SS Waratah

The Waratah was a 500 foot steamer. In July 1909, the ship, en route from Durban to Capetown, disappeared with over 200 passengers aboard.

The Waratah 1908 - 29 July 1909

The Waratah has been described as "Australia's Titanic". It was a luxury steamer, built by Barclay Curle & Co in Whiteinch, Glasgow (Scotland) and destined to be the flagship of the Blue Anchor Line. It was named after the emblem flower of New South Wales, Australia. The ship was supposed to serve as a passenger and cargo liner to Australia. It boasted 100 first class cabins, eight state rooms and a salon whose panels depicted the Waratah flower.

On 5 November 1908, the Waratah set sail on her maiden voyage from England, with 689 passengers in third class accommodation and 67 First class passengers on the luxurious upper decks. Her captain was Joshua E. Ilbery, a sailor with 30 years navigational experience. The ship experienced no problems on her journey to Australia.

On 27 April 1909, the Waratah set out from Australia on her return maiden voyage. She was bound for the South African ports of Durban and Cape Town and was then to return to London. The Waratah reached Durban, where one passenger, Claude Sawyer, an engineer and experienced sea traveller, got off the ship and sent the following cable to his wife in London:

"Thought Waratah top-heavy, landed Durban"

The Waratah left Durban on 26 July 1909. On 27 July 1909, it passed the Clan McIntyre. On the evening of the same day, the Union Castle Liner Guelph passed a ship and exchanged light signals, but was only able to identify the last three letters of her name (T-A-H).

The Waratah was expected to reach Capetown on 29 July 1909. It never reached its destination, and no trace of the ship was ever found.

The Search for the Waratah

Initially, it was believed that the Waratah was still adrift. The Royal Navy deployed the cruisers HMS Pandora and HMS Forte (and later the HMS Hermes) to search for the Waratah. On 10 August 1909, a cable from South Africa reached Australia, reading

"Blue Anchor vessel sighted a considerable distance out. Slowly making for Durban. Could be the Waratah."

It is reported that the speaker of the Australian Parliament halted proceedings to read out the cable. In Adelaide, the town bells were rung. However, it turned out that the ship in question had not been the Waratah.

In September 1909, the Blue Anchor Line chartered the Union Castle ship Sabine to search for the Waratah. The search of the Sabine covered 14,000 miles, but yielded no result.

In 1910, relatives of the Waratah passengers chartered the Wakefield and conducted a search for three months, which again proved unsuccessful.

An official enquiry into the fate of the Waratah was held at London in December 1910. Among others, Claude Sawyer gave testimony on that occasion.

In 1925, Lt. D. J. Roos of the South African Air Force, reported that he had spotted a wreck while he was flying over the Transkei coast. It was his opinion that this was the wreck of the Waratah.

In 1977, a wreck was located off the Xora River Mouth. Several investigations into this wreck, in particular under the leadership of Emlyn Brown took place. It is however widely believed today that the wreck off the Xora River Mouth was that of one of many ships which had fallen victim to German U Boats during the Second World War. It has proven particularly difficult to explain why the Waratah should be found so far to the North of her estimated position. Further attempts to locate the Waratah took place in 1991, 1995 and 1997.

In 1999, reports reached the newspapers that the Waratah had been found 10 km off the Eastern coast of South Africa (Addley). A sonar scan conducted by Emlyn Brown's team had indeed located a wreck whose outline seemed to match that of the Waratah. In 2001 however, a closer inspection revealed differences between the Waratah and the wreck. It appears that the team had in fact found the Nailsea Meadow, a ship which had been sunk in the Second World War.

In 2004, Emlyn Brown, who had spent 22 years looking for the Waratah declared that he was giving up the search: "I've exhausted all the options. I now have no idea where to look".

Theories

The most popular theory advanced to explain the disappearance of the Waratah appears to be that of a 'freak wave' in the ocean off the South African coast. This theory was given credibility through a paper by Professor Mallory of the University of Cape Town (1973) which suggested that waves of up to 20 meters in height did occur between Richards Bay and Cape Agulhas.

Several supernatural theories were also put forward to explain the disappearance of the Waratah. Claude Sawyer reported to the London inquiry that he had seen on three occasions the vision of a man "with a long sword in a peculiar dress. He was holding the sword in his right hand and it was covered in blood." This vision was one of the reasons why he decided not to continue the voyage on the Waratah.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle held a seance to establish how the Waratah could have vanished.

Further reading

http://www.numa.net/press/011701.html

Esther Addley, "Sea yields our Titanic's Resting Place", The Weekend Australian, 17 July 1999

Sue Blane, "The Week in Quotes", Financial Times, 6 May 2004

Alan Laing, "Shipwreck expert abandons hunt for Clyde liner", The Herald, 4 May 2004

Tom Martin, "Almost a century after she vanished, scientists could now be on the verge of solving riddle of SS Waratah's last voyage", Sunday Express, 25 April 2004