THE WARATAH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 976, 21 February 1910, Page 5

THE WARATAH.

SEARCH STEAMER LEAVES ON 22nd. MELBOURNE, February 19.

The Premier of Natal (Mr Moor) has cabled to Mr Murray (Victorian Premier) that the steamer Wakefield will leave Durban on the morning of the 22nd to search for the Waratah, He aids that Lieutenant Seymour and the -captain of the Waktheld, after consultation, consider that owing to Marion and Prince Edward Islands having lately been frequently visited,, and Seeing that the K<;rsjuelen Islands are permanently inhabited, the time occup : ed in searching them would be better occupied invisiting M'Donaid and Heard Islands. From there the search could be continued according to in&tructions.

A SEAMAN'S STORY,

WERE THEY BODIES? By Telegraph—Press Association. WESTPORT, February 19. A statement has been made to the Press Association's agent by a member of the crew remaining in Westport of the s.s. Tottenham, which recently called at W export for bunker coal, and has now gone to Ocan Island. He says:—"The Tottenham left Durban about ten days after the Waratab, and steamed over the Bame course bound to Antwerp. . While off East London at noon one day an apprentice at the wheel reported to tha third officer in charge of the bridge that he saw float past the ship the body of a little girl clothed in a red dressing gown. The third officer looked round, but did not see the body. He, however, went down to the chartroom where the captain and second officer were laying off the ship's position, and reported that some bodies had just floated past the vessel. The captain and second officer rushed up on to the bridge, and the second officer stated he saw something white floating on the water. The captain gave the order, 'hard a starboard,' and the vessel steamed round in the. vicinity of|the floating objects, but did not catch sight of the body previously reported as peine: fully dressed. However, they saw what appeared to be portions of human bodies. The weather being so heavy, the steamer was unable to pick up the floating objects to make a thorough examination, so , proceeded on her voyage. On arrival off the Cape of Good Hope, the sea being so fearfully high, the master ■' deemed it advisable to turn back and go to Simon's Bay. Arriving there, a boat put off from H.M.S. Forte with an officer aboard to make enquiries whether the Tottenham had seen anything of the Waratab, and reply waß given by, the chief officer that there was nothing to report that evening. The second officer, singalling with a Morse lamp, enquired of H.M.S. Forte if she had got any further news of the Waratah, and was informed that the s.s. Director and s.s. Incozwa, which had left Durban about the same time as the Tottenham, had reported seeing bodies floating about off East London, and that the man-o'-war had orders to proceed to the vicinity,, and ascertain what these bodies were It will be remembered that the Forte afterwards reported that she had s«aen some large fish floating, and that it was surmised that these were what the captains of the Director and Incozwa had seen, "but," emphatically said the man now [in Westport, "the chief and second officers of the Tottenham stated to me and others on board the ship that they saw the body of a little girl reported by the apprentice, ana could stake their ilves that it was that of a gin ten or twelve years of age, and not fish." The second engineer also stated (continued the speaker) that he saw the body of a woman, also the trunk of another body close to the ship. The seas were running mountains high when the Tottenham was proceeding on her voyage, and the conclusion come to aboard the ship, was that the Waratah took a head sea, and before she had time td recover, took another, which stove in the forehatch, and caused her to founder, g