THE MISSING WARATAH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9570, 17 August 1909, Page 5

THE MISSING WARATAH.

OWNERS SANGUINE AS TO VESSEL'S SAFETY. Received August 16, 10.30 p.m. . LONDON, August 16. The owners of the Waratah are quite sanguine as to the safety of the vessel, emphasising that other vessals have been upwards f a fortnight overdue owing to some mishap, but nevertheless have reached their destination. They consider that the Waratah is drifting on the ocean probably towards Australia.

Although , naturally the anxiety respecting the safetv of the Blue Anchor liner Waratah is increasing every day, still the opinion is very firmly held by nautical men that the vessel is merely drifting in a disabled condition, ai d will eventually be picked up and towed to her destination. "No news is very good news in a way," remarked Captain Cuthbert, the chief surveyor to the Sydney Marine Underwriters and Salvage Association, to a Sydney reporter a few days ago. "The fact that no wreckage has been iound is reassuring. A big ship like the Waratah if deprived of her full power would be driven far out of her course with the prevailing btrong winds, and necessarily some time must be sptnt in searching for her. No, I have no fear for the Waratah. She is all right, and she will turn up shortly, with her passengers in good , health and spirits." This opinion is chared by practically all the master mariners at present in this port 1 (says the Sydney "Morning Her | aid") No one has ventured the that disaster of a serious character has overtaken the Warai tah. ( The ship herself is quite new, I and a splendid specimen of troJern mari'ie cjnstruction. Every possible jgppliance has been introduced to i minimise risk at sea, and even had j she been in a serious collision her I many bulkheads would still keep her j afloat. Commander Ilbery, too, enjoys the confidence not only of his owners, but of the maritime community at large, and he is regarded as too cautious a general to take any risks. The Waratah, it is generally assumed, is drifting dinabJed, await; irg the arrival of assistance and I Commander Ilbery is standing as far j off land as possible. Quite a dozen I theories have been advanced by exI pert nautical men to account for the { disappearance of the Waratah, and many ways have been instanced in which even a twin screw steamship may become absolutely disabled. A new suggestion made way that the crowns of the furnaces may have collapsed. "Although it can hardly Ibe called a common accident, still many cases could be cited in which the furnace crowns have come down 1 on the boilers," remarked a master mariner with a long deepsea experience. "Mishaps of this nature," he explained, "are' usually the result of using muddy fresh water in the boilers. The effect of an accident of this description would be to cripple the movements of a steamship."

The Waikato hroko down in the Southern Ocean while on the voyage to Australia and New Zealand, broke her tail-shaft, and, as she as a single screw steamer, drifted helplessly till assistance arrived.