THE MISSING WARATAH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 64

THE MISSING WARATAH.

ANOTHER SEARCH TO BE MADE. J Still another week has passed by without

any tidings of the Lund liner Waratah. j She left Sydney for London, via South' African ports, and called at Durban. She sailed from Durban on July 26, and on the following day signalled " Good-bye " to the Clan M'lntyre, from the Bluff. On the 28th the Clan M'lntyre met with a hurricane, the sea rising in a wall-like formation, owing to the ocean current running agadnst the wind. Word has been received at Sydney that a passenger by the Waratah, on being interviewed at Capetown, said he left the steamer at Durban, not liking the way she behaved on the voyage from •Australia. He declares that when she rolled and pitched it was in a dead fashion and it took her a long time to recover hdrself. She had tremendous top hamper. He tried to induce others to leave the steamer. Against this must be put the statement of another passenger who landed at Durban. He scouted the idea that the Waratah had too much top hamper, and declares she behaved eplen- . -didly in bad weather. London underwriters are extremely pessimistic, but there are I still some prepared to reinsure at 90 guineas premium per £100, and numerous offers j from Australia to write the risk at that rate have reached London. > t In view of the anxiety felt about the l fate -of the Waratah, the Federal Govern- 1 ment has arranged for a steamer to leave Capetown about Thursday of this week to , make a thorough search. The cost- -.* estimated at about £6000 for - a threemonths' cruise — will be borne in equal , shares by the Federal Government, n the -Owners, the underwriters, and by public subscription. In response to a cablegram from Mr G. I H. Scales, of Wellington, the charterer of the steamer Clan M'lntyre, Capt. A. Weir, of that steamer, has sent the following cablegram : — " For the first day, July 27, the weather was fine, the vessel 6teamisg nearly 300 miles. On the 28th the conditions changed to such an extent as to reduce the distance travelled to about 150 miles, and on the following day a west-south-west hurricane blew with exceptional force, with enormous bead seas (through which the steamer w«6 , only able to make a speed of one knot an ' hour). The .jrale somewhat abated on the fourth day, the Clan Macintyae's ■ speed averaging seven knots, and on the fifth day normal weather conditions obtained." I The Clan Macintyre sailed from Durban on the evening of Monday, the 26th Judy, the same day as the Wa-ratah. She would l be somewhat heavily laden with bar cargo and coal, as enough of the latter would have been taken on board to last for the remainder .of the passage to London. The -fact thaiT a hurricane came on the next day is a very ominous sign m connection with the fate of tlhe Waratab. Mr Harvey, of Gisborne, whose wife, son, and sister-in-law left Sydney by the Waratah, bound for Capetown, reoedved a letter posted at Durban, from his wife on •Wednesday morning, in which' she stales they had a veo-y -fine passage to Durban, and she speaks very highly of the steamer. Many of the passengers, the letter mentions, were bound for Johannesburg, and would disembark at Durban.