small number of his ships came via the Suez Canal which were packed with cargo which required each ship to take on coal after leaving London at Las Palmas, Aden,  and at Diego Garcia after Lund had established a coaling station there, then at Adelaide. This enabled his ships to carry more cargo by reducing the coal capacity, the voyage from London to Adelaide via the Cape was 11,780 nautical miles and via the Suez 11,100 miles a saving of 688miles or 5.8% of the voyage. William Lund was a very astute business man and knew that the Suez Canal shortened the routes to India  and Australia which meant that a greater volume of shipping were using these routes and all requiring coal along the way. In 1881 the H.M.S ECLIPSE visited the island of Dieago Garcia in the Indian Ocean to survey the island for use as a coaling station for steamships operating from the Suez Canal to Australia. Prior to this the Lund steamer Delcomyn in January 1881 on a voyage to Australia visited the island and reported its suitability as a coaling station back to Lund in London. William Lund obviously must have got wind that the British Government was interested in the island and decided to move quickly (he was at the time secretary of Lloyds). He immediately negotiated a 50 year lease with the British Crown Colony of the island of Mauritius who administered Dieago Garcia and gained a section of the island in order to set up a coaling station.

           DIEAGO GARCIA CENTRAL INDIAN OCEAN IDEAL SPOT TO COAL SHIPS TO THE FAR EAST.

                                                THE ACTUAL LAGOON OF DIEAGO GARCIA.
Lund had the following letter published in every major newspaper through his agents advertising his new coaling enterprise.

Dear Sir,- I notice in Lloyds list of yesterday a description of this island and for the information of your committee and members, I wish to give you a few more details.
In January, 1881 the 'Delcomyn" on her voyage from London to Australia, visited the island and found the harbor all that is now described by the Orient Steam Navigation Company. In July 1881 I dispatched the barque "Eleanor," with coals from London direct to the island, where she arrived on October 30th, and there and then established the first coaling depot on that island, under the superintendence of Mr. George Worsell, who has been in my employ since 1874. H.M.S. "Ready" was supplied with the first coal by me at Dieago Garcia on October 31st 1881, and was the first ship that ever coaled there. On January 16,1882, I further dispatched the barque "Talavera", also from London with coals arriving there on May 10,and both these vessels are now stationed at East Point as store ships, and connected with the shore by a landing stage. Since then the "Northam Castle" and
"Mary Fry" have arrived out on June 6th and September29th respectfully, and with the ship "Superb" from Cardiff (on August 26) on the way I shall have a stock of about 4,000 tons of coal to supply my own, as well as other boats in the Australian trade.
Like Eastern and middle islands, held by the Orient Steam Navigation Company, so has Western Island, which command the entrance to the harbor, been leased to me by the Mauritius Government for fifty years, and as the deep water channel enters close by this island, I have erected a flagstaff on it for the guidance of ships masters (a large Blue Anchor Line flag was flown). Although the surf rolls very heavily at times, there is no danger whatever in entering the harbor, after which Mr. Worsell has placed buoys, at intervals, as far as East Point; and on entering, should keep the buoys on the starboard side all the way. The distance from West Island to East Point is from 7to 8miles, and in proof of the easy progress up the harbor, I would mention that the sailing ship "Northam Castle" beat against a South East Monsoon in 11 tacks from West Island to East Point. Ballast is plentiful and easy worked by the iron lighters and good  fresh water and fish is abundant. The climate is healthy, and hurricanes are not known. 
The following steamers have coaled at East Point coaling depot:- "Delcomyn "5 times, "Yeoman", "Sorrento", "Woden", "Catania", and "H.M.S. Ready"; and the following steamers have received coaling orders:- "Gulf of Carpentaria," "Europa," "Glendower," Glen Ochill Explorer," Sikh," "Afgan," "Gulf of Suez," and "Essex."
Am willing to give you any information,
Dear Sir,
Yours Truly,
W. Lund
The secretary for Lloyds.

This letter appeared in the Australian Newspapers on January 4th 1883.. 

                    LUND'S FIRST COALING SHIP AT DIEAGO GARCIA THE ELEANOR .

                       LUND'S SECOND COALING SHIP AT DIEAGO GARCIA THE TALAVERA.

The Orient Steam Navigation Company set up its own coaling station after W.Lund owing to the fact they were having to many disputes at the Aden coaling station and were running 12 steamers via the Suez canal to Australia and could not afford hold ups to their sailing schedules.

