The Argus, Melbourne, 25 March, 1912
DESTRUCTIVE TYPHOON.
NORTH-WEST COAST DISASTER.
VESSELS SMASHED TO PIECES.
MEN DROWNED OR MISSING.
PERTH, Sunday.—Details of a terrific
gale on the north-west coast, causing great
damage and loss of life, were received in
Perth yesterday. The gale commenced on
Wednesday night, and continued till Friday
morning, during which time 9 in. of rain fell.
The wind-swept area extended at least from
Cossack inland to Marble Bar a distance of
about 170 miles as the crow flies.
Telegrams from the scene of the disaster
show that the most serious damage was
done at Balla Balla, 30 miles east of Cossack,
where one ship was broken to pieces
and another is ashore. One lighter was
smashed to pieces, and another sunk. At
least a dozen lives have been lost, for four
bodies have already been recovered, while
eight men are still missing from the crew
of the ship Crown of England, the vessel
which was smashed to pieces.
(The steamer Bullarra sailed from Port
(The steamer Bullarra sailed from Port
Hedland for Cossack via Balla Balla on
March 20, at 11 a.m., and encountered
a strong north-east gale on leaving the
harbor. By 2 p.m. (22 n miles from Balla
Balla) the gale had increased to a hurricane,
and continued till 1 p.m. next day. The
barometer had fallen to 27.70 at this
stage, and the hurricane had reached
its strongest - Advertiser, Adelaide, 26
March, 1912)
(Bullarra steered a course to Balla Balla,
where she had to pick up some passengers,
and the Koombana went towards Broome.
When about 22 miles from Balla Balla very
bad weather was struck - West Australian
2 April, 1912)
The first news of the disaster was contained
in the following telegram, received
by the commissioner of police from Con-
stable Brown, of Whim Creek :—
"Reported 2 o'clock this morning by telephone
from Balla Balla that on the night of 20th a
terrific storm occurred. Ship Crown of England
broke in pieces ; eight men are missing from her.
Ship Concordia is on beach, intact, and there is
fair chance or refloating her. Lighter Steady
standing high and dry on Dupuch Island unbroken.
Lighter Clyde sunk in shallow water. Lighter
Enterprise was broken to pieces. Bodies of
Thomas J. Hill, hotel keeper, of Whim Creek,
Edward P. Maginnis, wharfinger, also those of
first mate and steward of Crown of England, have
been recovered. A Greek was also drowned, and
as far as can be ascertained seven or eight men
still missing. Others are on Dupuch Island. Have
despatched Cossack cutter to Dupuch Island, with
Constables Cusack and Gardiner, and Dr.
Shelmardine, with instructions to search for survivors."
Ship Concordia is on beach, intact, and there is
fair chance or refloating her. Lighter Steady
standing high and dry on Dupuch Island unbroken.
Lighter Clyde sunk in shallow water. Lighter
Enterprise was broken to pieces. Bodies of
Thomas J. Hill, hotel keeper, of Whim Creek,
Edward P. Maginnis, wharfinger, also those of
first mate and steward of Crown of England, have
been recovered. A Greek was also drowned, and
as far as can be ascertained seven or eight men
still missing. Others are on Dupuch Island. Have
despatched Cossack cutter to Dupuch Island, with
Constables Cusack and Gardiner, and Dr.
Shelmardine, with instructions to search for survivors."
Some time later the postmaster at Whim
Creek telegraphed :—
"Eight men still missing from crew of Crown
of England. All other passengers and crew are
supposed to be safe on Dupuch Island. Pearling
fleet, in charge of Richard Thorley, sheltered at
Balla Balla Creek. Captain Erickson, of Concordia,
and Messrs. Thorley and McDonald, searched
yesterday in heavy seas, and further search
will be made to-day."
The Dupuch anchorage is a dangerous
and treacherous spot, dreaded by every
shipmaster who is obliged to use it. It
lies between the mainland and Dupuch
Island, the narrowness of the waterway
causing the tide to race furiously backwards
and forwards. Though it offers very adequate
protection against the weather, sailing
vessels caught by the "Blow" with two or
three anchors down have little or no hope
of getting out to sea. For safety there is
nothing to depend upon but ground tackle,
and with a hurricane backed up by a terrific
racing tide, ships would have little chance
of escaping destruction.
