Tuesday, 30 June 2020

NORTHERN END OF THE PASSAGE AT 6 P.M.

The Age, Melbourne, 22 March, 1952.

BARRIER REEF DISASTER
Warning

But the Yongala was well clear
of this string of islands (Whitsundays) 
before she went down, Hallam, a mere 
lad then working on his father's trading 
ketch, had seen her steam through the 
northern end of this sixty-mile passage. 
That was about 6 p.m. on March 23, 1911. 
A cyclone warning had gone out, and all 
small craft were making for shelter.

This paragraph is loaded with revealing information. 

Captain Hallam recalled seeing Yongala at the 'northern end' of the Whitsundays at 'about 6 p.m.'. Dent Island is at the southern end of the passage. Simply put, Hallam confirmed that Yongala was much further along the passage by dusk, 6 p.m., than quoted at the Inquiry. This makes sense in the context of Yongala reaching the disaster site by 11.45 p.m..

It is extraordinary that a 'cyclone warning had gone out' and 'all small craft were making for shelter'. How was this achieved and why was a large commercial steamer like Yongala not privy to the same warning??

For large vessels there are only two ways 
of dealing with such storms. One is to heave 
to and ride it out. The other to run before it.


And therein lies the truth of the tragedy, Captain Knight opted for 'running before it', not realising that he was running into it.

It was further surmised that Captain Knight could have sought anchorage at Bowen before steaming into the heart of the cyclone. 

It was not to be.


courtesy Google Earth


courtesy Trove

LUGGER CAPTAIN'S STORY.

Daily Mercury, Mackay, 25 January, 1940.

Lugger Captain's Story.

In this regard it is interesting to
recall the story related by a rather
unnerved Japanese beche-de-mer
lugger captain who called into the
Pioneer River some years ago to
unload his cargo.

According to him, one of his "boys,"
when diving at a spot some 30-odd
miles E.S.E. of Cape Upstart, came
excitedly to the surface to report

"Big fella steamer longa bottom."

The captain himself went down to
Investigate, and finding himself on
the battered top deck of a large
steamer, commenced to explore it.
Walking along the sloping outer
walls of the cabins, he prized open
one of the doors, and up past him
shot a woman's body, her hair
streaming in the water as if wind
blown.

In terror the lugger skipper, too,
raced for the surface. As he toyed
with his chop-sticks and his small
bowl of rice and raw bream, the little
brown man made it plain that
nothing would induce him to go back
to that area. It amazed him considerably 
when he found his story doubted. 

"White man no savvy," he
said. "Bime-by, you see!"

But still the sea holds its secret,
Like the "Dorisina," which sailed
from here over a year ago..

The ESE is 'all over the place' and possibly reporting error, but the distance approximates the position of the Yongala wreck.

ESE is near Nares Rock in deep water.


courtesy Google Earth.



courtesy Trove
made port."

Friday, 26 June 2020

LIFEBOATS DESTROYED?

In 1946, a gentleman by the name of George Butler, resident of Townsville, spoke of his search for Yongala. He recalled that some lifeboats, 'broken in two', were found on Hinchinbrook Island. None were intact. Clearly they had been subjected to extraordinary forces and were not a viable means of escape for souls trapped on the sinking Yongala.

There were other reports of the same:


The Argus, Melbourne, 18 April, 1911


PART OF BOAT FOUND

Cairns, Monday ---- part of a clinker built
boat, evidently portion of a working boat
of the lost steamer Yongala, has been 
found. The section of the boat, with the
word Adelaide in metal on the port side,
was yesterday washed up at Green Island.
Portion of a ship's box was also found on
the island.


The Capricornian, Rockhampton, 15 April, 1911.

LOSS OF THE YONGALA
(By Telegraph)
BRISBANE, April 7.
A telegram received from Cairns states
that news has been received from Cook
town that the steamer John Douglas,
which arrived there from the south,
found a quantity of wreckage, including
portion of a horse box, which is thought
to be that occupied by Moonshine on the
steamer Yongala.

Mr. E. Wareham, manager of the Adelaide
Steamship Company, has received a 
telegram from the Harbour Master at
Townsville, saying that there is a strong
southeasterly wind, with a rising sea
outside Cape Cleveland, and he considers
it inadvisable to send out the Pelican. Mr.
Wareham has agreed that the departure
of the Pelican is to be delayed until the
weather moderates. 

Further information from Townsville states
that a quantity of wreckage has been 
picked up in Ramsay Bay, on the eastern
side of Hitchinbrook Island, including

Ramsay Bay, 100 nautical miles from the site of the disaster - courtesy Google Earth.

