The Capricornian, 27 May, 1911.
WRECK OF THE
YONGALA.
{By Telegraph.]
ADELAIDE, May 18.
The suggestion of the Queensland Government
that an inquiry into the loss of the steamer
Yongala should be held by the Marine Board
of this State - was placed before the wardens
at the meeting of the Board today. It was agreed
unanimously that such an inquiry was not within
the province of the South Australian authorities.
The President (Mr. Arthur Searey) pointed out
that while there was no limits to the power of
any Marine Board to hold an inquiry, there was
restriction with regard to enforcing any finding.
The loss of the Yongala was clearly a hot potato, one with a potentially adverse outcome for the owners and possibly the authorities, re lighthouses and local weather warnings, not to mention allowing an allegedly unseaworthy ship to depart port.
What in effect was being said is that Southern Australia might not have had jurisdiction to enforce corrective actions and settlement of claims. The implication is clear that these officials viewed the likelihood of such outcomes probable.
Best avoided.
An investigation into the loss of the Yongala
was entirely the business of the Queensland
authorities. The application was altogether
superfluous and should not have been made.
Strong language underscoring a determination not to be saddled with the inquiry.
Mr. Gibbon, a warden, said that the mishap
occurred on the Queensland coast and the
inquiry should be held in that state.
BRISBANE, May 19.
Response....
The attention of the Premier (Mr. Denham)
was drawn today to the telegraph with regard
to the decision not to hold the inquiry into the
loss of the Yongala. Mr. Denham said: : —
"Until we receive an answer from me South Australian
Government our hands are tied. The proper authority
to institute an inquiry into the loss of the Yongala is
the Marine Board at the port of registration, which, in
the case of the Yongala, is Adelaide. If the telegram
published to-day proves to be the answer we get from
the South Australian authorities, the Queensland
Government can act by appointing a royal commission
of inquiry, and such a course I propose to adopt should
such be the answer we get.
An as firm and blunt retaliation of refusal.
Mr. Denham further said that he had received a report
from the Portmaster (Captain Mackay) on the question
of lighting along the Queensland coast, which he
proposed to remit to the federal authorities. Captain Mackay
states in his report that in respect to coastal lights, the coast
of Queensland is ahead of the other states, while from Point
Danger to Cape York it is the best surveyed portion of the
Australian coast.
One gets the impression that the deficiency of lighting along the course taken by Yongala might have been the feared cause of the disaster.
Captain Mackay reminds the Premier that in 1906, after
obtaining the opinions of coasting masters, Torres Straits
pilots, and others, the following were submitted to the Federal
Government as the localities where the establishment of lights
was considered most deserving of attention— Point Lookout,
Indian Head, Steep Island, Brook Island, and Cape Direction
on the inner route. In 1907 Captain Mackay was informed by
Dr. N. P. H. Wollaston, the Comptroller General of Customs
that these spots had been approved of.
A defensive stance extolling the virtues of that which had been done, notably with no mention of a light at Cape Gloucester and communications between Dent Island and the mainland - and oh yes, the stark absence of Morse lamps at most of the lighthouses along that coast.
The Portmaster is in receipt of a telegram from Captain
Rothwell, reporting, that no traces have been found of the
Yongala. In his telegram Captain Rothwell states that three
or four days were spent in searching round Nares Rock. He
found no evidence of the ship having even collided with the
rock. The Porpoise steamed around the usual track of
steamers sounding all the way to Cape Bowling Green,
but there was no indication anywhere of a wreck or
anything else.
This negative finding was to prove a thorn in the side of the Adelaide Steamship Company and associated 'co-defendants' at the Inquiry. If Yongala struck Nares or some other obstacle the ship's seaworthiness would have been cleared without hesitation and the master, culpable or not, gone to a watery grave.
