STORY OF THE KASSA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 134, 3 December 1938, Page 25

STORY OF THE KASSA

The word mirage is usually associated with stories of the desert, lost travellers, and distant oases, and is seldom connected with happenings of ships. Nevertheless, mirages at sea, while uncommon, are not extremely rare, and instances of their occurrence are not difficult to trace. In the Arctic regions it , frequently happens that whale-fishers discover the proximity of other ships by means of the images seen elevated in the air, though the ships themselves may be below the horizon. Generally the images are inverted, which destroys any belief a watcher may place in the immediate nearness of a vessel.

The story of a mirage that was so deceptive that a ship's company thought it was a real, ship is contributed by Mr. D. McEwen, of 66 Bell Road, Lower Hutt, who served in the barque Helen for some years, whaling off the coast of Tasmania and Australia. She was a ship of 343 tons and is credited with making the last whaling trip from Hobart in 1898-99. The mirage concerned the finding of the Kassa, also a barque, after she had been almost wrecked by a storm.

One night during the winter of 1897 the Helen and the Kassa were both running before a gale some distance from Bruny Island, outside Hobart, when the Kassa suddenly veered away to the east. In doing so, it is presumed her ballast shifted, and the master was compelled to cut away her mizzen and mainmast. The Helen lost sight of her shortly afterwards and sailed towards Maria Island, where she sheltered until more favourable weather allowed her to proceed back to the whaling grounds. On the way to the grounds, as she was passing rocks called Blind Friars, both the master, Captain Folder, known as "Bottles," and the mate thought that they could see a ship in towards the coast. It was late afternoon shortly before sundown, the day had been calm, and the visibility was good. The ship, which appeared to be about one and a half to two miles away, looked to be in a bad state. Both her mizzen and mainmast were down, and she seemed to have ' received a severe buffeting from a heavy storm. The master asked Mr. McEwen, who was aloft, if he could see a vessel, and when he replied in the negative, the mate climbed aloft also. He likewise said that nothing was in sight. Both he and Mr. McEwen then went down to the deck, from where a barque was plainly visible. Boats were then lowered from the Helen and an extensive search was conducted in the sea

about, but the ship had mysteriously vanished and no trace remained to show that she had been near the place. The boats returned to the Helen, which proceeded to Research Island to prepare for whaling. Communication was established between Research island and Hobart, and the matter was reported.

After receiving the report of the master, the harbourmaster of Hobart, Captain Malcolm . McArthur, immediately dispatched a tug to the place named, but after a wide search nothing was found. The tug returned to Hobart, where the matter was regarded seriously by the authorities, who thought that false information had been supplied to them. However, shortly afterwards another search was organised, and eventually the Kassa was found, not where the Helen had seen her, but on the eastern side of Maria Island, a distance of eighty oxninety miles away. She had been drifting for days, and was towed back to Hobart a helpless derelict, and later refitted. Later explanations revealed that the Kassa, after parting company with the Helen, had not been anywhere near where the crew of the Helen thought they had seen her. What they had seen had been an extremely clear mirage of an object nearly one hundred miles away.

"It was a very vivid sight," remarked Mr. McEwen, 'and it was the only one of its kind that I saw in my fifteen years at sea."