["Not Sighted", The West Australian, Thursday 28 March 1912, page 7]
NOT SIGHTED.
THE KOOMBANA'S FATE.
AN ANXIOUS DAY.
PORT HEDLAND SAFE.
THE BALLA BALLA BLOW.
FORTY DEATHS REPORTED.
RESTORING THE WIRES.
The Koombana is now a full week overdue on her journey from Port Hedland to Broome. Notwithstanding the active search from every point along the coast, no cheering message came through yesterday to allay the general anxiety. Rumours there were in plenty, both of sad portent and otherwise, but the result of the day's search revealed nothing to justify the turning of fear into thankfulness or hope into sorrow. Her whereabouts is a problem which can only be solved by the skippers of the boats which have been directed to steer out to the shoals and examine every inch of sea where there is even the most shadowy hope of finding the missing steamer. With a crew of 80 odd and an original passenger list of 47, there is a wealth of human life at stake which thn Government and shipping companies are leaving no stone unturned to succour.
In shipping circles yesterday belief was still unbounded in regard to her being above the waves. That optimism, however, was clearly not shared by all. Among the many relatives and friends of those on board the suspense of the last seven days has produced an undeniable foreboding, and even the "man in the street" lost a little of his confidence regarding her safety. A finer skipper than Capt. Allen could not be wished for in command, but the most unerring judgment cannot always prevail against the elements. The wires have been tapping away incessantly during the last week, the circle of her possible whereabouts has been freighted with ner code in wireless, "M.Z.P.," but still no word has come in reply. The fact that no ship has been able to pick her up may be discounted to an extent on account of the tempest probably having wrecked the Koombana's own means of wireless connection. The last seen of her was on March 20 at 1 p.m., when she was sighted by the Bullarra two hours out of Port Hedland, steering north-east, the gale then blowing from E.N.E. There are those who believe that she rode through the storm and was carried far out to sea, a breakdown of machinery having delayed her appearance in port. As shown in the information given below those in the best position to judge, and who are armed with the necessary knowledge, are unshaken in their allegiance to the belief that all is well. The public sincerely re-echoes the hope that it may be so. It is expected that within the next 24 or 48 hours some one or other of the luggers which have been out since the beginning of the week, or the steamers which are shaping their course in tracks where the missing steamer would probably go, will be able to communicate the news which the public is now awaiting.
The reassuring information was wired to the Deputy Postmaster-General from Port Hedland yesterday that although the blow was severely felt there no damage has been done and no lives were lost. Advices from Port Hedland are still coming to Perth via Banjowangie and Adelaide, but it is hoped that the work of linking up the wires from Balla Balla to Port Hedland will be accomplished within a short time. The trouble is on the stretch between the Yule and Turner rivers. Up to Balla Balla communication, although interrupted, is well established. At the Turner River it is feared that a serious breakdown has occurred owing to the abnormal floods. The postmaster at Roebourne spoke to the line repairing party, which is working up from the south, at 9 o'clock yesterday morning. They reported that progress was necessarily slow, as the country is too boggy for horses, and they have been compelled to travel on foot most of the way. The Port Hedland postmaster reported at about noon that he had a party out working towards the south, but he could give no idea when it would be possible to restore communication. It depended on the rivers and the extent of the damage. Ho believed the lines were badly damaged at the Turner. Later this official advised that it would be impossible to restore the line on that day or even to-day. The men were doing their utmost, but were hampered by the flooded rivers.
The postmaster at Port Hedland was advised to cable at once immediately anything was known of the Koombana, and to send a closing report in any case before leaving for the night. In reply the following message was received late last evening: No news of the Koombana. Luggers patrolling the coast. These messages also covered the information already given in our columns concerning the blow at Balla Balla. That town, it was stated, received the full force of the storm. They added that in all about 40 lives were lost in that vicinity.
Mr. T. Carter (of Dalgety and Co.) states that although the absence of news concerning the Koombana is undoubtedly most disquieting, at the same time, nautical men think there is a possibility of the steamer being driven by the storm, and in difficulty at the Rowley shoals, which are at a point about 150 miles east of Cape Baskerville, or, in the contrary direction, at the Monte Bello group. The commander of the s.s. Gorgon at Java has been asked to deviate from his usual course and pass close to the Rowley shoals, while Captain Mills, of the s.s. Minderoo, will keep a keen look-out while passing the Monte Bello islands on his way from Onslow to Cossack, at which port further instructions will be forwarded to him.
The Consul for Norway has received an other telegram from the captain of the Concordia, which went ashore on Depuch Island, to the effect that the vessel's plates had been strained and the rudder buckled.