The decision of the South Australian
Marine Board was referred to the Port
master to-day. He said—
"With ail due respect (hardly meant) to the Marine Board
of South Australia, and, admitting that it devolves upon
the Marine Board cf Queensland to hold an inquiry into
any disaster taking place on the coast oi Queensland,
nevertheless, in the absence of any evidence the
total disappearance of the ship and the rumour that
the stability of the vessel had been impaired by the
removal of sundry iron ballast, I am still of opinion
that the inquiry should have been held at Adelaide,
her home port, where evidence with respect to
such allegations would be more likely to be obtained
than at Brisbane."
A parting, vicious shot at the owners' home port and the inescapable fact that Yongala required, when in light condition, additional ballasting in the form of 164 tons of pig iron, forward in the ship. It was not a rumour and the ballast was removed with sanction of the owners, who by implication, were responsible for the loss of the steamer.
In a previous post, "Gloves Off", the following comment was made:
On the subject of Morse lamp communications:
In a previous post, "Gloves Off", the following comment was made:
'he points out that at the present time there
is no authority in the Commonwealth or State
laws to prevent a vessel similar to the Yongala
proceeding to sea, and if wrecked, to permit
of compensation, to be claimed by the relatives
of those, lost.'
On the subject of Morse lamp communications:
Cairns Post, 10 April, 1911.
At some of the New South Wales ports
very efficient private organisations
for Morse signalling exist. Coffs
Harbour is a notable example. From
this port regular communication is
held with the South Solitary light-
house on a small island several miles
out, which is thus able to pass on
valuable information to ships far
beyond the range of the 'shore
instruments. If a corps of young
men can do this as a hobby (and
a most estimable one it is), surely
the lighthouses and telegraph stations
on such a dangerous coast as
that of North Queensland ought to
do it as a matter of duty. Where
it is not done no blame attaches to
the officials, all the responsibility
rests with the departmental
administration which rests with
the signal branch of the intelligence
business. And of what may result from
it the Yongala disaster gives an awful
illustration.
 |
| casting pig iron - core issue. |
The Bundaberg Mail, 8 April, 1911.
WHY THE YONGALA WAS
LOST.
The question, why the Yongala was
lost, is now being discussed with a
view to show that some time before
the vessel, reached the storm area, the
notice of danger was sent down the
coast, and that if there had been
means of communicating with the
captain of the steamer, he could have
anchored till the passage northward
was safe. The owners of the ship
had made arrangements to equip this
one and others with apparatus, but
if it had been installed, it would
availed nothing in this particular
case, because there are no land
stations. Thus if it is argued that
the ship was lost because of the
want of wireless equipment the fault
is not with the shipowners, because
that could only arise in failure to receive
a message, which implies it must have
been sent. Therefore the fault lies with
those who should have sent the news.
Data confirming the approach of a cyclone was available as early as 9 a.m. 23 March at Bowen. Yongala departed Flat Top at 1.40 p.m., 23 March. What happened in between refers directly to the comment "the fault lies with those who should have sent the news".
As a cause, the absence of a light to
indicate the neighbourhood of the rock
has been mentioned, but those who are
qualified to speak regard the moving
danger, the cyclone, as the primary peril
in this case. Danger signals are now
hoisted by the light keepers, but their
utility is, of course, limited to the range
of vision, and beyond that distance it
is as though they did not exist.
The rock in question was Nares.
Lighthouses and light ships are at
present under the control of the State,
and possibly it may be shown that no
attempt has been made by State officials
to take advantage of the latest advances
in science for the benefit of ships at sea,
but it must be remembered that under the
Federal Constitution, the States have
nothing to do with light houses, lightships,
beacons and buoys.
Ultimately the Federal Government was responsible for the above.
By Subsection - VII, of Section 51 of
the Constitution Act, these were
transferred to the Commonwealth,
but though we are in the eleventh
year of federation, they have not
been taken over. In view of the
Constitution Act, the States could
not do more than maintain the order
as at federation. They had no right
to commit the Federal Parliament to
any new order, because their control
was not based on law.
Stale mate situation.
