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The Loss of The SS Waratah Draft Willhodson
The Loss of The SS Waratah Draft Willhodson
Naval experts and experienced navigators spent 88 days aboard the Sabine as she searched 14,000 miles of
oceanxxix. The south islands in the Indian Ocean were scoured and no debris found. A steamer, the SS
Tottenham
reportedly
observed the body
of what the crew
believed to be a
young girl, but
this observation
was never
provenxxx. In
December 1909,
the search efforts
for the Waratah
ceased and the
ship was officially
declared missing.
In the following
year, due to public
donations, the
family members
of the lost
passengers
commissioned the
SS Wakefield to
search for their
loved ones. After
months at sea, their search proved fruitless and the ship was forced to return for homexxxi. What remained a
mystery for even the most experienced of sea travellers was the fact that no debris had been found from such
a large vessel in one of the world's most populated shipping routes.
4
Figure 10: Search efforts for the Waratah 1909
The news of the loss of the Waratah shocked the young Australian
nation. Parliament sittings paused to acknowledge the loss of life,
Tasmanians Jack Calder and Alf Clarke were grieved for by the state
of Tasmaniaxxxii and the nations newspapers were flooded with
revelations about the ships tragic fate. In 1910, an official inquiry was
launched whereby, former crew and passengers were questioned about
the Waratah and their experiences on board. This inquiry would
continue the trend of bizarre stories that encompassed the great ship.
A Mr. Johnson was interviewed who had been a passenger on the
Waratah's maiden voyage and who was a close friend of the chief
engineer Mr
Hodder. Johnson
and Hodder had
met the night
before the
Waratah had left
Sydney in
1909xxxiii. The
men conversed
about their last
voyage through
the Backstairs
passage near
Adelaide. The
Waratah had
been signalled to
by the coastal lighthouse warning them that the ship was about to run
Many believed the SS Waratah to be cursed. In fact, five ships previously called Waratah had all met
tragic ends around the coastline of Australia.
6
Figure 12: Saloon passenger list 1908-including Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hodder and Mr. Skailes
7
An Australian gazette the ‘Newsletter’, while the inquiry was taking place had encouraged former crew
members to talk about their experiences on the Waratah. Six men came forward damningly stating that they
would rather die than spend another minute on the Waratahxl. They testified that the ship was a ‘floating
coffin’xli. On the ships, maiden voyage only six members of the entire crew were in fact crew members the
others being one voyage workers such as coal stockersxlii. These workers were dressed in Blue Anchor Line
uniforms and passed as crew members. They reported that the ship had rotting lifeboats and the unusual roll
was going to be the end of the shipxliii. Perhaps most damning was the report given by a junior engineer who
when embarking on the ship at Sydney, had run into Mr Hodder the chief engineer trying to flee the ship with
all his possessionsxliv. Yet, all this information resulted in a lack of evidence and the inquiry reached no
conclusive result.
The Newsletter also ran a story about a South African child seer who had experienced a similar dream to
Claude Sawyer the night the Waratah disappeared. The child claimed to have seen a great ship swallowed
by a gigantic wave.
Over the years, many theories as to what happened to the Waratah have been suggested from explosions,
rogue waves and supernatural theories. The most plausible of these explanations is the theory of the rogue
wave due to the strong Agulhas currents in the Indian Oceanxlv. Scientific knowledge is relatively limited on
rogue waves and rogue waves have only been taken seriously since the 1960'sxlvi. Although, no ship has been
known to have been swallowed by a rogue wavexlvii. If the Waratah had been swallowed by a rogue wave
aided by the ships uneven roll, then an explanation of why no debris was found could be provided. If a rogue
wave had swallowed the Waratah, it could have possibly sucked everything to the bottom of the ocean floor
wherever the ship lies.
South African marine archaeologist Emlyn Brown and Clive Cussler have spent 30 years searching for the SS
Waratah. Using the latest modern day technology and examining all possible accounts of the last sighting of
the ship. Emlyn Brown concluded painfully, in 2004 that he had “exhausted all options and had no idea
where to look”xlviii.
8
Remembering the SS Waratah
Fascinating tale I know. In terms of mysteries of the sea, the tale of the SS Waratah is equal to that of the
Mary Celestexlix. But is that all the Waratah will ever be, a fascinating tale? The loss of the Waratah has been
overshadowed by other major events of the time, especially the loss the RMS Titanic in 1912 and the
enormous death tolls of the First World War. Only has public awareness once again resurfaced for the
Waratah as a link to the lost MH370 flight, with information scattered across online blogs. Yet, tragically, the
facts about the disappearance of the SS Waratah are often masked by the mysterious and intriguing events
that encompass the ships two voyages. In a maritime mystery that stems beyond Australia, it is tragic that a
greater monument beyond the small plaque in Queenscliffe, Victoria has not been dedicated to the lives lost
on the SS Waratah, the Titanic of the South.
