ONE OF HER BOATS PICKED UP.

Kalgoorlie Miner, Saturday 6 April, 1912.

LATER NEWS OF THE KOOMBANA

ONE OF HER BOATS

PICKED UP

BY THE STEAMER BULLARRA

NEAR BEDOUT ISLAND.

Perth, April 5.

Telegraphic messages, which came

to hand to-day, supplied further evidence 

that the steamer Koombana, apparently 

with all hands, sank somewhere in the 

vicinity of Bedout Island.

On arrival at Cossack today Captain 

Upjohn, of the Bullarra, telegraphed 

Mr. W. E. Moxon, manager of the 

Adelaide Steamship Co., reporting 

that he had picked up about twenty 

miles to the north of Bedout Island 

one of the Koombana's boats, with the 

company's crest on it, and a quantity 

of smaller wreckage. He also reported 

that he had come across a quantity of 

oily and greasy water, and had secured 

some of it, which he would bring south

for analysis. It is supposed that the oil 

might have come from the engine-rooms

of the ill-fated steamer, and that it might 

indicate the locality of the disaster.

The discovery of oil and greasy water was invariably a localising sign of a steamer wreck beneath that spot. Bearing in mind that the Bullarra searched this location more than a week after the disaster, how was it possible that wreckage and a boat had not drifted away from the oil marker unless the oil marker was at a site some distance away? Captain Upjohn was not clear in his report that the oil and wreckage were found in exactly the same spot. Clarity on this issue is fundamental to understanding the possible site of the Koombana wreck. If the boat and wreckage had been found close to the oil, this might suggest that the items had risen from the wreck to the surface shortly before Bullarra arrived on the scene - due to the wreck shifting?

courtesy Google Earth

The Bullarra has been ordered to

proceed to Onslow to meet the

Moonta for coal, thence she will

come direct to Fremantle for repairs.

She is due to reach the port on next

Friday.

The Bullarra, having discontinued

her search, the only boat now out

looking for traces of the Koombana

is the steamer Una, which was

chartered by the Government.

The name of H. Martel has been

added to the list of steerage 

passengers by the Koombana for 

Derby, Captain Ward, of the Moira,

which arrived at Robb's Jetty early

this morning from the Nor'-West,

reported that he had seen no sign

of any wreckage on his way down
the coast.

Fix this texthe coast.

courtesy Trove