                                          SOME BREVITIES FROM DIEAGO GARCIA.
October 29th 1883, The Orient steamer Lusitania puts in for coal. However, so many of the labourers of the Orient Company were absent and refused to do extra work even with the enticement of more

money. James Spur (Manager) for the Orient Company had to hire labourers from the rival company Lund&Company.  

1883 Labourers at the East Point coconut plantation, armed with knives and clubs staged an insurrection, which was put down by Mr. Le Comte (manager) by brandishing his revolver. Mr. Le Comte blamed the 45 labourers working for the Lund Company as the cause of the trouble since they were "without women and made overtures to the women of the plantation workers.

1884 Captain Raymond, of the sailing ship Windsor Castle, which had arrived with 1,334 tons of  coal for the Lund depot, gets drunk, lands at East Point with 16 armed sailors, takes pot shots at what he thought was Spurs house (Manager for the Orient coaling depot), the house was unoccupied at the time. He nailed the Union Jack to a palm tree and claims the (already British Island) for Great Britain. Two days later he sobers up and sails away.

   
                                                                      WINDSOR CASTLE.
William Lund was heavily entrenched in the coal industry and was the Director and Chairman of the Wallarah Coal Company of New South Wales with the head office in Pitt Street Sydney. Even as late 1909 the year the Waratah was lost , he purchased two barques  for the company these being the iron barque Fortuna of 1,965 tons. The second Barque was the Macquarie which cost 3500 pounds.

 
                                                                       THE FORTUNA.

                                       
                                                                   THE MACQUARIE.

Readers questions answered.

Question No 1, Mr. Mark Dreyfus of Elizabeth  South Australia writes, that after reading  blogs on the Waratah, he wanted to know if it was it weak rivets that snapped under stress after the Waratah grounded at Adelaide and was her circumstances similar to that of the R.M.S Titanic as mentioned in the blogs, rivets (may) have snapped, creating a zipper-type effect where a seam of rivets snap successively between hull plates, opening up a gash in a force driven domino effect? 

Answer Q 1, No this is only supposition by the writer who tends to compare what happened to the Titanic in her construction and the subsequent collision with an iceberg by which he assumes a similar effect could have occurred with the Waratah. To compare the Titanic or any other ship with their own set of dimensions or even their problems to that of the Waratah is incorrect, the Waratah was a ship  specifically designed by her owners for a particular trade route and therefore must be treated independently when investigating her demise.

                        R.M.S. Titanic there is no comparison to the much smaller Waratah.

It is now known that the Titanic's steel plates were brittle and cracked easily in ice cold water under impact. There was also a shortage of steel rivets (some 3,000 000 million were required weighing about 1,500 tons), so a lower grade of wrought iron was used to make up the shortage, these rivets proved under impact much more brittle than the ships plates. The difference between the building of the Titanic and the Waratah was that the Titanic was not under Lloyds rules but the British Board of trade rules and therefore was never classified 100A1plus with Lloyds. The Waratah was built under Lloyds survey and every stage of her construction was monitored by a Lloyds surveyor. Any ship being built that required a Lloyds classification, had to use materials from steel mills  which was then tested on site and approved by a Lloyds surveyor,(in this case SIEMENS-MARTIN mild steel was used).   

                      EXTRACTS FROM LLOYDS RULES REGARDING MATERIALS.

                                         

HULL RIVETS

THE TIMES LONDON

                                                                  

With regards to the Waratah grounding at Adelaide she had no forward motion whatsoever and was secured to the wharf while loading cargo, she was heeling to starboard slightly but still had floatation, it was noticed that  her bilge keel was touching the bottom which consisted of soft mud. Captain Ilbery was not happy with situation that his ship would have to sit on a mud bottom due  to the fact he had to take in a great deal of more cargo. He insisted that his ship be taken to the Outer Harbour Wharf which was a much deeper berth allowing him to complete his loading there and  to sail on completion rather than being stuck in the mud at Ocean Steamers Wharf, were he would be forced to wait for a spring tide to float the Waratah off which would result in putting him behind in his schedule. On the 4th of July 2017 I wrote an article (Waratah Arrives At Adelaide) dealing in part with the ship touching the mud at her berth.

              LARGE STEAMERS AT THE DEEP OUTER HARBOUR WHARF ADELAIDE.

