OVERDUE AT TOWNSVILLE

The Advertiser (Adelaide) Monday 27 March, 1911.

THE STEAMER YONGALA.

OVERDUE AT TOWNSVILLE.

Brisbane, March 26.

Advice has been received by the Adelaide

Steamship Company that the steamer Yongala, 

which left Flat-top at 2 o'clock on Thursday (23rd)

afternoon, was due at Townsville on Friday, 

but had not yet arrived. The steamers Cooma 

and Taiyun, which passed northwards 24 hours 

later than the Yongala, did not see her. It is 

possible the machinery may have broken 

down or the vessel may be sheltering.

VESSELS SENT IN SEARCH.

Brisbane, March 26.

Mr. Wareham, general manager in

Queensland for the Adelaide Steamship

Company, was in constant communication

with Townsville throughout Saturday. Mr.

Wareham, in addition to trying to obtain

tidings of the Yongala, has instructed the

Townsville officers and the company's two

cargo steamers Tarcoola, and Ouraka, to

search for the Yongala, the former vessel

to steam along the outside of Whitsunday

Passage, on the ocean fringe, and the latter 

to work about inside the passage - Both

boats are making for Mackay. As regards

the report from Dent Island, it is apparent 

that the vessel steamed up the inside 

passage. Dent Island, however, is only 

four hours' steam  north from Flat Top Island, 

which the Yongala  left at about 2 p.m. on 

Thursday. That was the latest news heard 

of her. Mr. Wareham stated to-night that 

considerable anxiety is felt for the Yongala, 

more especially in view of the cyclonic weather 

conditions which have been prevailing in the 

north during the past few days. The 

passenger-list on leaving Brisbane was 

as follows:-

Mesdames Reath, Davids, Rooney, Elsdale, 

M. A. Woodward, Murray and three children, 

W. Lin. and Marbey, Misses Rooney, Murray,

Buxton, Uhr, P. Carroll, M. Shannon, and

McGee, and Messrs. Reath, Rooney, A. S.

Dette, T. Parton, R. Stack, Elsdale, F.

Voney. J. Fulton, F. C. Must, S. Mainwaring, 

W. Lin, E. S. Chneider, P. Buckenridge, 

D. Davis, Barclay, J. D. Jolley, Manbey, 

Real, and R. Bonnarder, and 31 in the second 

saloon. The crew numbers 70.

Mr. Wareham, general manager of the

Adelaide Steamship Company, at 10 p.m.

received a telegram from Mackay to the

affect that the steamer Tarcoola arrived at

that place at 7 o'clock this evening, having

searched Whitsunday Passage for the over-

due steamer. The company's steamers

Ouraka and Tarcoola, which left Townsville 

on Saturday to search, met outside

Whitsunday Passage at 4 o'clock this afternoon, 

having searched from Townsville along the 

Barrier Reef to the south of Dent Island 

without finding a trace of the Yongala. 

The Ouraka proceeded north at 4 o'clock 

to make a further search among the

islands and bays in Whitsunday Passage.

The Tarcoola also left Mackay again to-

night to continue the search in Whitsunday

Passage, and will signal to the lighthouse

keeper at Bowen to-morrow, advising the

result of the search. The Wodonga arrived 

at Bowen this evening from the north, but 

did not sight the missing vessel. The 

steamer Cooma also arrived at Mackay 

without news. The Tarcoola  and Ouraka 

both called at Dent Island on the trip 

down from Townsville, and the officer in 

charge advised that the Yongala passed that 

point at 6 35 p.m. on Thursday. Mr. Wareham 

says this shows that the Yongala must have 

gone through the passage, and at present 

the outlook is not hopeful.

The steamer Cooma, from Townsville,

arrived at Flat-top to-day and reported 

that Dent Island signalled that the Yongala

passed there, bound north, at 6 p.m. on

Thursday.

The steamer Caroo, which left Townsville

for Sydney some days ago for repairs, has

put in to Moreton Bay to-day. It is presumed 

to be owing to rough weather.

AN OPTIMISTIC OPINION.

Townsville, March 26.

The chief officer of the Cooma is optimistic 

regarding the position of the steamer

Yongala. He is of opinion that she was

struck by the full force of a cyclone, and

from discretionary motives left the ordinary 

lane and tended either for the east

or back to Glastone. The Cooma had a

boisterous time. She reached Flat Top at

5. p.m. on Thursday. A cyclone was then

coming from the north-east, but veered to

the east-south-east. Owing to the thick,

squally weather the Cooma did not get

away from Flat Top till Friday afternoon.

Given the fact that the residents of Cannon Valley saw Yongala passing at dusk, which was 6 p.m. that time for Dent Island in the report is erroneous. See summary below.

