HAS SHE FOUNDERED?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 174, 16 August 1909, Page 2

HAS SHE FOUNDERED?

THE MISSING WARATAU. UGLY REPORTS. By Cable.—Press Association.-Copyright Capetown, August 13. Tim liner lusizwa rep:iri, ,:.iiiiig passed four supposed bodie.-> 01, i,..„u-e wver, on tlii' east cuust ul i..p Colony. It Is also reported tmit .-...» uie oeing washed up the Great Fisn itivcr, further, south.

London, August 13. Owing to the news brought to Capetown by the InsuHva, tlie reinsurances of the Waratah rose to 110 guineas. A steamer lias gone to Uasliee River to search.

VIOLENT GALES. Sydney, August 14. The Marere, which was in the vicinity of the Cape about the same time that the Waratah would be there, reports that gales raged with great violence. A mountainous sea swept the Marcre's deck.

WHAT A CAPTAIN SAW. HUMAN BODIES FLOATING ABOUT. Received August 15, 5,5 p.m. Capetown, August 14. The reason for the fnshnva's not investigating the supposed corpses was the roughness of the weather and its heavy deck cargo. The captain of tii • fiiHixwa, interviewed, said he wm satisfied thai .what he saw were ha.iinn bodies. Two were dressed in white and Wo in dark clothing. He thought i undesirable to pick up the bodies on nr- -unt of there being lady passengers aboard.

THE REPORT UNFOUNDED. ' PIECES OF DEAD WHALE. RESEMBLING HUMAN BODIES. . ' Received August 15, 5.5 p.m. London. August 14. It is officially stated that the rumor that bodies were seen off Great Pish River is unfounded.

Renter reports that vessels which arrived at East London saw pieces of whalf yesterday off the Bashee River, followed by flocks of birds.

The tug sent from East London in search of the supposed eorpses off Bashee lias .returned. The master reports thai (iIT Mazeppa May lie observed birds over floating objects resembling liuiiiiin bodies. Investigation, however, revealed that they were dead fish. Otherwise there na< nothing to he seen. The polite are patrolling the coast.

TUGS' FRUITLESS SEARCH. DECEPTIVE FLOATING OBJECTS. Received August 111, 1.10 a.m. London. August 10. The East London tugs' seurch was fruitless, except for seeing at Mazeppa Hay floating objects. These were most deceptive. In appearance they resembled the bodies of women, attired in dress-ing-gowns, and which investigation proved to be dead skates.

PASSENGERS WHO MISSED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland,' August 14. A private cable states that Mrs. F. Norris and Mr. G. Norris, who booked at Napier for Capetown and were passengers by the missing steamer Waratab, left the vessel at Durban.

THE VESSEL DESCRIBED. The Waratah was launched last year at Glasgow. Following are her. principal dimensions:— l Length, 405 ft.; beam, 511 ft. 2in.; depth, 35ft.; 9339 tons register. The vessel, Homeward bound from Australia, left Port Xatal on July 20th for Capetown. She had 300 passengers and a big cargo.

THE CAPTAIN: OF THE WARATAII. AN UNUSUAL CAREER. Commander Ilbery. of the Waratah, Is the commodore of the Blue Anchor fleet, and is one of the most popular and trusted mariners engaged in the Australian trade. His' personal friends number hundreds in all the ports of the Commonwealth, and he enjoys the complete confidence of his owners. Captain H. C. Kent, writing in reference to Commander Tlbcry, says:—"The 'Waratah is commanded by one who has (with one' exception) made more trips to Austral'a from the Old Country than any commander. He certainly pflwscs*<>»' the record of having been half a century in one employ, and commanded thirteen of their steamships, one after the otho:. In addition to one Bailing ship in the| China trade. The, first was the Dalcomyn, of 2(100 tons, and the last is the VVaratah. He is a splendid specimen of the 'ancient mariner' class, and thoroughly enjoys a yarn about the old sailing ship days, but can tell no tales of shipwreck or disaster, as his' has been a career (with one slight exception) of smooth sailing throughout. He points with pride to the long list of steamships lie Ims commanded, and claims to be the oldest siea captain afloat. "After he had been eight Tears in the ship Mikado the Lund Line'built a ship called the Serapts, and Captain Ilbery sailed her until the steamer Dalcomyn was launched. Then he took charge 'of her lVthc Rydner trade. This was the beginning of the Blue Anchor Line, and Wptnin Ilbery took eayM following steamer as she came off the stocks; The \coman, Huh'hoek. Riverina. OnWa. Wooloomooloo, Warignll, Warrnamuool, Naming, Commonwealth. Geclonn and Waratah, When one considers that this popular skipper has commanded each one of these vessels between the years 1880 and .1000, and that he Ims been 'at sea- since the year 18.J7, and never had an accident worthy of the name, we must allow that his career as a seainpn is unique. "Fifty-two years' at sea and thirty-six years' m command without disaster'is a record) to be proud of, and one cannot speak or write of Captain Ilbery without feeling that he has even- right to N; looked upon as a mariner who has done well in upholding the dignity of the British flag, and left bis marie on the : annals of notable British mariners. 'The position in which the War'aiah ! was last known to be is one fraught , with many dangers, particularly one of , collision with a sunken wreck, in which case all a mariner's skill would not save the good ship from disaster.' One cnui-l I point to long li*ts of ships that have disappeared, no one knows where Then on the other hand, wo must rcmeml er' that a very small fracture in the em-he-room will throw even a leviathan he,., ess upon the waves. Many ships have been found after being lost and ..II hope most sincerely t i, ilt tlio' Waratah will be one of thpii,."—X 0 „- Zeal.nul ■L nut's.