              WARATAH  UP RIVER AT THE  OCEAN STEAMERS WHARF PORT ADELAIDE

  

                                                                      

                                               

Readers Questions Answered

Question No 1, Mr. William Harris of Mona Vale N.S.W. asked the following question, being a reader of blogs on the Waratah and articles connected with her,  I and other readers  are told there was an amount of disturbingly poor documentation and record keeping of the Waratah's final cargo manifest, is that true?

Answer Q 1, No not true, if there was poor record keeping and documentation how would the ship make a profit out of the freight to be carried? I can assure you that every ounce of cargo placed on board the Waratah was duly recorded by tally clerks for the agents, also the ships officers checked and recorded any cargo coming aboard in the cargo book, added to this were the mates receipts  along with the  bills of lading.  Lack of knowledge of the Waratah's cargo was certainly not the case there were many newspaper reports giving mention on some parts of her cargo but not all of it. To uncover the actual truth about the Waratah  I spent a great deal of my spare time when working in London visiting the many historical institutions that held shipping records and putting in  many hours studying every aspect of the Waratah.  On the 4th of February 2018 I posted an article in which I mentioned that the Waratah shipped approximately 1,500.75  tons of concentrates in Sydney on her maiden voyage this I found in the records along with her manifests. What is interesting, is that all the press reports and blogs etc,  not one has ever  mentioned this fact, all we ever read  about is the 1,000 tons shipped in Adelaide. To prove the accuracy of my statements lets take for example the 1,000 tons of lead concentrates as well as the 1,300 tons said to have been loaded at that period  as against samples of the actual Bill of Lading shown below.

Bill of lading No 1                                                      
Shipper   Max Gorlen,        

                     Mine weight                                                                    Ships weight
                 TONS        Cwt       Qtr                                                  TONS            Cwt       Qtr             
                   497             16          3                                                     483                _             _
                   502              9           1                                                     487
 Total=     1000              6                                                    Total   = 970  


                
483 tons, Rate 10/-shillings per ton    241-10/- (Two hundred and forty one Pounds and ten shillings)
487 tons, Rate 10/-shillings per ton    243-10/- (Two hundred and forty three Pounds and ten shillings.)

Total freight 485 pounds for carrying 970 tons of lead concentrates to London.  
Note the concentrates were shipped in two parcels as above, No 3 lower hold was subdivided by an athwartships bulkhead, one parcel was placed in the forward section of No 3 hold and the other parcel in the aft section of No 3 hold to a height of 8 feet high. This left a gap of 11 feet between the top of the concentrates and the next deck above which was  No 3 lower tween deck, the depth of No 3 hold was 19 feet. 

Bill of lading No 6,
Wallaroo &Moonta  M&S Co Ltd

Copper ingots 3,510  25 tons, Rate 17/shillings and 6pence per ton = 21-17-6 (twenty one pounds
seventeen shillings and six pence.

Bill of lading No 7,
Copper ingots 7,140  50tons, Rate 17/shillings and 6pence per ton =43-15 (forty three pounds and 15 shillings)

Total 65pounds 12shillings and 6pence for carrying 75 tons of copper ingots to London.

       Condition of number 3 lower hold when leaving Adelaide for Sydney on her second voyage.
  
The accuracy and description of each item loaded on board  the Waratah was quite astounding, I even came across small corrections on three  items of  frozen cargo by which each parcel and the calculated freight was one shilling understated (1/-)  this was then re adjusted to the correct freight rate. It was not the lack of information on the cargo that was a problem, it was the actual placement of the various weights in the hatches and holds.  

                                                                                          
                                          Copper ingots awaiting to be loaded on board a ship.




                                                       

Readers questions answered on the Waratah

Question No1, Why were the lifeboat davits rusted on such a new ship preventing them from being swung out to launch a boat unless a steam winch was used to move them?

Answer Q1, The lifeboat davits were never rusted, the type of davits supplied to the Waratah were known as rotating davits with the shafts that extended from the boat deck to the next deck below.

The blue arrow points to a circular bracket (oiled or greased)  attached to the boat deck, the red arrow points to the deck socket  (greased) and secured by heavy bolts through the deck. This diagram shows the davit inboard of the ships side, many ships such as the Waratah had their davits secured to the outside of the ship. The reason they could not be moved in the normal manner for launching was due to the fact that they became slightly bent at the round boat deck brackets caused by the heavy boat deck moving. When the Waratah rolled in a seaway the boat deck moved laterally to the bottom structure of the ship, this action is known as racking.

