Monday, 5 September 2016

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.








Sunday, 4 September 2016

TROUBLE WITH COAL LUMPERS.

The Register (Adelaide) Saturday 15 May, 1909.

TROUBLE WITH COAL
LUMPERS.
TEMPORARY SETTLEMENT.
A temporary strike, which if persisted 
might have led to serious consequences,
occurred at Port Adelaide on Friday after
noon in connection with the Adelaide
Steamship Company's steamer Yongala.
The trouble was centred around two gangs
of coal lumpers who were engaged in coaling 
the vessel at Commercial Wharf. It had it
origin in the refusal of the same gang to 
coal the steamer Grantala on Wednesday 
night. The men were ordered down to 
begin work at 9 p.m. that night. It rained 
heavily, and continued until some time 
after midinight, although the weather 
cleared somewhat at that hour. The men
declined to turn to at 9. o'clock on account
of the rain, and at midnight they left the
wharf altogether, but resumed the coaling 
of the vessel at 6 o'clock on Thursday
morning, and worked to within a short time
of the sailing of the Grantala on Thursday
afternoon. Even then, however, the
steamer had to leave short of the coal supply 
it was intended to have taken on board,
and the balance would, have to have been
shipped in Melbourne. Under clause 7
of the agreement between the Steamship
Owners' Association and the Working
Men's Association, any man ordered to a
vessel under the overtime clause, and not
employed, is entitled to receive 2/ per hour.
The Adelaide Steamship Company, how
ever, contended that as the men declined
to turn to when requested to do so, they
were not entitled to any payment for the
three hours in which they were waiting
about. It is admitted that it was raining, 
but the lumpers employed at the Grantala 
in discharging timber and loading general 
cargo worked all through it, and so
did those on the Melbourne Steamship
Company's steamer Monaro.

The decision of the company not to pay
for the three hours on Wednesday night
was not made known to the men until 
Friday afternoon, when the weekly earnings
were distributed. The same two gangs,
consisting of 21 men, were then coaling the
Yongala, which is to leave for Western
Australia this afternoon. When their demands 
for 6/ per man were not forthcoming they 
declined to continue their work at the Yongala, 
and left the lighter from which the coal was 
being transhipped at 4 p.m. They had begun 
in the morning at 9 o'clock, and two hours' 
work would have finished the bunkering. 
The vigilant officer of the Working Men's 
Association was sent for. He met the 
discontents, and when the position was 
explained to him he strongly advised them 
to turn to again, but they refused unless 
the company would undertake to pay 
them the 6/ to which, they argued, they 
were entitled for the three hours during
which they did no work on Wedhesday night. 
Then Capt. Dingle (marine superintendent to the company),
acting on the advice of the secretary (Mr. P. D. Haggart),
informed the men that he (Mr. Haggart) would be 
prepared to meet and discuss the question with 
the executive of the Working Men's Association,
provided they resumed the coaling of the
Yongala. This, however, they still declined to do. 
Later on the vigilant; officer of the association 
brought the Chairman (Mr. Pallutto) to the scene, 
and he was successful in persuading them to resume
work this morning and finish the coaling.
The Chairman told them they had done
wrong in knocking off without first consulting 
the executive of the association.
Having thus cleared the way for the mutual 
discussion of the point at issue, it is
possible an amicable settlement of the 
difficulty will be arrived at. It is generally
recognised that the agreement under which
the wharf labourers at Port Adelaide are
employed is exceedingly liberal, and it is
felt that any steps taken by the men to
jeopardise it will only react upon themselves. 
As far as the Adelaide Steamship Company 
is concerned, any trouble of a similar character 
might result in the vessels of the fleet being 
coaled in the other States instead of at Port Adelaide, 
with consequent loss of employment to a large
number of men.


The unionization of workers was starting to have a very real impact on the day to day function of ASC steamers. It is interesting to note that this 'trouble' took place at Port Adelaide, the ASC's home base. If you recall there was similar discontent with ASC steamers having to hove to at the semaphore before entering port. One wonders what the 'between the lines' picture was at the time?






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THOROUGH OVERHAUL.

Cairns Morning Post, Wednesday 29 April, 1908.

NOTES AND NEWS
OVERHAUL TO STEAMER.
On returning to Sydney the Adelaide 
Company's steamer Yongala,
will go into dock for a thorough
overhaul and survey, lasting three
weeks. Her running will be taken
up by the Buninyong.

