HOT POTATO.

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:

'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.

Truth, Brisbane, 11 June, 1911

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.
ove