A telegram despatched from Roeburne
on Saturday night stated :—
The loss of life on the lighters Clyo and
Enterprise is not known. Seven witnesses
in the recent murder case at Roeburn went
on the lighter Clyo, intending to catch the
steamer Bullarra on Wednesday night, and
Messrs. Maginnis and Hill, who are among
the drowned, were taken to the same lighter
in a motor launch. Maginnis was at one
time first mate on the Bullarra, and after-
wards of the Koombana. His relatives live
in Melbourne.
The damage on land extended over a wide
area. At Roeburne 875 points of rain fell in
24 hours. The Harding River was running
a banker, and the town was flooded.
Portion of Point Sampson jetty, and the
tramway between Point Sampson and
Cossack are washed away. Port Hedland
was half under water, but no lives are lost.
Two hotels were blown down at Balla
Balla, and other buildings are severely
damaged.
These two paragraphs are extremely informative with regard to the influence of the cyclone. Although flooding took place at both Point Sampson and Port Hedland, there was NO destructive wind force, as took place at Balla Balla.
"The eye diameter of severe cyclones off the northwest coast tends to be about 20 to 40 km, and are typically smaller than those in some other parts of the world such as the north Pacific. The eye size of Tracy (Darwin, 1974) was just 12 km across. Rosita (Broome, 2000) only had an eye diameter of 20 km."
The Moira Account outlined in a previous post adds to filling in important information describing the movements and extent of the cyclone:
The Brisbane Courier, Wednesday 27 March, 1912.
Captain Brett Ward, master of the
Moira, which reached Wyndham
yesterday, forwarded the following
cable message, via Broome, to the
Premier :-
"We encountered cyclonic weather at 8 a.m.
on the 20th, in latitude 19-20 deg. south,
and longitude 117 deg. east, 100 miles
north-west of Hedland. The Moira was
run before the storm in a westerly direction
about 150 miles. The storm roughly lasted
21 hours, the wind gradually shifting from
east and north-east to south-westerly.
The ship proceeded on her journey,
passing 60 miles north-west of Rowley
Shoals (255 miles). The steamer Charon
was near Liguliea reef at 7 a.m. on the 22nd,
bound for Java. I consider the cyclone was
more severe nearer the land than with us.
We did not sight the Koombana."
The Moira encountered the cyclone 8 am, 20 March, approximately 69 n miles from the position where Bullarra encountered the right-hand margin of the cyclonic semi-circle at 2 pm, 20 March. This was 7 hours prior and Moira 100 n miles northwest of Port Hedland. If she had been fitted with wireless Captain Ward could have warned both Koombana and Bullarra!!
The interesting thing about the Moira account and conceptualized on the last image below is that the steamer struck the 'inferior' aspect of the cyclone (wind from east), which was moving more southeastward than southwestward (as I had imagined) and completely missed the outside, inner track Koombana would have taken from Port Hedland to Broome! Furthermore, the cyclone was moving roughly 11.8 knots until it approached landfall slowing down ---> stalling ?
The interesting thing about the Moira account and conceptualized on the last image below is that the steamer struck the 'inferior' aspect of the cyclone (wind from east), which was moving more southeastward than southwestward (as I had imagined) and completely missed the outside, inner track Koombana would have taken from Port Hedland to Broome! Furthermore, the cyclone was moving roughly 11.8 knots until it approached landfall slowing down ---> stalling ?
The image of the SS Moira, below, confirms yet another humble steamer surviving the cyclone which allegedly took Koombana to the bottom. She was a cargo steamer built, 1901, by William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, for the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company (A.U.S.N.) - 2184 gross tons; 300 ft. in length and powered by a single triple expansion engine.
In fairness to Koombana the complexity of Moira's intersection with the cyclone suggests that she was blown to the west out of the worst of the system, which might explain why she survived and what's more, the influence of the cyclone extended considerably beyond the 50 mile radius, not in terms of a battering, hurricane-force gale, but in terms of strong winds and heavy rain.
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| courtesy Google Earth |
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| One can imagine the impact even a 50 kph wind would have on the towering superstructure of a tender steamer such as Koombana. |
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| The wind catchment factor would have been enhanced by Koombana's prominent funnel and wind sails deployed on the spar and promenade decks, as depicted in this image. (courtesy Daily Telegraph) |
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| Moira (courtesy Flotilla Australia) |
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| courtesy Google Earth |
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