["Sensational Shipping Disaster", The West Australian, Friday 01 April 1910, page 5]
SENSATIONAL SHIPPING DISASTER.
LOSS OF THE S.S. PERICLES.
VESSEL FOUNDERS OFF CAPE LEEUWIN.
PASSENGERS AND CREW SAFELY LANDED.
TOTAL ABSENCE OF PANIC.
"The steamer Pericles struck a rock three miles south of Cape Leeuwin, and foundered, about 6 p.m." This brief but fateful message flashed across the wires from Karridale last night gave the first definite intelligence of a catastrophe destined to fill not the least thrilling chapter of the long and sensational story of shipwreck on the Australian coast. There was fortunately no toll of human life. The disaster which overwhelmed the vessel, swift as it was, allowed ample time for the passengers and crew to be safely landed. The calamity was apparently complete in the matter of an hour or two. A fine new steamer--the Pericles was only added to the Aberdeen fleet a little more than a year ago--went quickly to its fate, but the tragedy of loss of life at sea and the pain and suffering, widespread and enduring, inflicted on the friends and relatives of the victims will be absent from the narrative of the wreck of the Pericles. The foundering of the vessel was visible from the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, although the identity of the steamer remained for some time a matter of doubt. About half-past 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon telegrams were received by the Postal and Customs authorities and the Chief Harbourmaster at Fremantle, stating that a large four-masted steamer, with a yellow funnel was in distress about six miles south of Leenwin, and was flying urgent signals. The messages added that the name of the vessel could not be distinguished, but it was conjectured that she was the Aberdeen liner Pericles, bound from Eastern ports for Fremantle, en route to South Africa and London. Probability was given to this surmise by the fact that the Pericles passed Breaksea Island at 3.45 a.m. yesterday, and was due at Fremantle late this afternoon. Messages continued to arrive as the disaster, visible from the beacon at Cape Leenwin, was speeding to a conclusion. Boats were reported to be leaving the steamer at 4.30 p.m. (Cape Leeuwin time). The steamer was then sinking by the head, the stern being well out of the water, showing the propeller. This was followed by the wecome intelligence that five of six boats had left for the shore. The hope this inspired of a complete immunity from loss of life was realised shortly after 7 p.m. when the information was telegraphed by the Leeuwin lighthouse-keeper that every soul had been rescued. This message also definitely established the identity of the lost ship as the Pericles. At 10.30 p.m. the last official telegram was received from the postmaster at Karridale as follows:--"Steamer Pericles struck rock three miles south of Cape Leeuwin. Foundered about 6 p.m. Passengers and crew safely landed at Leeuwin. Everything lost, including mails. Millars' Karri and Jarrah Company doing everything possible for comfort of shipwrecked people who are all well." This was supplemented at an early hour this morning by a telegram from Karridale announcing the safe arrival there of a number of the passengers from Flinders Bay.
Promptly upon the receipt of the first news of the wreck, the Chief Harbourmaster consulted with the Government, and several of the shipping managers at Fremantle, with a view to the immediate despatch of assistance to the scene of the disaster. The result was that a telegram was sent to the Harbourmaster at Bunbury, instructing him to send the Vigilant at once to render assistance. Information was subsequently received that the Vigilant left Bunbury about 7 p.m. It was estimated that it would take the Vigilant about 12 hours to reach the wreck. Mr. Leonard, the Fremantle manager of the Melbourne Steamship Company, communicated with the captain of that company's steamer Monaro, at Bunbury, and in reply to an urgent query, was informed that the Monaro would be ready to proceed to sea at 11 p.m. Mr. Leonard at once telegraphed directing the Monaro to leave Bunbury at that hour for Flinders Bay, to pick up the passengers and crew of the Pericles, and to proceed thence direct to Fremantle.
The coast where disaster befel the Pericles has an abundance of little openings into which ships' boats might run, but it was evidently preferred to proceed to Flinders Bay where there is rail communication with the timber mills, running up to within about 25 miles of Busselton. There are, however, no houses about Flinders Bay, nor shelter of any kind, excepting a caretaker's hut and a few outbuildings. But it is only a few miles from Karridale. the head timber station where there is a store, so that if the Timber Company can manage to run an engine and trucks between those points, plenty of provisions and covering can be conveyed to the passengers and crew, who are estimated to number about 400.