Racking is more usual in ships when sailing empty however excessive top weight such as the boat deck of the Waratah had a similar effect.

SS WARATAH AT STEAMERS WHARF ADELAIDE ON HER FINAL VOYAGE JULY 1909.
The top arrow is the boat deck bracket where the slight bending would have taken place, the lower arrow is the base socket.

Swinging a boat out with this type of davit has always been hard work requiring a lot of strength and brawn with a good ten or twelve men to push one end of the boat out at time causing the davit to rotate out over the ships side. There was plenty of proof that the boat deck moved when the ship rolled,  deck planking opened up and needed re-caulking, a bolt had snapped off and fell onto the promenade deck as well as gap opening up above the saloon doorway so wide that a man could put his fingers in it. Here we have an actual eye witness on the second voyage, Nicholas Sharp Able Seaman (AB) who gives a definitive account of trying to move a life boat.
Giving evidence Nicholas Sharp said," after arriving in Sydney, and when she was berthed at the wharf (Millers Wharf), I saw some of the crew trying to lift No 6 boat off the chocks. I was off duty at the time, on account of sickness. The removal of the boat was necessary for the purpose of bunkering. Between ten and fifteen men were hauling on the tackle falls of No 6 boat. They had difficulty in raising the boat off the chocks (wooden cradles that the boat sits in on the deck) because of a rope to big a gauge through the block. The chief officer was present shortly afterwards,  and the men tried to haul the davits round by hand but failed. then a tackle was rigged (block and tackle) and the men hauled on the tackle but could not shift the davits.

                                           Block and tackle the men used but could not move the davits.

By the direction of the chief officer who came on deck at the time, a four inch rope was passed around the end of the davit and attached to a steam winch; the steam was applied and the davits were pulled around in that way, the davits were rusted in (so they thought). The ship was lying over on the wharf at Sydney, it was a very big list. When the vessel arrived in Sydney I was under treatment by the ship's doctor, and I asked for a discharge on the ground of sickness. I did not want to go back on the ship, I was well enough to have gone back. I asked to leave the vessel because I thought she was unseaworthy. I was given my discharge and left the vessel on the 17th of June 1909". Here was an experienced seaman of many years experience who because of his fear of the ship made out he was a sick man in desperation to save himself.

                                        SWINGING OUT A LIFE BOAT DURING A DRILL IN 1897.

This obviously is only a drill as the lifeboat cover is still intact. and the ship is underway, probably it's the first time for this crew judging by the amount of officers supervising  the crew who appear to be Lascars. (From the Indian Sub Continent)

Question No 2, Was Captain Ilbery driving or pushing the Waratah on the second voyage home?

Answer Q 2, Yes without a doubt he was driving his ship hard to arrive in London at the earliest.
In the court of inquiry Mr.Laing for the Board of Trade mentions a letter in July 1909 from the Melbourne agent of the owners to Captain Ilbery in which they expressed a wish that the Waratah should make a good passage home. He did did not give instructions for the captain to push the vessel home. She arrived at Durban one day ahead, but that was because a considerable latitude was allowed, he was instructed to leave one day early. During the course of my research I came across the actual letter which virtually inferred that Captain Ilbery should make a fast passage. The letter was written by John Sanderson to Messrs Lund in London.
                                                                        LETTER,
"WARATAH", this steamer arrived on the morning of Monday, the  28th Ist., and to this effect we cabled you as per interpretation slip (list of cargo shipped from Melbourne). She leaves here tomorrow -i c., one day ahead of her programmed time. This has been arranged so as to avoid as much overtime as possible at Adelaide. She is getting a very good cargo here, and will have nearly 2,000 bales of wool. A quantity of this wool is for Dunkirk and for America and it is essential it should be delivered as quickly as possible.
We had in competition with us for this wool (which is out of a sale which was held last week, the Indragheiri ,which vessel went via the Suez Canal. We are very anxious that her arrival dates should not be to greatly ahead of those of the Waratah. We explained this to Captain Ilbery and he knows the necessity of reaching London at the earliest possible opportunity.

                 SS  INDRAGHERI COMPETITOR TO WARATAH FOR THE WOOL CARGO.

