["The North-West Cyclone", The West Australian, Thursday 28 March 1912, page 6]
THE NORTH-WEST CYCLONE.
The cyclonic demon which periodically visits the North-West of this State with varying degrees of ferocity exhibited one of its most violent moods on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. The full force of the hurricane appears to have been felt be tween Roebourne and La Grange Bay; but owing to the dislocation of the telegraph system and the consequent absence of definite information, keen anxiety has been felt in regard to the fate of other ports on the North-West coast. The silence of Port Hedland was deemed ominous of disaster, but yesterday the welcome news arrived via Broome, Port Darwin, and Adelaide that Port Hedland is practically unscathed. In the track of the cyclone the reckoning is a heavy one. On shore the disturbance occasioned damage to property, roads, and telegraph lines, but this must be counted as nothing in comparison with the disasters at sea. It is estimated that nearly 40 men have paid forfeit with their lives to the fury of the hurricane; and although hope will not be abandoned while a shred remains, it is feared that the passengers and crew of the stekmer Koombana may be added to the saddening death-roll. The establishment of communication with Port Hedland has dispelled the belief that the fine North-West trader was sheltering there; but in shipping circles, where the Koombana's sea-going qualities are recognised, hopes of her having survived the worst fate are not yet abandoned. All sympathy will be extended to those who have friends and relations on the missing vessel; but not until the last of the searchers brings the worst or no tidings can the name of the vessel be added to the list of wrecks on our coast, or numbered with the Waratah and Yongala among the unsolved mysteries of the sea.
The latest cyclone is one of the most disastrous in the history of the North-West. The hurricane which decimated the pearling fleet at Broome in November, 1910, was accompanied by considerable loss of life among the divers, and occasioned enormous financial distress, but its record pales before that of the recent hurricane that sank the luggers Clara, Karrakatta, and Karra, drove on shore other craft, and battered to pieces the vessel Crown of England, with the loss of eight lives. The tragedy is hardly paralleled even by the great hurricane on the north-west coast of Queensland just twelve years ago, when 80 pearling luggers and six schooners were sunk, taking with them 14 white and 60 coloured men. The Russian barque Glenbank, which about fourteen months ago put out from Balla Balla, never to return - only one of her crew of twenty one reaching the shore - is also to be counted among recent victims of the cyclone-ridden North-West coast. Earlier maritime history records that in November, 1839, the man-o'-war Pelorus was blown broadside on to Minto Head, near Port Essington, eight seamen being swept overboard, during a cyclonic gale; but outside of the cyclonic region the list of maritime catastrophes attended by loes of life in Western Australian waters is, happily, comparatively short. It will fervently be hoped that the name of the Koombana will not be added to the melancholy list.
The wireless air-waves have been continuously asking questions of the waters during the last few days, but although their failure to elicit any response naturally increases the anxiety felt, it can not be construed as confirmation of the worst fears. Her wireless gear would probably succumb to the force of the hurricane, and it is possible that having sought comparative safety far from the perilous coast she has been partially disabled by an accident to her machinery. The earnest efforts now being made to locate and retrieve the missing vessel may soon be crowned with success.
The recurring cyclonic disturbances, or "willy willies," to give them their local name, are not the least of the hazards attendant upon existence in the North-West coastal fringe of this State. Between the months of December and April these overwhelming atmospheric blasts may be expected, although their precise track is uncertain and their intensity varies. But marine traders, particularly sailing vessels, run no small risk in the waters of the Nor' West during these five months of the year, and owners and masters may reasonably ask that provision be made to afford safe harbourage on the coast where the onslaught of the "willy willy" may be encountered almost without warning. The recent cyclone came upon the vessels at anchor almost unannouncod by the barometer, and the ill-fated Crown of England and the Concordia were unable to ride out the storm at anchor owing to the lack of protection and the absence of mooring buoys at their anchorage. At Carnarvon, Port Hedland, Onslow, and Point Sampson shipping facilities have been gradually improved; but the port of Balla Balla has the lamentable instances of the losses of the Glenbank and Crown of England and the beaching of the Concordia to illustrate the unsatisfactory character of the harbour. Life in the North-West is anything but a bed of roses under normal conditions, but as the residents of the coastal towns are dependent upon sea communication for what comforts they can obtain the provision of facilities and safety for shipping is almost essential to life in the North-West. The disastrous events of last week should immediately direct attention to the harbourage of the North-West ports. The State's tropical and sub-tropical areas cannot be developed unless at any period of the year the vessels necessary to the industry and progress of the districts can carry out their services in reasonable safety.
