["The Missing Koombana", Broome Chronicle (WA), Saturday 06 April 1912]
The Missing Koombana
Search by the Gorgon and Minderoo.
Wreckage Found.
All Hope Abandoned.
Broome Mourns Her Loss.
The suspense which has been occasioned by the long absence of the Koombana has been partly relieved by the finding, first by the Gorgon and then by the Minderoo, of wreckage, which points almost conclusively to the fact that Koombana has met with disaster. The picking up of a state cabin door and a settee may not in itself point to her destruction, but when the information is followed with the news that a great quantity of wreckage has been found, and that a large number of birds are following the wreckage, there can be no other conclusion to arrive at than that another mysterious tale of the sea has been added to the long list of maritime disasters on the Australian coast. Although it may never be known the exact cause of the disaster, unlike the Waratah it has been practically proved that she must have gone down on the night of the 20th, in the same storm which struck the Bullarra with such force, and when the location of the wreck is ultimately found, as it is thought is some day will be in workable water, the mystery of the cause of the disaster which has shrowded it up to the present may not till then be known. Our telegraphic information, gleaned from all sources, completes a tale of the sea. The news as it slowly filtered through from various sources during the week, caused quite a gloom in the town, and the utmost feeling of sympathy is expressed on all sides with the relatives and friends of those on board, and at the loss Broome has sustained in the many valuable lives that are now practically certain to have perished. The first information after the Koombana was posted missing was that she was safe at Derby, but that was soon dispelled, and the first sad news of the finding of wreckage stupefied the residents at the prospect of an awful tragedy at sea.
