Bowen Independent, Thursday 5 March, 1931.
LOSS OF THE S. S.
“YONGALA”
IN 1911 CYCLONE.
DISAPPEARS WITH 217 PERSONS
ON BOARD.
By GEORGE TURNER.
On Thursday March, 1911, a
special forecast was posted at Bowen
Post Office at 5 p.m. notifying the public
that a cyclone was imminent and
was travelling in the direction of Bowen.
At. 7 p.m. the wind increased to gale force
and continued throughout the night but
abated towards morning and veered from
S.E. to N. It was found that no very serious
damage had occurred but several outhouses
were unroofed or collapsed and all telegraph
lines were interrupted with, one exception
and communication by wire or mail was seriously
delayed. The rain fall for 24 hours was 400 locally
and Proserpine reported 770 points. Floods
occurred on the railway and Bolmwaha train
could not get beyond Salisbury and had to return
to town. The citrus crop, which was then well foward,
suffered serious damage, most of the fruit being
shaken off and many trees uprooted from floods
and wind. The A.U.S.N. Coy.’s office, then on the
beach at the foot of Herbert Street, was badly
knocked about and all books and stationery
injured from driving rain and spray. The steamer
“Grantala” which left Townsville at 4 p.m. on
Thursday ran into a cyclone and took shelter,
under Cape Bowling Green and did not reach
Bowen until 3 p.m. on Friday.
Passengers describing their experience,
stated that they had a very bad time
and considered themselves lucky that
the ship had come through the storm.
They had seen nothing of the Yongala,
the sister ship belonging to the same
service, which had left the anchorage
at Flat Top before the storm warning
reached her. She was making for
Townsville and Cairns and carried 136
passengers and 81 of a crew. On Saturday
when it was ascertained the Yongala had
not reached Townsville or been sighted on
the way serious fears for her safety began
to be expressed and steps were taken to
ascertain her fate. Dent Island Lighthouse
reported her as passing there at 6 p.m. on
Thursday and residents at Cannon Valley
Beach saw her pass there just as darkness
was setting in and the night promising to be
a very stormy one.
revisiting Captain Sim's (of Grantala) statement:
'Where he was on the night of
the storm the wind was not
travelling more than 70 or 80
miles an hour. The storm was
at its worst from 11 o'oiock at
night to 3 o'clock next morning.
There was nothing in the storm
as he experienced it to make
control of the vessel impossible.
He noticed nothing abnormal
in the tides and currents.'
Apart from the obvious inaccuracy regarding the number lost with Yongala the report is interesting and describes a cyclone which although destructive was not as severe as one might have thought. The following is an interesting addendum to the subject:
http://hardenup.org/umbraco/customContent/media/635_Townsville_Cyclone_Yongala_1911.pdf
Captain Sim, who was present at Bowling Green Bay confirmed that the gale was not excessive and the currents within normal parameters, which in itself, could have been reason enough for Captain Knight's decision to proceed northward.
I have expressed the opinion, backed up by the commentary of Captain Mackenzie, that Captain Knight thought he was ahead of a frontal system moving northward up the coast. Much was said about Captain Knight missing the vital cyclone warning after departing Flat-Top, which apparently was good enough reason, to steam headlong into a cyclone despite the obvious pattern of warning signs (barometer falling; changes in wind force and wave pattern) 12 hours prior to the event.
The only explanation I can think of, taking into account severe limitations in my understanding of climatology off the Queensland coast, is that the cyclone was a 'hybrid cyclone' (see previous post and image below) which gave an impression (including barometric) of a system moving up the coast only to reveal a cruel twist in the form of a cyclone at the apex moving from northeast to southwest across the stretch of ocean off Cape Bowling Green.
There simply has to be a logical explanation for Captain Knight's actions and Captain Mackenzie's revealing remarks. Captain Knight must have believed that he stood a fair chance of making Townsville.
Anything else would be classified as suicide.
Anything else would be classified as suicide.
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