7 ft. of the port side of No 1 lifeboat, 
five broken oars, a cushion, a lot of 
louvred window shutters, three life boat
station frames, a polished panelling, saloon
chairs, and a small teak wood table.

Here we have detailed confirmation of portion of lifeboat number 1, port side. In addition to this the report confirms three station frames (see image below). For the station frames to have come adrift suggests catastrophically destructive forces (gale and sea). It is highly unlikely that under such circumstances any lifeboats got away from the sinking ship, intact, with survivors on board.



A close up of Yongala's boat deck (courtesy SS Yongala, Mystery of a Generation).


At Lucinda Point, the police discovered two
grating hatches from No 3 hold, several
pieces of panelling, a lifebuoy, a piece of
fancy scroll work from the interior saloon
windows, and miscellaneous scraps.

TOWNSVILLE, April 7.

A gentleman who has been on a holiday
at Palm Island returned to-day. He stated
that Mr. Harry Butler, a resident of the island
had been making a search of the islands 
for wreckage of the Yongala and found large
quantities including a seaman's chest, a leg
of which had been broken off. There was
no name on the chest. He also discovered
a quantity of clothing in the vicinity of the
chest, some of which had been made in
London and some in Wellington (New
Zealand). Some of the goods were marked
with the Initials R.G.H.. He further picked 
up a cabin cushion of red plush, but the
smell from it was terrible. There was nothing
in the cushion to account for the smell. The 
chest was found beside Eclipse Island. Mr. 
Butler also picked up a number of pieces of
broken timber, evidently cabin fixings, all of
which were marked Z.3.B., in blue pencil on
the back, which was evidently the builders'
mark.
TOWNSVILLE, April 10.

Included in the mail bags found on Cassidy's 
Beach there were also a lady's gold
trinket of horse-shoe pattern, three postal
notes for £1, £3, and £.1 respectively
issued at Mackay, and six registered
letters. A lot of wreckage was found on
the beach, consisting of oars, a bag of
bran, a horse's feed-box, a cask containing 
oil, six boxes of butter and a number
of broken cases.

CAIRNS. April 10.

Captain Campbell, master of the steamer
Muriel, has arrived from Townsville. He 
reports that at Lucinda Point more traces 
were discovered of the Yongala. A good deal 
of wreckage was seen round Hitchinbrook 
Island, and to the southward of Lucinda Point.
It was too rough to secure the debris which
was floating about. Two bags of mails were
found about. Two bags of mails were, found 
five miles to the south of Lucinda Point. It 
would be possible to make out the addresses 
on fully ninety per cent of the contents. The 
wreckage discovered consisted of a broken 
cabin door, broken wooden chocks, and pillows. 
Seven hatches have also been brought to
Lucinda Point.

courtesy Google Earth.

Captain F. Wilson of the steamer
Queensland, who was the first to report
that Nares Rock presented an altered 
appearance, suggesting that the Yongala 
had crashed into it in the storm, writes as
follows under Monday's date :—- Captain
C.C. McKenzie, of the s.s. Innamincka
is of opinion that the Yongala crashed on
Broadhurst Reef and sank. 

courtesy Google Earth


I for one am not of that opinion. During
the southeasterly winds there is always
a set north. In 1875, two days after the
Gothenberg was wrecked, I was in a fore 
and aft schooner, the Annelgester, bound
from Townsville to Heath's Creek in Upstart
Bay, a distance of seventy miles. When
we stood out from Townsville, the wind
being south-east, we put about from the
reef, expecting to fetch well into Bowling
Green Bay. Judge of the current ! At
five o'clock that evening we anchored on
the north-west side of Magnetic Island, a
distance ten miles to the north of where
we started from. We did not get to our
destination until ten days after leaving
Townsville. We had rations for Heath's 
Creek station. They were short of rations 
owing to our long trip. The manager of 
the station threatened to report us as he
thought we were salvaging the Gothenberg.
In 1881 the barquentine Duke of Richmond
left Townsville for Newcastle. Twelve hours
after leaving Townsville she was wrecked on
Mid Reef, in Flinder's Passage, the crew
escaping in the boats. They were picked
up by a steamer and taken on to Townsville. 
Part of her stem, with planks attached, and 
some portion of her name thereon was picked 
up on the south-east side of Hichinbrook Island, 
110 miles north from where she was wrecked. 
This represented drifting at the rate of nearly
a mile and a half per hour. The Yongala was 
last seen on the evening of the 23rd of March 
passing Dent Island. For argument's sake we
shall say she came to grief at 1 p.m. on Friday,
the 24th of March. (pretty close to the mark)
Eighty-six hours after this on Tuesday, the 28th 
of March— the Alert picked up, in the vicinity of 
Wheeler's and Broadhurst reefs, a music-room 
door, two pillows, and some lifebuoys and also
saw a lot of fruit passing by. On the same date 
two bags of pollard, a bag of pumpkins. &c, were 
picked up on Cape Bowling Green beach. Allowing 
for a current of only a mile an hour, the wreckage
could have drifted eight six miles before it was 
picked up. The first part of the wreckage found was 
evidently loose deck cargo. Judging from past 
experience gained in sailing vessels, I maintain
there is never any southerly current during the
cyclone seasons in those latitudes. How does 
Captain McKenzie account for the wreckage
found on Cape Upstart if the ship was wrecked
on Broadhurst Reef.

