The Wimmera Disaster.

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 57, 4 September 1926, Page 28

The Wimmera Disaster.

A week after the Cumberland had been mined, the Wolf claimed one of the richest prizes of her cruise. This was the steamer Matunga, on. her way from Sydney to Kabaul with a large number of passengers and a rich cargo. A wireless message from the Matunga to the vessel's agents in Kabaul was intercepted by the raider, which awaited, the arrival of the merchantman. The Matunga shared the same fate as the Wairuna, being looted and sunk. Of the more seriou3 casualties resulting from the depredations of the Wolf, the case of tha Huddart Parker steamer Wimmera was of chief concern among . Aucklanders. The vessel left Auckland on 26th June, 1917, for Sydney,' and struck' a mine before leaving ■the: New' Zealand coast. So violent was the. .explosion that the steamer wont down Within ten minutes of striking, the' captain and a number of passengers and crew being drowned. Another instance was provided by the Commonwealth and Dominion Line steamer-Port Kcmbla, which was mined about 25 miles off Cape Farewell. _ j*jll the crew were saved, but the ship, with her cargo, valued at £500,000, went to-the'bottom. Brief mention may also be _ made of the barque Handa Isle, which struck a mine and sank, and of the Sydney owned collier Undalla, which is believed to have fouled one of the mines laid by the Wolf.