AT FREMANTLE.
MANY UNFOUNDED RUMOURS.
Rumours and tales of tragedy filled the air at Fremantle yesterday, and with each additional scare the offices of the Adelaide Steamship Company, the owners of the missing liner Koombana, were crowded with inquirers. While communication was established with Port Hedland, this fact brought no satisfaction to those desirous of gleaning some ray of hope, for the information was quickly disseminated that the Koombana had not been sighted from that port. When the postal authorities notified on the shipping board at Fremantle Post Office that at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday a steamer with two masthead lights and well lit up had passed Point Moore, outside Geraldton, going in a southerly direction, this was seized upon by some as a pretext upon which to spread a report that the Koombana was on the way down the coast, and would show up to-day. The rumour was immediately scouted by those having any knowledge of shipping matters, for if it had been the Koombana, Captain Allen would obviously have used his Morse telegraphic apparatus and notified his safety to the lightkeepers and so allayed the feeings of gravest apprehension which exist. Beyond that the fact that no vessel from the direction of Geraldton put in an appearance last night goes to show that the vessel will probably be a steamer from the Far East, or other overseas port en route to either Bunbury for timber, or else to the Eastern States direct.
The next rumour, having the slightest semblance of reason for its circulation, was to the effect that the Koombana was outside Port Hedland flying signals of distress. Investigation showed that the origin of the rumour had apparently sprung from a cable received from Broome by Mr. W. E. Moxon, manager of the Adelaide SS. Company, as follows:--"Lineman three miles this side of Port Hedland advises: Two ships, lighter, lots of luggers lost. Forty whites lost. Lugger Clara went down with seven hands.
Eleven bodies found. Steamer outside flying signals of distress, no funnels, no decking. Hedland post office advises that they got the full force of the willy willy. A few minutes' contemplation was sufficient to remove any impression that the vessel flying signals was the Koombana, when it is remembered that the s.s Bullarra, which left Cossack cn Tuesday evening, was due at Port Hedland at daybreak yesterday morning to land her stock. On arrival she signalled to as certain if the fairway was clear after the cyclone. The signals, combined with the bedraggled appearance of the Bullarra, and the absence of high decks, such as are portion of the superstructure of the Koombana, evidently account for the lineman, being unfamiliar with the two ships, mistaking the Bullarra for the missing steamer. Any doubts which might have existed were later dispelled when Mr. Moxon received a cable message from the company's manager at Port Hedland which, being interpreted by the local office and made more intelligible, conveyed the following information:--"A gale, almost reaching the force of a cyclone has raged here, the damage, however, to the town and shipping facilities being nil. The Bullarra called this morning, and several luggers are now searching Amphinome Shoals, which include the Bedout and other islands. Luggers have also been sent out to search along the beach. No traces of the Koombana are to be seen locally."
The Bullarra sailed from Port Hedland at 9 o'clack yesterday morning for Broome to replenish her water supplies. On her way she will examine Turtle and Bedout islands and make a thorough search on her way to the northern port for the Koombana. En route the vessel will probably intercept snme of the luggers which have bhen sent out from Broome in a southerly direction. The Bullarra, it is expected, will reach Broome this evening. There is an abundance of food and fuel aboard the Koombana.
SEARCH ARRANGEMENTS.
STATEMENT BY MR. MOXON.
Mr. Moxon, in view of the numerous inquiries for first-hand information regarding the movements of the Koombana and the arrangements for searching for her, yesterday issued the following official statement concerning the whole matter:--
"Communication by cable is still open with Broome, Derby, and Wyndham, by land lines not north of Roebourne and Whim Creek. Port Hedland is still isolated, and no communications have been received by the public. Up to the present there is no further news of Koombana. She was last observed by the master of the Bullarra, two hours out from Port Hedland, steering in a north-easterly direction, a gale then blowing from E.N.E. This was Wednesday, March 20, as 1 p.m. At 4 p.m. on the same day the Bullarra, being 50 miles to the south of Port Hedland, and off Depuch Island, encountered a cyclone, and stood out to sea for 70 miles, reports regarding which have appeared in the Press. At noon on the 21st the Bullarra reports that the centre of the cyclone passed in her vicinity, and on the 23rd at 11.30 a.m. the Bullarra put into Cossack Roads in distress, where she has since been lying effecting temporary repairs.
