[Barker, Malcolm, The search for s.s. Koombana: seminar hosted by Maritime Archeological Association of Western Australia, Fremantle, 1983. Transcript: State Library of Western Australia, OH1241, see comments by Scott Sledge]
Scott Sledge said:
"Some accounts would have it there was no trace of the Koombana ever found. But don't believe it when you've got thirteen instances of wreckage being found. There was never a body found. There was never an intact lifeboat. There was never indication as to what had gone wrong."
"...one of the old Captains up that way - he was with the Harbour Trust during the time of the investigation - had been an officer on the Koombana fifteen months previously said that when he first heard about the panelled door that the Gorgon found he said "You'll find the wreckage further to the west and further out to sea. It would float in on the set of the current that always follows a big blow in the north-west."
"So we are talking about a fairly deep water wreck. Would also point out that at the time of the searching, say about a fortnight afterwards, the water was said to have been like pea soup. So you wouldn't have been able to see very far underneath the surface. However the Koombana even if it was sitting upright on its keel on the bottom, and had its mast and funnel wiped off would still have risen to about 40 feet off the bottom. So that would have been our minimum depth - our absolute minimum. And if it were on its side it would be 48 feet. So it is not going to be found in shallow water and it is very likely to be found in deeper water."
