PROVING THE CASE FOR THE CHRONOMETER.

 The following extract refers to the only hard, physical evidence which exists from the disaster:

https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?55361

ANDREW VIDUKA: We could prove that the chronometer was wound up and we could prove the chronometer flooded at 15 metres because we studied it and we were able to show that water went in and stopped the mechanism. 

So we looked at the time again and we said 'OK, so, why is it 12:45? British mean time, set to that - Greenwich mean time - 10 hours difference between Greenwich mean time and the Queensland time under the Queensland Standard Time Act. 

MURRAY CORNISH: So what time does that mean that the wreck went down?

ANDREW VIDUKA: The best hypothesis we can come up with is the vessel was lost in the night, at the height of the cyclone, at a quarter to twelve, on 23rd March. 

It is clear from the above interview that the chronometer was unlikely to have flooded and stopped while Yongala was afloat - even while being battered by a cyclone.

But do the sighting times and Yongala's speed match?

Mr. Wareham, Adelaide Steamship Company:

she was a 'fast ship, her steaming capacity being 

from 16 to 17 knots'.

The Register (Adelaide) 29 March, 1911.

SIGHTED BY THE COOMA.

The master, asked if he had seen any

thing of the Yongala, replied that he 

overtook her on the voyage up the coast, 

leaving her up as far as Lady Elliots. The

Yongala at the time was well in hand, and

was running under easy steam, as it was

not necessary for her to arrive at Mackay

until daylight. At Dent Island Capt. Smith

hailed the station, and enquired which side

of the passage the Yongala was. The

answer was that the Yongala went through

at five o'clock on Thursday night.

Returning to this revealing extract there are interesting points to be made:

The Yongala was overtaken by the Cooma in the vicinity of Lady Elliots. This simple fact confirms that Captain Knight was not a speed merchant. If the situation allowed, he was quite happy to proceed 'under easy steam'. The same simple fact must apply to when Yongala departed Flat-Top. Captain Knight need only have arrived at Townsville by morning, a distance of 208 miles. If he departed at 1.40 pm, 23 March, and made an easy 12 knots, Yongala would have arrived at Townsville roughly 6.45 am, 24 March. He did not need to steam faster than this. 

However, we know that Yongala foundered at approximately 11.45 pm (hard chronometer evidence!!), 23 March at a position 160.5 n miles from Flat-Top. This means that Yongala averaged 16 knots. 16 knots was close to Yongala's top speed and with a gale on her stern, clearly indicates that Captain Knight was pushing his vessel to escape what he thought was a severe southeast storm system coming up the coast.

'At Dent Island Capt. Smith hailed the station and enquired which side of the passage the Yongala was'. The answer was that the 'Yongala went through at five o'clock on Thursday night'. There were some press reports which stuck to 6 p.m. adding that this was the time Yongala 'usually' passed Dent Island. But this was not a 'usual time' or circumstances. And of course the time quoted at the Inquiry was 6.35 p.m.. The following analysis puts this confusion into perspective:

The distance between Mackay and Dent Island is roughly 55 nautical miles. If Yongala departed Mackay at 1.40 pm and was sighted from the Dent Island Light at 6.35 pm, we can calculate that she averaged 11.2 knots, which was well below average with the wind behind her and an element of urgency, given the falling barometer. 

Seems highly unlikely!!

If we take the sometimes press reported time of 6.00 p.m., Dent Island, we get an average speed of 12.7 knots. Again this was sub optimal for a steamer with Yongala's 17 knot potential. However it does correlate with 'easy steam' if there had been no urgency.

If, we take 5.00 p.m., Dent Island, we get 16.5 knots which makes more sense in the context of Yongala's potential, the urgency of an impending storm and the average speed of 16 knots quoted above. 

Given that Yongala's chronometer indicated 11.45 p.m., time of the sinking, an interesting scenario emerges: 

The distance from Dent Island to the site of the wreck is 105.5 miles via Grassy Island (inner, inside passage). We have three options again:

- Dent Island 6.00 p.m. to 11.45 p.m. = 5.75 hours, giving an average of 18.34 knots which is pushing it even with a favourable 2 knot current.

- Dent Island 6.35 p.m. to 11.45 p.m. = 5.17 hours, giving us an average of 20.4 knots, which is unrealistic.

- Dent Island 5.00 p.m. to 11.45 p.m. = 6.75 hours, giving us an average of 15.6 knots which is entirely plausible, correlating with the average above of 16 knots. Furthermore, it supports a sudden, catastrophic event given that the steamer was on course.

 Why the erroneous times ?? 

I believe it was to discredit the collective witness account by residents of Cannon Valley who confirmed that Yongala passed en-route along the inner, most dangerous part of the INSIDE PASSAGE at night; passing between Armit and Gumbrell Islands - a narrow passage not lit by a lighthouse. 

Yongala would have been clearly visible from Cannon Valley when she was 16 n miles from Dent Island at about 6 pm - 16 knots (the calculated average).

6 p.m. is precisely dusk ---> sunset, Queensland, 23 March which neatly corresponds with the report by Cannon Valley Beach residents that they saw Yongala passing 'just as darkness was setting in and the night promising to be a very stormy one'. 

Note, no storm as yet, just the threat of one. 

The Inquiry was not only a whitewash it was a cover-up, falsely steering Yongala along the outside passage, avoiding the more risky inner, inside passage and allegations of risk-taking.

Parting shot:

'Speaking of the Yongala disaster, Captain 

Craig said : " No matter how good your 

judgment is, you can be deceived by

the currents. On the Thursday afternoon 

after leaving Cape Tribulation the Yawata 

Maru was steaming at 12 knots, but she 

was travelling at the rate of 15 knots, 

having the assistance of a southerly 

three-knot current. Before reaching

Palm Island the ship was steaming at 

least 13 knots,  but she was only making 

10 1/2 knots, showing that  there was at 

least a two-knot current setting to the 

northward."

A favourable 2 knot current would have ensured Yongala could maintain a 16 knot average.

courtesy Google Earth

courtesy Google Earth

courtesy Google Earth and Trove