PROBATE - CAPTAIN ALLEN.

The Advertiser, Adelaide, Wednesday 7 April, 1912.

COURT CASES.

KOOMBANA WRECK RECALLED

APPLICATIONS FOR PROBATE.

At the Full Court on Tuesday two applications 

for probate were heard which recalled the sad 

fate of the steamer Koombana.

Mr. S. H. Skipper made application on

behalf of Seaborne Robert Cottrell Allen

(executor) that probate be granted in the

estate of the late Thomas Maurice Allen,

master of the steamer Koombana, which

was lost some months ago off the north-

west coast of Western Australia. Mr. Skip

per asked for leave to swear that the death

of the testator had occurred between Port

Hedland and Broome, North-West Australia, 

on or since March 20 last.

The motion was supported by affidavits

by Peter Donaldson Haggart (secretary of

the Adelaide Steamship Company), Walter

Vernon Ray, Robert A. Smith, and Stoddart 

A. Poole. It was mentioned by Mr. Skipper 

that the Koombana left Port Hedland on 

March 20 and on the next morning she 

should have arrived at Broome, 204 miles 

distant. A few hours after the vessel's 

departure there was a terrific cyclone and 

the vessel had not been heard of since.

Although steamers had been sent out in

search of the missing vessel nothing had

since been heard of it, and he believed that

no wreckage had been found. Insurance

had been paid on the vessel as a total loss

The court granted the application.

Consideration was given to a similar 

application in regard to the will of John

Francis Coughlin, who was a steward on

the ill-fated vessel.

Mr.G. W. Dempster, who appeared for

Dennis Fitzgerald, the sole executor, said

the testator had left all his property to his

mother. Affidavits were put in from P. D. 

Haggart and Archibald H. Lewis, a clerk .

in the Perth office of the Adelaide Steamship 

Company. It was stated by the latter that 

he saw the deceased on the Koombana

when the vessel left Fremantle. Mr Dempster 

said the testator left only about £6 in South 

Australia, but he had between £1.000 and 

£1,500 invested in Western Australia.

The Chief Justice -That's a very good

beginning for a steward.

The case was eventually adjourned till a

date to be fixed to enable Mr. Dempster to

supply further evidence. The Chief Justice

said he thought it would be sufficient to

get an affidavit by someone who saw the

deceased on board the Koombana at Port

Hedland.

Captain Thomas Allen (courtesy Daily Telegraph)

courtesy Trove