WIND CATCHMENT.

The West Australian, Perth, 20 August, 1909.

The wind was so strong that two small

tugs were unable to get the steamer 

Yongala from Melbourne, away from the

wharf. It was only when a third and

larger tug arrived that she was shifted

after much delay.

It was this very wind catchment factor, enhanced by an enormous funnel, which probably contributed to dragging the steamer over in the cyclone of 23 March.

courtesy SS Yongala, Mystery of a Generation

courtesy Trove.

BOTTLE MESSAGE.

The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 14 December, 1911.

THE MESSAGE FROM THE YONGALA.

IS IT A HOAX ?

The finding of the bottle-paper supposed to be

from the missing steamer Yongala, which foun-

dered with all hands off the Queensland coast

in March last, occasioned considerable interest

in shipping circles yesterday, and speculation

was rife as to whether the paper was really

genuine.

Mr. Wareham, the Queensland inspector for the 

Adelaide S.S. Co., who is at present in Sydney, 

had a telegram from the Mackay office of the 

company, giving the information of the finding 

of the bottle-paper, and he is taking the necessary 

steps to have the message sent south to him to 

Brisbane for the purpose of comparing the writing 

with that of "J. West, chief cook," on the ship's 

articles at Brisbane. At present considerable

doubt seems to exist as to the paper message

coming from the missing ship. Cross currents

and the numerous islands in the locality would,

it is pointed out, lessen the chances of the bottle-

paper drifting to the position where it was picked

up is about 100 miles south of of the place where

the Yongala is supposed to have been lost. The

Yongala which was in command of Captain Knight

left the Mackay anchorage at 1.40 p.m. on March

23, and was reported as having passed Dent Island

at 6 p.m., the same day, but was not subsequently

heard of. A small portion of her cargo was picked

up on the coast and reefs to the north-west of the

Whitsunday Passage. No fewer than 120 lives were 

lost in the ill-fated steamer. The message found at

Westhill, and sent to Mackay, was written on an

envelope and read: "S.S. Yongala: Terrible storm,

8.30 p.m.. It's a case of good-bye - J. West, cook."

courtesy Google Earth
If this was true and Yongala making an average of 16 knots, the message would have been thrown overboard in the vicinity of Holbourne Island and Nares Rock. If there had been another more than 3 hours to go, surely some attempt would have been made to seek anchorage or get people off in lifeboats??

courtesy Trove.

'IT IS WORSE THAN HELL'.

The Evening Telegraph, 7 April, 1911.

Captain MacKenzie brought out the 

chart, sketched the passage Captain 

Knight is bound to have taken and if 

this is correct, then it is impossible 

that the ill-fated vessel was ever within 

miles of Nares Rock.

Captain Knight and Captain Mc-Kenzie 

have often discussed the navigation of 

this difficult Northern run; have compared 

charts; and both Captains run on the same 

course.

It seems that there

ARE TWO COURSES

once north of the passage. One leads

away, outskirting the coastal reefs

and islands, and runs within a few

miles of Nares Rock. The second

comes in and bears towards Gloucester 

Island.

"We were both decided that the

Nares Rock course is unsafe unless

we pass the rock in daytime," said

Captain McKenzie.

courtesy Google Earth

"It is easy to trace the whole catastrophe," 

he added. "I know Captain Knight and 

his methods so well." 

Captain McKenzie thinks that the

vessel would have caught 

THE FULL FORCE

of the storm after passing north of

Upstart, at that time the vessel

would be on its ordinary inside 

course.

courtesy Google Earth
Interestingly, the inside course would have brought Yongala to about 7 miles out from Cape Bowling Green, which was where the original oil patch was observed - wrecks are known to move over decades, but 4 miles is ridiculous. It makes more sense that Captain Knight gave himself more sea room given the extreme conditions and ended up at a position 11 miles out from Cape Bowling Green irrespective of whether he initially used the inside or outside courses.

"It is sad to think",said Captain

McKenzie, "that at that precise moment

the Grantala was anchored in safety not 

25 miles away from its sister ship, which 

was being driven to its doom.

Grantala was anchored 17.7 miles away.

Captain McKenzie considers that

the storm would "put the vessel

broadside on to its full force, and

with a dreadful list it would be driven 

before its fury. There would be few 

on deck at the time. The captain, 

of course, would be on the bridge, 

and probably , two of the mates, the 

wheel hand, and the lookout. The 

weather would render the fo'c'sle head 

untenable.

When the full terrific blast struck

the ship she would list immediately.

Acknowledging the top heavy steamer's limitations.

Captain Knight might have given orders

but it would have been impossible to have 

heard them two feet away, and even if heard, 

it would have been impossible to have carried

them out. All that the hands on deck could have 

done would be to have clung to a stanchion 

and wait for the frightful blow to moderate.

The rain would come down almost horizontally 

with such awful force that if one turned one's face 

to it, it would have been cut. The spray would be 

whipped from the crests of the seas , and would 

hit the vessel like shrapnel.

And indeed impossible to launch lifeboats in such conditions.

"They say," said Captain' McKenzie

"that a cyclone at sea is like hell. I say, if it is 

possible, it is worse than hell. It is simply 

indescribable."

The captain considered that under

these awesome and dreadful conditions 

the vessel was driven out broadside on.

And eventually the end came.

As it was, with that tremendous list,

and the terrible storm, it was impossible 

to do anything. Those on deck could only 

cling breathlessly to stanchions or whatever 

hold was available, while down below it 

would be sheer impossibility to put a 

shovelful of coal into the fires.

