WOULD NOT HAVE USED THE INSHORE ROUTE.

Inquiry:

It has been given in evidence that several masters, including Captain Knight, when proceeding from Whitsunday Passage north, were in the habit of using the inshore route, passing between Armit and Gumbrell Islands. The Board, however, are of opinion, taking into consideration the prevailing weather conditions at the time, that Captain Knight as a careful and experienced master would not use the passage on that occasion.

What an extraordinary deduction! More than one witness claimed that Captain Knight used this route in good and bad weather - only having used the outside route on two or three occasions. The Court was clearly giving Captain Knight the benefit of the doubt despite his track record. But in so doing the Court acknowledged that the conditions when Yongala was in the Whitsundays Passage (before and after 6.30 pm, 23 March) were severe enough to warrant using the outside passage. If the conditions were so severe as to force Captain Knight to make it the 'fourth' time in his coastal career to use the outside passage it stands to reason that seeking shelter and anchorage must have been the next logical step as the steamer progressed further and further into the brunt of the cyclone. This would hardly be the description of a careful and experienced master.

But if it were not a cyclone and a system coming from the south it makes sense that Captain Knight thought the odds were in his favour and his fast steamer capable of outrunning the approaching storm. In some respects it would seem more logical to avoid the worst of the storm in this manner rather than anchoring and running the risk of anchors dragging and losing cargo on deck + damage.