THE WARATAH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 500, 28 October 1909, Page 4

THE WARATAH.

Mr R. H. Shepherd, a pilot from Durban, who is spending a holiday in Adelaide, in an interview granted to an Age representative in that city, made some very interesting comments in regard to the missing steamer Warntah. He said “I know the Durban coast and the currents well, and have had a long acquaintance with Captain Ilbery, of the Waratah. It has been taken for granted by some people that the Waratah has capsized. Many remarks have been passed to the effect that the vessel was unstable and unseaworthy. She went out of Durban on her last trip drawing 28ft ijiu, and, speaking as a practical seaman, I say that no question of her stability entered anyone’s bead there. I boarded the vessel five minutes before she sailed out ot the harbour to say goodbye to the captain. There was no coal above the deck. The coaling foreman at Durban was loud in bis complaints because he was obliged to load his coal all down one hatchway. This points to the fact that all the coal bunkers were full, which would make the vessel more stable. Much has been said about the superstructure of the vessel being top-heavy, but to the main portion of the steamer it bore about the same relation as a hat box would to a railway porter’s trolley. I handled the vessel on her first visit to Durban. There was a high gale of wind blowing, and the ship drew practically the same draught as when she left on the last occasion, yet she showed no signs of instability.” Mr Shepherd is convinced that the Waratah is drifting towards the island of St Paul, or perhaps, towards the Crozets, out of the track of vessels.

It is suggested that the Waratah struck some floating dynamite, and was either sunk or disabled. A quantity of- the explosive was seen floating off the South African coast a few weeks ago. A huge shipment of dynamite was jettisoned from the steamer Borkum on July roth, about 1600 miles from Durban, owing to a fire.