The same can be said for any lifeboats which might have escaped the sinking steamer supposedly drifting to the south of the wreck site. A 'whistle and explosion', suggesting a distress rocket, was allegedly heard at Ayr, well south of Cape Bowling Green, 9 a.m. the following day. For this to have come from a lifeboat is extremely unlikely given the state of the lifeboat station frames and the prevailing current.

In my opinion, when the captain of the Yongala, 
travelling north that night, found his barometer 
falling very rapidly and knowing that he was 
running into the cyclone, would endeavour to
turn back. What happened remains a mystery."


There is, however, a confounding factor....


Casino and Kyogle Courier, 5 April, 1911.
The Wrecked Yongala
the discovery, of a Muntz metal airtight compartment,
such as were used under the seats of the Yongala's
lifeboats, and which was picked up on the beach ten
miles south of Cape Bowling Green by the steamer
Pelican, which was sent to inspect Nares Rock and
met with very severe weather on the search.

10 miles south of Cape Bowling Green - courtesy Google Earth.

This discovery close to where the whistle and explosion were allegedly heard, could substantiate the theory that a lifeboat did in fact get free of the sinking steamer, with survivors on board.
However, air tanks responded differently i.e. prone to varying wind forces rather than the prevailing current. Heavier, waterlogged wreckage was more prone to the forces of the prevailing current(s), illustrated in the case of the Koombana disaster one year later:


https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2020/05/analysis-of-wreckage-distribution.html

Wreckage was first discovered in the form of two copper air tanks (from lifeboat(s)) on North Turtle Island, 25 March, by Mr. Daniels of lugger Gloria Violet. The majority of wreckage was discovered between 2 and 5 April, a fortnight after the disaster. The final discovery during this time frame, also copper air tanks from lifeboat(s), mid April, is outlined in the following report: 

The West Australian, 17 April, 1912.

THE KOOMBANA.
A STATION OWNER'S REPORT.

Mr. W. E. Moxon, manager of the 
Adelaide Steamship Company, received 
information yesterday to the effect that a Mr.
Thompson, a station-owner in the North
West, had reported that some of his natives
had picked up three copper air tanks, which
had evidently come from one of the life
boats of the Koombana. The tanks were
found on the sandy beach connecting 
Solitary Island with the mainland, slightly to
the north of Amphinome Shoals.

Three sets of air tanks, originating from the wrecked Koombana's lifeboats, were discovered close to the coast, comprising 3 widely spaced (100 miles) geographic locations:

13. North Turtle island
14. Solitary Island. 
15. 14 miles south of Port Hedland 

There is no specific pattern apart from the air tanks having been subjected to the "set-in of the tide" -  Captain Clark, formerly Chief Officer of the Koombana:


"the wreckage had been borne landwards 
by the set-in of the tide, which always 
followed on a severe blow in the
Fix this textnorth-west."

One might anticipate such an outcome given the buoyancy factor associated with air tanks and variable surface wind forces.






Alternatively the Solitary Island discovery could point to what drover Olive saw on the night of 20 March.

Daily Commercial News, 14 May, 1912

The company had received a report 
from a magistrate at Broome that a 
statement had been made by a drover 
named Olive, that on the night of March 
20, when he was at Boyer's Camp, 30 
miles north of Condon, at about 8 or 9 p.m. 
he saw two rockets go up in the direction of
N.W. There was a hurricane blowing at 
the time. 

From a position on low cliffs roughly 46 ft. above sea level, he claimed to have seen two rockets in the direction of the northwest. Veracity of this account depends on reasonable visibility and the rockets rising to a significant altitude.