9
i Paul Ashton & Paula Hamilton, ‘Connecting with history: Australians and their past’ in Paul Ashton & Hilda Kean
(eds.), People and their Pasts (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 23.
ii Jane Lydon, ‘Driving by’: Visiting Australian colonial monuments, Journal of Social Archaeology, 5/1, (2005), 109.
iii Ashton and Hamilton 2009, 23.
iv Ann Curthoys and Ann McGrath, ‘How to write history that people want to read’ (University of NSW Press, 2009),
15.
v T Sheckles, ‘Australian Film’, in N Birns and R Mineer (ed.), A companion to Australian literature since 1900
(Boydell and Brewer, 2009).
vi B Kapferer, Legends of People Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka (New York:
Berghahn Books, 2011).
vii Janis Wilton, Museums and Memories: Remembering the Past in Local and Community Museums, Public History
Review, vol.12, (2006), 8.
viii Samuel Davey, Neil Gordon, Ian Holland, Mark Rutten & Jason Williams, Bayesian Methods in the Search for
MH370 (Singapore: Springer, 2016), 1.
xii Ibid.
xiii J Haynes, The Best Australian Yarns: And Other True Stories, (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2013).
xiv Flinders Ranges Research, ‘The Lost Ship’, (website), https://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/waratah.htm,
viewed 10th September 2018.
xv Ibid.
xvi Ibid.
xvii Ibid.
xviii Pauline Conolly, The mystery of the Waratah, Quadrant, 56/5, (2012), 85.
xix SS Waratah inquiry-evidence seaworthiness, D, 596, National Archives, Canberra.
xx Pauline Conolly 2012, 85.
xxi Ibid.
xxii P Taylor, Great Australian Tales, (Victoria: The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd, 2005), 216.
xxiii Ibid.
xxiv ‘The Mystery of the “Waratah”, The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, 12th March 1910, New South
Wales.
xli ‘Waratah inquiry Humbug’ The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, 2nd April 1910, Sydney,
(online database).
xlii ‘The Waratah Scandal, The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, 19th March 1910, Sydney,
(online database).
xliii Ibid.
xliv Ibid.
xlv Anonymous, Science and Technology: Monsters of the deep; Rogue waves, (The Economist, 2009), 94.
xlvi Ibid.
xlvii Ibid.
xlviii Pauline Conolly, 2012, 87.
xlix Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe, Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea (Dundurn, 2004), 77.
Bibliography
Primary:
The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘The Waratah Search Ship’, Wednesday 16th February 1910, 8.
‘The Waratah Scandal, The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, 19th March 1910,
Sydney, (online database).
‘Waratah inquiry Humbug’ The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, 2nd April
1910, Sydney, (online database).
Secondary:
Anonymous, Science and Technology: Monsters of the deep; Rogue waves, (The Economist, 2009),
94.
Ashton, P & Hamilton, P ‘Connecting with history: Australians and their past’ in Paul Ashton &
Hilda Kean (eds.), People and their Pasts (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 23.
Collingridge, V, The Story of Australia (Victoria: The Five Mile Press, 2008), 59.
Conolly, Pauline, The mystery of the Waratah, (Quadrant, 56/5, 2012), 85-87.
Curthoys, A and McGrath, A, ‘How to write history that people want to read’ (University of NSW
Press, 2009), 15.
Davey, S, Gordon, N, Holland, I, Rutten, M & Williams, J, Bayesian Methods in the Search for
MH370 (Singapore: Springer, 2016), 1.
Haynes J, The Best Australian Yarns: And Other True Stories, (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2013).
Ilbery, Peter, The Loss of the Waratah 1909, (Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society,
82/1, 1996).
Kapferer, B, Legends of People Myths of State: Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri
Lanka (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011).
Lydon, J, ‘Driving by’: Visiting Australian colonial monuments, Journal of Social Archaeology, 5/1,
(2005), 109.
McCluskie, T, Sharpe, M & Marriott, L, Titanic & Her Sisters Olympic and Britannic (London:
Parkgate Books, 1998, 63.
Sheckles, T, ‘Australian Film’, in N Birns and R Mineer (ed.), A companion to Australian literature
since 1900 (Boydell and Brewer, 2009).
Taylor P, Great Australian Tales, (Victoria: The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd, 2005), 216-217.
The Mystery of the “Waratah”, The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, 12th March 1910,
New South Wales.
Wilton, J, Museums and Memories: Remembering the Past in Local and Community Museums,
Public History Review, vol.12, (2006), 8.
Images
(Figure 1) Monument of Burke and Wills 1865, Charles Nettleton Charles 1880, State Library of
Victoria, (online database), accessed 7th October 2018.
(Figure 4) Launch of Lund’s Blue Anchor Liner Waratah, 1908, [image], (2015),
https://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/07/countdown-to-waratah-anniversary.html, accessed 7th
October 2018.
(Figure 5) SS Waratah at Port Adelaide 1909, State Library of South Australia (online database),
accessed 7th October 2018.
(Figure 6) Green, A Waratah 1909, State Library of Victoria, (online database), accessed 7th October
2018.
(Figure 7) Duffy, A ‘Waratah’, State Library of Western Australia, (online database), accessed 7th
October 2018.
(Figure 8) ‘The Search For The Missing Waratah’, The Daily Telegraph 1909, SS Waratah Inquiry,
Canberra, 1910, A5522, National Archives of Australia, (online database), accessed 7th October
2018.
(Figure 9) ‘Where is the Waratah?’ The Daily Telegraph 1909, SS Waratah Inquiry, Canberra, 1910,
A5522, National Archives of Australia, (online database), accessed 7th October 2018.
(Figure 10) ‘Recent Search For The Waratah’, The Daily Telegraph 1909, SS Waratah Inquiry,
Canberra, 1910, A5522, National Archives of Australia, (online database), accessed 7th October
2018.
(Figure 12) Lund’s Blue Anchor Line, T.S.S Waratah 1908, SS Waratah Inquiry, Canberra, 1910,
A5522, National Archives of Australia, (online database), accessed 7th October 2018.
(Figure 13) Waratah in heavy seas, [image], (2013), https://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/07/,
accessed 7th October 2018.
(Figure 14) SS Waratah plaque 2009, Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, (online database), accessed
7th October 2018.