["The Missing Waratah", The West Australian, Saturday 25 June 1910, page 11]
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ARRIVAL OF THE WAKEFIELD AT MELBOURNE.
FRUITLESS QUEST.
EXPERIENCES OF SEARCH STEAMER.
Melbourne, June 24.
Th search by the steamer Wakefield for the missing Waratah was fruitless. The Wakefield arrived this evening, and Lieut. Seymniour, the naval officer on the vessel, said: "We have been out four months, and we have not seen any sign of the Waratah or the slightest trace of any wreckage." The Wakefield's sides present evidence of severe buffeting she received in the heavy gales that were experienced, almost without cessation, since leaving Durban.
Everything about her spoke of a long, trying voyage. The cruise took her into uncharted waters, where danger was ever-present. Gales of terrific force raged for weeks at a stretch, and only abated to gather fresh strength, and many of the islands that had to be searched or steamed round were precipitous mountains of rock, uninhabited for the main part.
"Now you are safely back," said a visitor to the Wakefield this evening, "there is no harm in telling you that we have wondered whether it would be necessary to send a search steamer to look for you."
"Let me tell you," replied one of the officers, "that the same thought often occurred to us."
After being so long out, the little community of the steamer was thirsting for news. They were unaware that King Edward was dead, and another startling piece of information to them was that the Pericles had been wrecked.
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