BALANCING CHANCES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 616, 20 September 1909, Page 9

BALANCING CHANCES.

IS THE WABATAH. AFLOAT.: ' ■;'' 'TV EXPERIENCED CAPTAIN THINKS NOT, (til TclcEmnli-Bpcolal Correspondent.! , • ■■■ .ChHstchurch, September 18,'.>S A vpteran filupmaster, wbofer many yearn ;v>has traded between Enftlaml and' Now ijoaknd. , ■»■,'■■ ": pxpre3sed to a "Press" reporter Inst 'night hie -■ ■- firm conviction that tho Waratah' waa not-i.V alloat,. bho was, ho said, almost n Vand, now' Vvessel'of the most modern , typo, and it was : extremely improbable; that both onginos'' or' 'iv' both Bcrcwe hud broken down. Even if tho. -V-..: ruddtjr and Bteoring-coar had boon broken op.'.« •: Waratah could still havo bwn takon into port. One of tho Norddoutsoher ! <•>' iiloyds fast Transatlantic mail eteamors last , «T year broke her ruddor several hundrod miles •}* •W rrom land, but eho was steored'.by means ' 4 of her, twin screws, and mado.bor usual calle ' ■ v ; at Queenftpwn and Cherbourg on her. way to' *~ Bremen, ond was not a great deal bouiud ; v time. ■ ■ j ' ■ '■ . . . . . '.^ .'Assuming that. the. Waratah hud ' brofea' ; ' V> '■■ down, tho ' set" of tho current from. Durban ; ',v. would' preclude her jlrifting very: far from'.' :-. the African coast. Thoro was a ivoll-dofined.- vcurrent of about ono and a half to two knots -.V an hourddownn n the coast past Durban, round- "V we Agulhas Bauli, nnd thenco in a north- ■• f x easterly direction into ■ the Atlantic,': and,-'if' the -v ' Wtmrtan had boon ■ disabled, sho would have W drifted in this current, in sight of the coast, h\ and m tho track or tho many, steamers trad- iyv ing round' the bouth African coast. Assumina ■'■'.&■''' Usain that sho had drifted' ronnd pnsttho v Upe of Good Hope, the current wonld hava' W Mn*L «7 » .a north-westerly direction; and' >v ! etill in the: fairway ot tho':trado routes ; and--v-V' stcamor "tocks." ■ Tho captain stated that ' \'t< w,if " ot , n the popular, idoa that the ic Waavtdh hod drifted to tho southward-and ' eashvard, ns, to do so, sho would havo had to •:•- Be <s hundred miles or moro from tho'coast to- -.i got into tho current which sot to tho south- '' ward. The Waikatp,' who,, sho" broke nor ' shaft, was nt least two or threo days':steamisg,' time to tho south-eaiit of Capo ' 8 ■>»,!" Ho bolierod that, shortly ■: after leaving Du'r- ',r ■ ■ ban, flit[Waratah -'tamed turtlo'"in tho night- >' boon found, he rtivted that most of tho ship's''-i'. company would bo bolow at tho tims, and, to --V tho wojftcr was very bad,.eyorythingmovablov.;; 1 about the deete;'would ' bo srourelr.;-\ B hed ' to v-% ■ prevent its goHing adrift. Purthormoro, the-'-j; fathoms boing tho depth to within threo or V' wZ f ,l ! JWKI-V-H.tho «hip sank .-I' Irlffim r iC wouU , l n< , <lo«W gradually, <i. : vFvi u p ' nd ''"W , liT contents,, but if. ,i # bottom was rand or.:silt she would bo on'' ?' ■ ifJL^ M, i an & ftt « '*¥ tholatcst" I ft 1, l n the mining": as:the■'•>'. iWaroteh. had gone. was fl'sood manT < /•- yet. oro, andl not tho slightest traco 'of ho? f? wag cvnr touuq.-v ■ •,■ ■ ■■,■■■■'• =- . ■(~ N i.-*