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Five years to the day from launch. 


The Adelaide Steamship Company dutifully carried out important maintenance on their vessels and the Buninyong, Howard Smith Line, filled Yongala's shoes. This illustrates the fact that the major Interstate coastal shipping lines, consolidated into a 'combine', complimented each others' services, rather than competing. Although Buninyong was 25 years old, she was by no means beyond her prime and capabilities. Not as fast as Yongala, she could make 12 knots. 


The Buninyong:


launched      1883       by Caird, Purdie and Co - Barrow-In-Furness

gross tons     2070
length            280 ft.
beam             38 ft.
draught         11.48 ft.
depth             20 ft.

"They (and Gabo) were also the most luxurious vessels yet to join the trade, with accommodation for about 200 passengers, though only a limited number were in cabins. The majority of passengers were carried in segregated saloons, and when required extra sofa beds could be put up at night in the dining saloon, which was one of the main features of these two ships."


(courtesy: 'Coast to Coast’ by Peter Plowman)




The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 13 June, 1883.

THE BUNINYONG.

The latest addition to the already numerous fleet, of steamers
owned by Messrs. Howard Smith and sons is the Buninyong,
which arrived at Melbourne on Sunday last. The following
description of the vessel, and of her voyage cut is taken from the
Age of Monday :- The Buninyong was built at Barrow-in-Furness, 
and launched on the 25th of last January. The hull is
entirely of steel, with a double bottom and seven watertight 
bulk-heads, the bottom being capable of holding 600 tons of water
ballast. Her dimensions are - length between perpendiculars,
280 feet; beam, 38 feet; and depth of hold, 20 feet, which gives
the net tonnage as, 1289; and the gross 2070 tons. She is, however,
able, to carry 3000 tons, and on leaving Liverpool she had 2800
tons of coal on board, on a mean draft of 18 feet 3 inches. On deck
she has no less than five steam winches, five derricks and ten
steam whips, which, added to the hatches being very large, will
enable her to discharge and take in cargo with the greatest
despatch. The windlass is one of Harfield and Co's patent, and
the steam steering gear is by Muir and Caldwell - acknowledged
to be the best of all. The engines are by Messrs. James Jack and




Co., of Liverpool, and are of the most approved type. They are
of the compound surface condensing principle, the high pressure
cylinder being 36 inches, and the low pressure 70 inches, with a
four feet stroke, the horse power being 300 nominal and 1200 
indicated. The boilers are four in number and built of steel,
carrying a pressure of 95lb, and it is anticipated that she will
prove herself a 12-knot boat, no trial as yet having been had of
her steaming qualities, the entire passage having been made at
a trifle over half speed, special instructions to such
effect having been issued to Captain Stanford prior to leaving.
On deck she has a very long poop and a topgallant forecastle. In
the former is the accommodation for saloon passengers, and it is
approached from a large deckhouse by a doorway from either
side, and a spacious staircase balustraded off by a doorway from either
banisters. In this house or companion, which is lighted by a
skylight running the whole length of it, are stained glass windows, 
and all round are also windows stained and decorated. On
the forward portion of the house are two apartments of about 10
feet by 12 feet, beautifully furnished. The one on the starboard 
side is specially set apart for a ladies' retiring room, and contains 
one of Broadwood's pianos, while the one on the port is devoted 
to the gentlemen as a smoking or card room. 

The Buninyong was opulently furnished and contributed to the cache of the Interstate coastal service, enduring for 40 years, ultimately scuttled in the Ship's Graveyard (1926).









Saturday, 3 September 2016

A NEW SHIPPING AGREEMENT.

The West Australian, Friday 21 May, 1909.

A NEW SHIPPING AGREEMENT.
REGULATION OF HOURS AND
WAGES.

Melbourne, May 20.

A new agreement regulating wages
and hours of work has been entered into
between the Coastal Steamship Association 
of New South Wales and the Federated 
Seamen's Union of Australia. The provisions 
are closely modelled on those of the 
inter-State agreement and New
South Wales, which had previously stood
out, is therefore brought into line with the
other States of the Commonwealth.

The 'circle' of shipowners were finding themselves confronted by the steady march towards the rights of workers. 
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