It is possible that at least one lifeboat got away safely from the sinking Koombana and these rockets were fired from it, which might explain why copper air tanks from such a lifeboat ended up at Solitary Island; a direction contrary to the sites of the other two sets of air tanks. 

Could it have been Koombana in the position of the two rockets rather than  a lifeboat ?

The vicinity of the rockets is riddled with shoals, notably the Amphinome Shoals and is relatively shallow. If Koombana grounded or foundered in the vicinity, surely the wreck would then have been readily discovered by fishermen, spear fishermen and pearl divers?

The distribution of the bulk of wreckage does not favour this site, particularly with the set-in of the tide referred to. (see second image and discussion below).

Against the veracity of drover Olive's account is the fact that during the night of 20 March and thereafter, the 'hurricane' was to the south of Port Hedland, not north. 




Let us return to the distribution pattern of the bulk of wreckage discovered. 




1. Stateroom door; painting stage; small pieces of board. SS Gorgon
2. Motor launch starboard bow plank (with insignia). SS Bullarra
3. Small wreckage; (life) boat tanks; lifebelts; panel from saloon / smoke room ceiling. SS Bullarra
(see: https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2019/11/sufficient-warning.html)
4. Bottom board from (life) boat; white painted board. Lugger McLennan. 
5. (life) boat mast and small wreckage (rising from bottom). SS Una
6. Miscellaneous wreckage. SS Una   
7. Miscellaneous wreckage. SS Una. 
8. Cabin paneling. Lugger Mina.
9. Smoking room cushion; cabin door. SS Minderoo.
10. Straw envelopes (Leech's fortune). SS Minderoo and SS Gorgon.
(see:  https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2019/11/sufficient-warning.html)
11. Bottom boards (lifeboat); drawer; small teak panel. SS Minderoo.

North of Bedout Island the prevailing current flows in a westward direction.

By deduction, the distinct cluster of wreckage drifted from east to west. It is strongly suggested that the starting point was somewhere in the vicinity of Captain Upjohn's oil patch coordinates - the site of the wreck of RMS Koombana.

In this instance, the heavier, waterlogged items do not appear to have been significantly influenced by prevailing winds and variable surface current forces, as were the light, buoyant air tanks.


note extent of Balla Balla cyclone


Long after the disaster, discoveries were still made:

12. Submerged bilge section 150-200 ft.. SS Bullarra, mid July, 1912.
16. Saloon seat and ladder. Schooner Queenie Alice, July, 1913.
17. Second stateroom door. Pearler, Sholl Island, 1930's.

It is clear from this pattern that over time wreckage drifted inshore, further down the coast (not up the coast).

The Sun, Kalgoorlie, 31 March, 1912.
TELEGRAMS
THE UNSUCCESSFUL 
SEARCH

PERTH, Saturday.
Five steamers have been searching
all the week for signs of the missing
steamer Koombana, have discovered 
no trace. Turtle Islands, Bedout Island 
and Ninety-Mile beach have all been 
carefully examined without success. 
The steamer Minderoo, which left Onslow
for Cossack on Thursday last is now 18
hours overdue. Some optimistic people
regard this as hopeful, thinking she may 
have the missing steamer in tow, but the 
general feeling now is that the Koombana
went down during the recent cyclone. The 
search is being still continued.

The report emphasizes that during the initial two weeks after the disaster, no wreckage was discovered. This suggests that wreckage was released after some delay from the sunken wreck rather than immediately due to battering hurricane-force winds. 

It might also explain why there is a roughly 20 mile wreckage-free zone between Captain Upjohn's oil patch and the corridor north of Bedout Island (time elapse factor). 

The following extract (one of many period experiments conducted) illustrates the significance of prevailing currents' relationship with drifting objects. The distances in this extract are roughly 3,000 and 1,150 miles respectively; the prevailing current in question being the Southern Ocean Circumpolar Current from west to east:

 

Daily Telegraph, 19 January, 1911.

BOTTLES FROM THE PERICLES
HOBART, Wednesday. — Fishermen have
picked up two bottles containing current charts,
which on December 26 and 31, 1908, were thrown
overboard from the steamer Pericles, which was
wrecked off the West Australian coast. A peculiar 
feature about the find is that the bottles were thrown 
overboard with an interval of five days between each 
and they were found within five or six miles of each 
other on the South Tasmanian coast.




https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-grim-reminder.html




Thanks to Annie Boyd for contributing to wreckage data.

The following link gives a graphic overview of the current trend north of Bedout Island:

http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/forecasts/idyoc300.shtml?region=NWWA&forecast=SSTCur


courtesy Trove