The Australasian, Melbourne, 8 April, 1911.

"To be in a cyclone," Captain Thompson 

continued, "is like being in the inside

of a drum. There is a terrific surging noise

round you, as if all the fields in Hades were

yelling. It is like hell let loose. The sea

breaks in every direction at once, a heavy

sea and wind are coming over on one side,

and the next minute the sea and wind are

coming from the other. If there is sea

room you might get out of it, but if there

is no room you can only anchor and trust

to Providence. Where the Yongala was

there was no sea-room - only about 15 or

20 miles between the coast and the reefs.


The Register, Adelaide, 9 June, 1911.

 'But Capt, Knight, never varied his track. 

Night or day, thick or clear, she steered 

13 miles off Cape Upstart, and

6 1/2 miles off Cape Bowling Green.

Contradicting Captain Mackenzie, Alexander McGregor Leslie, Superintendent of Wharfs and master mariner, who had been Yongala's second officer for 2 years and 3 months, made the convincing statement that Captain Knight never varied his course no matter the weather, day or night. 

13 miles off Cape Upstart was the outside track, not inside. This was close to Nares Rock and considered dangerous at night. 

6 1/2 miles off Cape Bowling Green was 5 miles closer to shore than where the wreck lies. This also makes sense in the context of allowing enough sea room to prevent running aground on the reefs off the Cape during a fierce storm.

Captain Knight was a risk-taker, by all account. 



courtesy Trove.

siz surveying the reefs

EXPLOSION.

The Northern Herald, 3 October, 1913.

The Yongala.

THEORY AS TO HER FATE.

A startling theory is propounded

by Mr. H. A.. Hunt, the Commonwealth

Meteorologist, as to the fate of the 

steamer Yongala, which was lost off 

Queensland in 1911. 

He is of opinion since his recent visit north 

that the unfortunate steamer was caught 

in the vortex of a cyclone, and exploded. 

Mr. Hunt, although he did not visit the

locality where the Yongala was supposed 

to have foundered, made careful inquiries 

from ship masters - and residents in the 

North. In fact, Captain Gerrit Smith, of the

steamer Cooma, told him that he had seen 

a door of one of the cabins of the vessel

that had been recovered, and it presented 

all the appearances of having been blown 

out by some powerful explosion.

'That is probably what would have happened

if the Yongala had been caught in the vortex 

of a powerful cyclone;' added Mr. Hunt.

'With the prospect of a rough time before him, 

the captain would have had all movable fixings 

made fast, the doors and hatches closed, and 

secured in preparation for the pending storm.

These necessary precautions, however, would 

create just the conditions that would cause a

violent explosion if  the vessel were caught in 

the centre of a typhoon.

There would be a rapid reduction of air pressure 

outside the vessel and outside the hull. Finding no 

outlet, the explosion would follow, and blow the 

vessel asunder.' 

In support of his remarks, Mr. Hunt then made 

a practical demonstration of his theory with an 

instrument which the Weather Bureau uses for 

scientific experiments; An ordinary tumbler covered 

with a strip of rubber was placed inside air-tight 

glass jar. The air pressure inside the jar was reduced 

by a fraction. Immediately the air in the tumbler began 

to bulge and expand the rubber covering until it

appeared to be on the point of bursting. 

That, of course, concluded Mr. Hunt, is just a mild

illustration. I have only reduced the pressure by

a fraction, but you can imagine the immense force 

that must be exerted when the atmospheric resistance 

in the body has suddenly been reduced by several

pounds per square inch.

A highly plausible scenario when Yongala plunged into the vortex of the hybrid cyclone off Cape Bowling Green.

courtesy Trove

OIL PATCH.

The Evening Telegraph, 29 September, 1911.

A YONGALA THEORY.

Captain Colin Thompson, of Cooktown,

arrived last week by the Matunga from 

Papua (says the Cairns "Post.,") He sailed 

the Schooner Annie from Maryborough to

Samurai, via Cooktown consigned to 

Messrs. Clunn and Sons, to be used as

a storeship for the firm and a lighter for 

oversea steamers - Captain Thompson 

reports that in passing Cape Bowling 

Green, between 7 and 8 miles from the

Cape he observed a "greasy" streak on

the water, about the length of a large

steamer. A small rip-tide was flowing.

There was about 16 fathoms (30 m)

of water and the sea was very smooth, 

but as it was about 6 p.m., and darkness 

was setting in he was unable to make 

any search and proceeded on his voyage

north. Captain Thompson thinks he 

passed at the spot mentioned the 

place where the Yongala lies. If so,

she is right in the track of the big

steamers.

Extraordinary!!

Yongala lies in 30 m = 16 fathoms, off Cape Bowling Green, a little further out than quoted, but within the 'track of the big steamers' referenced by experienced mariners of the time.

The importance of an oil patch marking the final resting place of steamers cannot be over emphasised.

This bodes well for searches for the lost Koombana - see:

https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2020/05/coordinates-conclusion.html

courtesy Google Earth

courtesy Trove.

WHITEWASH.

Truth, Brisbane, 18 June, 1911.

On Monday, June 12, the taking of further 

evidence was continued, and on Tuesday, 

June 13 the inquiry into what might safely 

be classed as the greatest shipping disaster 

on the Queensland coast was concluded 

and closed, without persons in the North, 

where the Yongala disappeared, and where 

the clues to the mystery will he found, had 

an opportunity to offer testimony or appoint

representatives.

This approach was to replay itself one year later after the loss of the Koombana.



courtesy Trove