Added to the above letter by the agent, Mr. Hodder the Chief Engineer wrote a letter from Durban on July 25th 1909 to Mr. Shanks engineer superintendent for Lund's in London. He stated that on account of the ship being deep I could not fill No 8 tank with 250 tons of fresh water. I was instructed by Captain Ilbery to drive home (full steam on all boilers) and take sufficient for same, it being a winter passage, I took sufficient coal to run no risks. There is an obvious miss report by a newspaper for we know that No 8 tank is a saltwater ballast tank holding 222 tons. What Mr. Hodder meant, was that he wanted to fill No 8 tank with salt water but was unable to do so because the Waratah was either sitting on the bottom at her berth at C shed or very close to it. The reason he couldn't fill the tank was that the pipe from the sea chest (water inlet on the bottom of the hull) to the valve that lets in the water when opened up was completely blocked. Why did he need to fill that particular tank? the answer lies in the fact that there was a note written on the stability graph. The note states "if any condition is to be considered that the vessel has insufficient stability, the filling of No 8 tank increases the GM by about 4" inches. We know that the ship had a list and we are told that the coal needed to be trimmed to make the ship level and Captain Ilbery held up the sailing until the ship was upright. I do not believe the Waratah was as stable as the court implied when she sailed from Durban. 240 tons of cargo was unloaded at Durban, but I have a statement to say a great deal more was off loaded and no cargo taken in. Room had to be made due the fact that she was going to load bagged maize at Capetown for London which was going to be stowed in No 1 hold, no mention of this was made at the Inquiry. 

   

Readers questions on ss Waratah Answered

 Due to the volume of queries I receive by email on a weekly basis, It is becoming more time consuming to answer each individual question, because of this I have had to cut back my time spent at the computer. As the questions arrive I now collate them by importance into a list to be  answered and posted  all at once. Due to the backlog no further questions on Waratah  will be received by me or answered until the present queue has been cleared and notification posted that I will be receiving further queries . I will only answer questions  from readers who only provide their GENUINE email address and phone number including their country code, this is to eliminate time wasters and nuisances that tend to plaque the internet.
The first series of questions seem to be obviously asked by Waratah readers who have given thought to the actual mystery,  I am sure other devotees of the ss Waratah will find them most interesting and I trust my answers will satiate fully for the first time their thirst for some true answers.
   
                                               DOUBLE BOTTOM OF THE WARATAH. 
Question No1, Did the double bottom tanks of the Waratah run the whole length of the ship, and what were the capacities?

Answer Q1, YES,  however only sections of the tanks were actually filled with water, for example bottom tanks running from aft for a  length of 95 feet, under the engine room and boiler room 78 feet, then forward of that 118 feet. at total of 291 feet. A total of 1,238 tons being both fresh water and salt. Note this does not include the fore peak and after peak ballast tanks, total 100 tons salt water which were not double bottom tanks.

Double bottom tank section.

Modern construction of a ship showing double bottom section which would be used for oil supply for ships engine/engines, and shows side tanks or saddle tanks used for ballast water.

Comparison of the ss Geelongs'  double bottom, the  so called sister ship to the Waratah is given as, 

 from aft 91 feet, under engine room and boiler room 65 feet, from there to forward 184 feet, 1,081tons of water fresh and salt. 

 Some  writers class the Geelong  as the sister ship to the Waratah , I have never gone along with this, if any ship at all was to be the sister ship to the Geelong it was the ss Commonwealth, the Waratah was a three deck vessel not a two decker. 

               SS Commonwealth emptying out her ballast tanks to get ready ready for a new cargo.

        Commonwealth kicking up her heels with a bone in her Mouth, (Bow) flying along half empty.

Commonwealth double bottom from aft 82feet, under engine room and boiler room 74feet, forward 41 feet. depth of hold 30.7 feet deep.

Question No 2,  How much wool was on board the Waratah ?

Answer Q2, There were two manifests for the wool cargo shipped in bales, at Sydney 44 bales were

loaded and in Melbourne 2,245 bales were shipped giving a total of 2,289 bales weighing 350 tons.

Each bale weighed an average of 342.5 lbs which tell us that the wool was scoured. A bale of Australian wool not scoured is unclean or greasy wool and weighs usually about 384 lbs. The two types should never be stowed together to prevent the greasy wool contaminating the clean scoured wool. There is always a risk of fire with wool when carried, careful ventilation must be carried out during the voyage for this type of cargo. Wet or damp bails should be immediately rejected by the officers of the ship in order to avoid claims against the ship and to avoid the heating up of the bales resulting in spontaneous combustion.