Yongala departed Flat Top, Mackay, 1.40 p.m., Thursday, 23 March. She was in relatively light / tender condition (top heavy). Cargo weight accounted for 29% of maximum load and 164 tons of stabilising pig iron ballast had been removed because it caused a jerky recovery uncomfortable for passengers.

Captain Knight elected to depart for Townsville despite strengthening wind from the southeast and a falling barometer. I believe the decision was based on an assumption that the weather system was coming up the coast, rather than one into which they would be steaming. 

There was no cyclone warning.

Heading north to Townsville and believing they could outrun the weather, Yongala made an average of 16 knots assisted by a 2 knot current. Yongala passed Dent Island, inside passage, Whitsundays, at about 5 p.m. (erroneously reported as 6 p.m.) and was subsequently seen by residents of Cannon Valley Beach an hour later, coinciding with dusk at 6 p.m.. This was the riskier but quicker, inside passage passing between Armit and Gumbrell Islands. 

Having cleared the Whitsundays without mishap, Yongala headed northwest in open water parallel with the coast and the outer Barrier Reef. She cleared Nares Rock without difficulty and arrived at a position 11.5 miles out from Cape Bowling Green Light, 17.7 miles from where Grantala lay anchored to the west due to deteriorating weather conditions.

We know from the chronometer time, 11.45 p.m. (conclusive in my opinion) and a wreck site within the large steamer track, that the disaster must have been sudden and catastrophic. Also, the time and site matches a plausible 15 - 16 knots (favourable, 2 knot current).

My belief is that the intense cyclonic system 30 miles in diameter was actually a hybrid cyclone (see image below) predominated by a gale from the south - the masters who experienced the storm reported gale force wind directions in keeping with this.

By the time Yongala was almost upon the eye of the cyclone, the gale would have shifted rapidly and violently from south to north, bringing the wind force to bear on the top heavy steamer's starboard bow and beam. 

Heading northwest, Captain Knight would have been confronted by an unfolding catastrophe and certain knowledge of Yongala's inability to recover quickly enough in such conditions. I believe he attempted to bring the steamer's bow into the gale. 

What followed must have been extreme and sudden, Yongala capsizing within minutes. The rudder is still in the half to starboard position and the wreck lies facing north. If there had been enough time for recovery, I believe the rudder would have been corrected to maintain the heading.

An explosion was heard by residents south of the disaster site, suggesting that the furnaces burning under full steam reacted to the cold sea water rushing in. 

The main hatch was compromised as the steamer foundered and lighter cargo in hold 3 liberated into the tumultuous sea. 

Passengers would no doubt have been confined to cabins due to conditions, essentially trapped as the disaster unfolded. 

I choose to believe that Yongala foundered so quickly there was little time for protracted suffering and Yongala's 122 souls now rest in peace, cosetted by some of the Coral Sea's most illustrious and doting residents.  

courtesy Google Earth

courtesy Google Earth

Max Gleeson presents an engaging theory based on dive observations that lifeboats on the starboard side of Yongala were swung out in preparation for evacuation of the ship rather than a sudden, extreme event.

A great deal of wreckage was subsequently discovered after the disaster spanning large swathes of the coast from Cape Bowling Green to Palm Island in the north. No lifeboat(s) or section thereof from the starboard side were discovered. Only a section of lifeboat 1 from the port side was found, suggesting that no one escaped Yongala.

A possible reason for starboard davits being in the 'swung out' position could be forces linked with Yongala coming to rest on her starboard side. 

The following extract gives us an idea of the forces unleashed by the cyclone:

Cairns Post, 17 October, 1911. 

Captain McKenzie further stated that 

between Cape Upstart and Cape Bowling 

Green there is now visible in the bush the 

track of the awful south-west tornado, which

it is believed drove the Yongala out onto

Broadhurst Reef. For a width of fifteen miles

the whole of the trees, including many immense

ones, being torn out by the roots and levelled.

It is clear from this description that Yongala was subjected to an intense, narrow, system of formidable force, causing her to capsize rapidly. One could argue that such a force would have destroyed even the most 'stable' of vessels.


The Week, Brisbane, 31 March, 1911.

A veteran master mariner firmly adheres

to the belief that the vessel turned turtle

in the cyclone, and explains the fact that

the cargo mentioned had come ashore by

pointing out that it was quite likely that the 

cargo of the overturned vessel falling upon 

the hatches, would burst them open, the 

lighter portion finding its way to the surface.


courtesy Trove

For all readers with an in interest in this subject Max Gleeson's online video, 'Mystery of a Generation' is compelling and beautifully compiled.