"The following arrangements which have been made in conference with Captain Irvine, Chief Harbourmaster, are now in operation:--The secretary to the Premier advises us that the resident magistrate at Broome has been authorised by the Premier to send out local craft to search Rowley Shoals and the 80-Mile Beach towards Port Hedland. These craft no doubt left on Monday, or Tuesday morning. The Premier also asked the steamship Gorgon, which is supposed to have left Sourabaya last night (the 26th) for Broome, to deviate and examine the Rowley Shoals, and also for the Minderoo to accelerate her trip to Cossack to observe the Monte Bello Islands, thereafter to wait instructions at Cossack. The A.U.S.N. Company have cabled the Moira at Wyndham (apparently delayed waiting for cattle) to keep a sharp lookout at Lacepede Islands, Rowley Shoals, and neighbourhood, on her voyage to Fremantle direct. The Adelaide Steamship Company's s.s. Bullarra, working day and night to effect temporary repairs, left Cossack Roads for Port Hedland last night, and arrived off Port Hedland to-day. The captain advises that she is proceeding to Broome for water, etc., and will search for Koombana en route. Captain Upjohn is fully advised of the direction of cyclone winds, etc., furnished by Moira, and will search Turtle Islands and 'Bedout Island, which are on the usual track to Broome She left Port Hedland at 9 a.m. to-day When the searching boats report the public will be immediately notified through the Press. Conmsunications are now coming through from the neighbourhood of Port Hedland, via Broome and cable."
OFFICIAL TELEGRAMS.
GOVERNMENT ACTION.
...
Shortly after communication was established with Port Hedland, the Resident Magistrate telegraphed to the Premier as follows:--"Blow passed over Hedland; no lives lost or injury to property; only foreshore damaged and schooner Alto (under repairs at jetty) driven ashore. Pearling fleet in Creek safe."
...
The Resident Magistrate at Port Hedland telegraphed to the Premier last night as follows:--Thompson, of Pardoo, reports that he has lost his cutter, two aboriginals being drowned, and that Ward's lugger Vera is ashore at East Condon. All hands on Vera were saved. A constable has just left Port Hedland to patrol the beach from here to Wollal (Ninety Mile Beach)."
A SKIPPER'S OBSERVATIONS.
STATEMENT BY CAPTAIN RICHARDSON.
Than Captain Richardson, master of the V.A.S.N. liner Paroo, which has been for many years a regular trader between Fremantle and Singapore, and is now in port few master mariners have had a longer experience on the north-west coast of this State, and it is generally conceded that he has little to learn of the vagaries of the weather and tidal conditions up north. Yesterday afternoon Captain Richardson was interviewed by a representative of this journal, and in answer to queries he stated that he had been for over a quarter of a century on the coast in sail and steam. In 1885 he was chief officer, and was made full captain in 1890. During his trip down the coast this time he narrowly missed the cyclone which proved so disastrous to the Bullarra and other craft. "I left Port Hedland last Monday week" he said, "and called in at Balla Balla, where I took I took a lot of witnesses aboard for Cossack. We left Cossack on Tuesday afternoon, and had to anchor in the passage outside Onslow overnight, and did not make that port until the next day. When we were anchored in the passage there was a heavy swell coming in from the N.E., and I could tell there was some dirty weather about--in fact, it was apparently so near that I was seriously thinking of clearing round the Monte Bello Islands and leaving Onslow out of the itinerary altogether. However, I called in during the following morning, and got through without mishap. I have been lucky with several of these blows, in being either a day or so ahead or astern of some of them."
In connection with the cyclonic disturbances in the North-West Captain Richardson said that, with the "willy-willies" there was no hard-and-fast rule to govern their movements. They generally commenced, however, anywhere between S.E. and E., freshening from the E. to N.E., blowing hard from the latter point, which was practically the centre of the storm. "Occasionally," he continued, "they will work in the same direction as the hands of a watch-that is to say, they will come in from the N.W. hard, and swing round to die away in the S.W. At other times they will work from the N.E. back to the S., and into .the S.W. that is what the recent one did, so far as I can gather. But, as I say, there is no hard-and-fast rule It is a pretty sure indication that something untoward is on the [?tapis] when the glass is low, and the wind is dilly-dallying between the S. and E. If it goes to N.E., that is the most treacherous wind you can get at this time of the year. I don't think the cyclones are getting any worse than they have been in the past they are all bad."