Question No 3, In letters to the owners Captain Ilbery mentioned a cow on board, was this cargo?

Answer Q3,  No the cow was not cargo it was specifically carried for the purpose of supplying fresh milk for the saloon passengers and infants which was the custom of the period. This dates back to the time when the Cunard paddle steamer Britannia left Liverpool on July 4th 1840 for her 14 day transatlantic crossing to America. On this voyage she carried two cows for milk and a battery of hens supplying eggs for the saloon passengers.

                                             SS BRITANNIA  LEAVING LIVERPOOL 1840.

Some shipping companies in order to induce passengers would often advertise the facts that their ships carried a Surgeon, a stewardesss and cows.
With the Waratah the cow was carried up on the boat deck in a sheltered pen not much bigger than herself. On most ships cows were carried for a period of up to six months or more depending on the time when her milk became of poor quality and quantity. They were then usually killed by the ships butcher and the meat was eventually consumed by the crew. Captain Ilbery was no doubt keeping the owners updated as to the cows health and daily milk production for future reference. He was no stranger to carrying cattle and was well versed in the welfare of cattle when he was engaged in the coastal trade for some months at a time in Australia. W. Lund had contracts to ship cattle from Northern Queensland to Brisbane and the first ship fitted out for that trade was the ss Yoeman commanded by Captain Ilbery. As a matter of interest it was during one of these periods of coastal trading that Captain Ilbery had two members of his crew sent to prison for three months for refusing to work the ship. The reason for their refusal was that the Australian seamen working the coast were paid higher wages than the British seamen and they demanded the same rates of pay while working on the Australian coast.

A FINE MILKING SPECIEMEN

Question 4, On the first voyage Captain Ilbery stopped the coaling of the Waratah in Sydney for fear of her capsizing when she took on a dangerous list, is this true?

Answer Q,4 Yes, this happened on two occasions and there were many witnesses to verify that it actually occurred even though there was very little attention paid to it by the Board of Trade inquiry for obvious reasons, they were the Government body that certified ships to be safe and also responsible for the safety of the general public being transported in British sea going vessels. Captain Ilbery had to stop coaling the ship because of her heeling over to a dangerous point likely to cause a capsize. On the second stoppage of coaling the ship, matters escalated when the coal lumpers refused to go aboard to finish coaling unless they were given double their pay because they considered the ship unsafe. In order to rectify the stability of the Waratah all ballast and fresh water tanks including fore and aft peak tanks were filled giving a total of 1,338 tons bottom weight, on top of this lead concentrates were loaded into the bottom holds. The ships record of loading showed that 1,501 tons 15cwt (15hundredweights = 1,680lbs) and 3qtrs (3quarters = 84lbs) were shipped into number 3 lower hold and number 4 lower hold. Cargo weights had to be manipulated then placed in the holds accordingly, while one hatch was being unloaded another was being loaded at the same time. What became apparent to Captain Ilbery and his officers on this first voyage was that after discharging cargo at Adelaide and Melbourne some form of extra weight was required before unloading the remaining cargo in Sydney to keep the ship stable. This is why on the second voyage 970 tons of lead concentrates were taken in at Adelaide and placed in the bottom of number 3 lower hold which had held coal for the voyage out from London and was burned up prior to arriving at Adelaide so as to make space in that hold which then swept clean by the crew and made ready for the lead concentrates. It must have been a nightmare in Sydney for Captain Ilbery with no loading plan from the builders along with no stability information which was not on board when he left London. To make matters worse on the 8th of January the day before he was due to sail Captain Ilbery had to notify the authorities that two crew members had deserted the ship which resulted in fines against the Captain of 100 pounds for each deserter. According to what other crew members said, the men told them they didn't trust the ship and had been further influenced by the actions of the coal lumpers. On the same day the 8th the ss Wilcannia of the Blue Anchor Line arrived in Sydney commanded by Captain Hanson and was due to sail again on the 11th of January. No doubt Captain Ilbery would have relished dinner with Captain Hanson and no doubt discussed the trials and tribulations of his new command. It is interesting to note that the Waratah spent 16 days in Sydney on her first voyage there and only 9 days on the second voyage, probably due to the fact that much time was saved by loading the concentrates in Adelaide before arriving at Sydney.

                                                                 LEAD CONCENTRATES