Border Watch (Mount Gambier) Saturday 22 December, 1906.
YOUNG SEAMAN DROWNED.
The Adelaide Steamship Co's, steamer
Yongala, on arrival at Port Adelaide this
morning, reported that Sydney Hughes, a
young seaman, fell overboard while the
vessel was passing Cape Nelson about noon
on Thursday. A couple of life buoys were
thrown overboard for his assistance. Two
men were sent to the masthead to look for
him, and the vessel manoeuvred about for an
hour and a half to try and recover him, but
no sign of the missing young man could be
seen. The two lifebuoys were recovered.
Hughes belonged to Exeter.
This incident reminds me of the claims by crew of three vessels, Inziwa, Tottenham and Director, that bodies (probably from the lost Waratah, August, 1909) were floating past the vessels, but when similar manoeuvres were initiated, no traces of the bodies could be found. The reality is that humans in the sea whether alive or dead are carried by currents and unwieldy steamers of the era were not manoeuvrable enough to recover or confirm, particularly in rough seas.
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