SEA MYSTERY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 349, 9 May 1928, Page 9

SEA MYSTERY

Fate of the Waratah LOSS RECALLED OWNER DIES IN LONDON (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian P.A.—United Service) LONDON, Tuesday. The death has occurred at the age of 91 of the shipowner, Mr. Lund, who owned the ill-fated ship the Waratah ■which was lost off South Africa in 1909.

Ihe sea has never given up the secret ot the loss oi the Waratah. A new ship, she left Sydney on her second voyage Home on June 26, 1909, and, calling at other Australian ports, left Adelaide on July <. On the voyage to Durban, she was beset by heavy seas and wild storms, but her captain, Commander Ilberv, considered, and remarked at the time, that she behaved splendidly. The Waratah reached Durban on Sunday, July 25, and departed on July 26 for Capetown. At 6 o'clock on the morning of the next day, she was signalled by the Clan Mclntyre, from New Zealand, via Durban, to London, and greetings were exchanged. The Clan steamer was then abeam of Cape Hermes. The Waratah was never heard of again. A Board of Trade inquiry, which lasted la days, found on February 22, 1911, that the vesse l probably capsized in the gale of July 28, 1909. On that day cyclonic tempest swept the coast of South Africa. During the whole day the wind blew from W.S.W. to W. in hurricane force. Tremendous seas were running in wall-like formation. The gale moderated next day. The Waratah’s company when she left Sydney numbered 115, 15 officers and engineers, two apprentices, and 98 stewards, cooks and deck and engine room crew. She had 92 passengers on board when she left Durban, 23 from Australian ports, and the rest from Durban. There were seven New Zealanders on board.