If as a mere beacon light, any, fault, is
to be found with the system, it must be
laid on the Federal Parliament for
not assuming the responsibility laid
on it over ten years ago. It may be
a sufficient explanation that light
houses, lightships, beacons and
buoys are sources of expenditure
rather than revenue, but the revenue
is reaped at the Customs House.
The meteorologist points out that he
has attempted very little in the way of
a system of warnings for one reason
among others that he was waiting for
the transfer of the light houses to the
Commonwealth, when the officers in
charge of the lights would he amendable
to Federal regulations. That does not strike
one as a very solid reason, but so far as
it reflects on divided control, the
blame falls on the Commonwealth for
permitting the continuance of a state
of affairs regarded as possibly leading
to inefficiency.
What a mess.
The other reason is that owing to the
want of an international code, one
available to all traffic on the coast.
That does not seem very convincing,
because it means not having a system
accepted by foreigners, - we will not do any
thing to safeguard our own British
ships. Mr. Hunt intimated that be is moving
in the matter of wireless messages from
ships, but says owing to the absence of land
stations only one message was received.
There is the fault— the absence of land
stations. What party is responsible for the
absence of these land stations. The party
administering electric telegraphs, and that is
the Commonwealth.
Not popular by all account.
The States can do nothing in that regard,
and thus no improved methods can be adopted.
Members of the Federal Parliament—
at least a majority of them— are
frantic in their endeavours to exercise
powers, so much so that they are
appealing to the electors for enlarged
scope, yet there still are reminders in
Section 51 which they have not taken
in hand. There is plenty of scope under
Subsection VII. above referred to.
Considering to what extent lives— not to
mention the millions of pounds worth of
property- are involved in connection with this
subsection, what can be said for
members who studiously neglect the
duty of preservation of human lives
in ships on our const, and devote
their time to trying to get control of
matters already, well provided, and
thus when even in that matter the
Constitution already gives them authority
to the extent to which they pretend they want
to go.
If expert opinion decides that the Yongala
ought not to have been lost, because
a wireless system could have saved
her from entering the region of danger,
then it is to the everlasting discredit of
the various Federal Governments that
they have neglected their duty for over
ten years and to the discredit of the present
party in power, because they base their
claim to office on their supreme ability to
conduct public affairs on the proper lines.
Yet they made no movement towards
preventing such a calamity as befell the
Yongala through the meteorological
conditions on the coast were well
enough known long before Federation,
and the Queensland coast was - shall
we say studiously avoided in fixing sites
for wireless experiements. But that, of
course, is as it should be, at least, it is
sufficiently significant that no one untitled
to speak on behalf of the Federal Government
gives the slightest sign of a recognition of
any duty to do anything to prevent the
repetition of another catastrophe. It is
absurd to ask that ships be supplied
with wireless apparatus if the Federal
Government bars the way to its use
for the one great purpose for
installing it - that is to secure the
safety of human lives at sea.
The abandonment of the search by the
Government under the circumstances,
is an acknowledgment of apathy and it is
in keeping with the action of authority in
endeavouring to shoulder the responsibility
of holding an Inquiry onto another State.
Weeks ago the inquiry should have been
opened into the circumstances surrounding
the loss of two hundred human creatures,
almost within signalling distance of port,
and it was only a few days ago that the date
of beginning to start to officially inquire into
the mystery, was announced, as Attorney-General
O'Sullivan did not discover that the inquiry
should be conducted in Queensland until the
South Australian Government had flatly declined
to usurp the power of this State; "Truth" cannot
conjecture why there should be any desire for
any authority to pass along its duties to another
State, or why the opening of the inquiry has been
so long-delayed, unless those in authority anticipated
ugly revelations and unpleasant surprises. There is
something behind all the apathy and backing and filling,
and the people— especially those who lost relatives and
friends by the disaster will not be satisfied until certain
suspicions are proved correct or groundless.
The simplest and most satisfactory way to climb and
ugly obstacle is to face it fearlessly, and the sooner the
persons in power get at the truth of Yongala stories
floating around, the easier will the public mind be
purified and set at rest so far as the wreck of the
steamer is concerned.
Courtesy Trove.
