YONGALA MYSTERY SOLVED.

The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Monday 19 July, 1954.

Corvette 'solved'

Yongala mystery

The 3500-ton Yongala was reported to have disappeared in a

cyclone between Bowen and Townsville on March 23, 1911,

but it has also been suggested that the ship sank near 

Rockhampton.

E. J. Whereat (C-M 28/6/54) says that the

Yongala disappeared in a cyclone between Bowen

and Home Hill.

Might I add that various

vessels searched for the

Yongala after she had been

reported missing.

The Yongala left Mackay

Anchorage at 1.40 pm on

March 23, 1911, and passed

Dent Island (in the middle of

Whitsunday Passage) at 6.30

pm the same day.

The ss Cooma left the same

anchorage a few hours later,

but by the time she arrived

at the passage the weather

was so thick that she was

compelled to anchor.

The ss Grantala, a sister

ship, left Townsville the

same evening, and was 

compelled to anchor at Cape

Bowling Green. Both these

ships and crews were thus

probably saved.

The ss Tarcoola and other

vessels unsuccessfully searched

for some weeks.

Found 'patch'

More than 30 years later,

one of our corvettes on a

passage from Townsville to

Brisbane, when off Cape

Bowling Green, found a patch

of shoal water with six

fathoms, among 12 and 14

fathoms soundings.

She steamed over the patch

numerous times and it 

coincided with the exact 

dimensions of the Yongala 

in length and breadth. It has 

since been surmised that the

mystery of where she foundered 

has been solved.

This obstruction is shown

on our charts 084 degrees 11

miles from Cape Bowling

Green Lighthouse, and is dead

on the track of ships bound

for Townsville — R. G. Ledley,

553 Vulture Street, East Brisbane.

Beach 'finds'

WHEN the Yongala was

wrecked in March, 1911,

I was living in Ingham, which

was long before the advent of

the railway to those parts.

On the following week-end,

I was one of a party who 

patrolled Halifax Beach, 25 miles

north of Townsville, and

picked up two mail bags intact; 

also what appeared to

be the top of a piano stool

bearing the steamer's name.

I also later received two

personal letters from Brisbane, 

and handled several business 

letters that came out

of the ill-fated ship. The party

also counted 80 bags of onions

which had been washed ashore

in the area. — Victor Short,

Kilcoy.

Heard shot

A box of hats for McKimmin 

and Richardson of Townsville, 

a suit case belonging to Mrs. 

Manbys, of Charters Towers, 

passengers' luggage, a music 

room door and a cribbage board, 

bearing the name Yongala, were

washed up on the beach at

Palm Island, owned at that

time by a Mr. Butler.

At 9 am on the day the

ship was reported missing,

Mr. T. Mitton and I were

shifting some of his cattle to

high ground when we heard

three loud blasts of a ship's

whistle and a shot 'like a dis

tress signal.' I swam the

Hannah branch of the lower

Burdekin and went to Ayr,

about 10 or 12 miles, and 

reported this to the Post Office, 

from where a message

was sent to Harbour Master at

Townsville.

From where we were, the

direction would be east of

Cape Bowling Green. — E. Tappenden, 

31 Manson Parade,Yeronga.

Whether the loud blasts were heard at 9 am or 9 pm this did not coincide with the final moments of the Yongala. But it is intriguing nonetheless.

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