Asked for his opinion as to what has happened to the missing liner Koombana, he said: "There are two things that Captain Allen would do--in fact, what any master would do under the circumstances. I take it that he was between Port Hedland and Bedout Island when he began to feel the cyclone, which, it would seem, was not at its worst at Hedland, and the wind would then be about E.N.E. That is. to all intents and purposes practically in his course for Broome. Is he going to go with the wind on his starboard bow and plug through it, or run to the N.W. with it on his quarter? The latter plan is scouted, by reason of the fact that we have not heard of him. If he tried to plug through it with the wind on his starboard bow, he would be steering to the N.E., and would have to look out for the Rowley Shoals, which are about 120 miles outside Port Hedland. With the wind anywhere between N. and E. he would make a frightful amount of leeway in addition to which the fearfully strong tides about Bedout Island would help him to sag away. It has to be taken into consideration that, leaving Port Hedland on a spring tide, by the time he got to Bedout he would be under the influence of the full ebb tide, which would carry him N. to N.W., all tending to make the leeway greater. No, I reckon that any search for the Koombana should be made, first, at the Shoals, as I understand full provision has been made for, and then along the Ninety-mile Beach. The only way he could get on to the beach would be for the machinery to break down when the wind was N.E. I think myself that, provided the vessel is not absolutely lost, she may be on the Shoals. If he got on there, it is impossible to say what might happen, but, unless something exceptional occurred, there would seem to be no hope for either ship or passengers. The Shoals are surrounded by coral reefs, with deep water outside. If the vessel was not battered to pieces, Captain Allen should have had time now to send a party ashore. It is hardly possible that everything was smashed up and all the boats rendered useless during the cyclone. Five days ought to be enough for them to make the coast somehow. In any case, it is sincerely to be hoped that some hopeful news will be received shortly."
Captain Richardson stated that the worst part masters of coastal boats had to traverse was between Onslow and Port Hedland where the treacherous nature of the tides and the absence of proper lighting made matters worse. He instanced the tide at Depuch Anchorage, which ran ordinarily at three or four knots an hour, and left to the imagination what it would be like in the recent blow.
A REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE.
The Adelaide S.S. Company have experienced trouble for two years running in the month of March, and in that connection a remarkable coincidence is noted. On March 26, 1911, the Company's ill-fated Queensland liner, Yongala, which left Mackay on a voyage to Townsville on March 23, was posted missing. Now, after twelve months, the Koombana is missing on exactly the same date, although it is to be hoped without the same sad consequences. The latitude in which the two ships were concerned in the cyclonic disturbances, although at opposite sides of the Commonwealth, is practically the same.
A FORTUNATE MATE.
Mr. Thomas, until the Koombana left port on her present trip, was third mate on that craft. He left the ship at Fremantle, in order to join the service of the Harbour Trust. Yesterday he remarked that he was lucky to have missed the experience of the recent cyclone. Asked if he had any opinion to express in regard to his late vessel, he replied: "No. I've no theories at all. She is a wonderfully good sea boat, and should be able to hold her own with the elements. She may have broken down, but I sincerely trust she has come to no more serious misfortune."
THE HURRICANE OF '97.
EXPERIENCE WITH THE ALBANY.
In view of the exceptional buffeting which the Bullarra and other vessels received during the cyclone, the shipping fraternity at Fremantle are recalling previous experiences in which Nature in her wildest moods as revealed in the terrifying storms of the north-west, has played havoc with man and mechanism. Among those reminiscences is one in which the old Albany, trading on the coast, braved the terrific cyclone of April 1, 1897. Mr C. R. Hunter, now chief engineer on the Government steamer Penguin, was at that time second engineer on the Albany, and yesterday in speaking of the occurrence, remarked that it was an experience which few men desired to pass through again.
"We had it very heavy that time, on the trip from Port Hedland to Cossack," he said, "and we steamed through the first portion of the storm into the centre, where all was calm so far as the wind was concerned, but where the water was simply a seething, boiling cauldron; then out again into the outer ring of the storm as it revolved, and so to safety. We got through our first dose of the weather pretty well, and when we got into the calm, thousands of birds and insects, many of which were new to us although we had been on the coast for very many years, sank exhausted on our decks. When they were approached by the crew the birds did not take the trouble to move; they were simply exhausted. When we ran into the storm again, they were blown down to the weather side and rammed by the wind into a compact heap--all dead. The Albany was an open "fiddley" ship, with only an iron grating around her funnel base, instead of being closed in. When we got our second dose we shipped huge seas .. which poured down into the engine room and flooded the place out. In less than no time there was a depth of 9ft. of sea water in the engine room, and the fires were out for over 24 hours. During that time we had relays at work bailing the ship out with canvas buckets, and eventually we were able to get the fires going again. Our deck fittings were all wrenched off, boats torn away, and skylights ripped off. In addition, our rudder carried away and to all intents and purposes we were only a derelict. However, we rigged up a jury rudder and steamed into Fremantle. That was a frightful storm, the like of which I never want to see again."
