CATTLEMAN AND COORDINATES.

Geraldton Guardian, 30 December, 1926

It was 40 years after that I had my next 

encounter with a willy. This was in

March 1912, while en route from Port

Hedland to Fremantle with cattle on

the s.s. Bullara.

The Koombana Willy.

On March 20, 1912, the ill-fated

Koombana at 10.20 a.m. cast off her

moorings at Port Hedland, and put out

to sea, bound for Broome. Twenty

minutes later the Bullara followed suit

— there was an overcast sky and half a

gale blowing from the E.N.E. I noticed 

as we were leaving the port that some 

half-dozen pearling luggers were making 

their way up the creek, evidently to a more 

sheltered anchorage, and hearing the 

officers in charge of the watch remark 

that we were running out three miles, 

I gleaned that something was expected. 

I subsequently learnt that the glass was 

extremely low, 28 something. Anyhow, I 

had not much time to waste, as my mates 

and self were busy in the lower forehold, 

fixing up arrangements for feeding and 

watering the stock. When we came on

deck for the midday meal, the Bullara

and the Koombana were stern on to

each other, and the distance apart being 

about five miles. As I glanced towards her, 

little I thought I would be one of the last to 

see her afloat. After lunch, while having a 

smoke, looking ahead, I noticed away on 

the starboard bow and just above the horizon, 

a dense mass of inky black clouds and

from descriptions I'd had from old pearlers, 

I was convinced we were in for it. 

The cattleman's observation is crucial to our modern day understanding of the cyclone system's movements. It is claimed that the cyclone had stalled some 130 miles offshore to the 'north' of Bullarra's position, midday, 20 March (18 20 S, 117 40 E). This was impossible, not least of all due to the fact that the cattleman observed the mass of clouds to the west (starboard bow of Bullarra heading southwest), NOT to the north. Furthermore, Bullarra ran into the 'hurricane' 22 miles from Balla Balla. How could then a system 130 miles to the north not have affected Balla Balla and Hedland equally (same radius), which was never the case? 

Furthermore, the reference to running out three miles meaning an anticipation of storm conditions defeated all Captain Upjohn's attempts at the Inquiry to play down the weather, with comments such as 'nothing in it'. The truth must out.

We were down amongst the cattle again fixing up, 

when at 4.30 p.m. Captain Upjohn called 

out to us to look out as she was going to roll.

As he was going to heave-to, we came up

on deck At 6 p.m. you could not pull

yourself along the deck, and at midnight, 

the funnel blew out and lay across the saloon 

deck. We then got a stockless anchor over, 

and 120 fathoms chain to help keep her head 

on, and though without a funnel, steam

was kept up and the engines going

their darndest. One would have thought

to see the smoke rising out of the saloon 

deck that the ship was on fire.

Well it. was 4.30 p.m. the second day

when the wind veered into the south

west and soon died out. We were then

60 miles off Point Sampson. The cable

and anchor were hauled in and we

headed for the Point, dumping dead

bullocks the whole way. What a gruesome 

sight greeted us when we went among our 

cattle, particularly those between decks. 

In one pen of six, five were dead. We arrived 

at Point Sampson next morning and were 

surprised to hear that the Koombana was 

missing and further that they only had a stiff

blow at the Point, loosening some of

the whaling pieces and girders. Here

we got material for a jury funnel, and

after a two days' stay, went back in

search of the Koombana.

Balla Balla.

We are the Bullara called at all ports

on our way up to Port Hedland, including 

Balla Balla, De Pugh, the port where 

copper ore from Whim Creek is

shipped. At the time of our arrival

there were two sailing ships loading.

They were the square rigged ship.

Crown of England. and the barque

Concordia. The ore was taken off the

lighters. The Bullara was due back

there to pick up 27 passengers at 6

p.m. on the first day of the willy. It

was at Balla Balla that the Willy hit

the land. The Crown of England was

blown on the rocks of De Pugh Island,

and within an hour only a few of her

ribs were left protruding out of the

water, and ten out of eighteen, of her

crew were drowned. The Concordia was

also wrecked, but her hull was salvaged

and towed to Fremantle and is now

doing duty as a coal hulk. The whar-

fingers, with three passengers in a 

motor boat, waiting to come onto the

Bullara on her arrival, disappeared, and

nothing was found of them again. Several 

miles of telegraphic wire were blown down 

and communication was cut off. We proceeded 

on our way in search of the missing steamer on 

to Broome, where we transferred what

was left of the cattle onto the Gorgon;

I joining that vessel also. It was this

boat that picked up a state room door

that was floating about 25 miles off

Redoubt (Bedout) Island. There was 

also some other wreckage in the form of 

several pieces of panelling floating about 

in the vicinity of the door. Soundings were

taken and a depth of 50 fathoms recorded. 

'Captain Townley, of the Gorgon, reported on arriving 

here to-night, 25 miles north by west of Bedout Island,

we sighted a white panelled piece of wood. Stopped and

picked it up. The description is : Panelled door, painted

white, one side has been polished. The other fittings

were marked with crossed flags, and Walker and Hall in

brackets, and ornamented with a Grecian urn. The

door had apparently been forced off by pressure, as both

handles on the white side were gone, and on the reverse 

side had been driven in.' 

The stateroom door was discovered at S 19º 10' E 119º 06', according to the Gorgon log. This position is almost due north of Bedout Island, 24.5 miles. The depth at this location is in the region of 42.6 fathoms (78 m) rather than 50 fathoms.

What is most interesting is that Captain Townley of the Gorgon had no trouble establishing where he was relative to Bedout Island. His coordinates were a mere 0.5 miles out (24.5 vs. 25 miles).

Why Captain Upjohn estimated between 27 and 28 miles from Bedout Island for the oil patch does not correlate with his coordinates, 30 miles from Bedout . Why? Iron ore in the bedrock interfering with compass readings??

See Coordinates Conclusion post for further discussion. 

It was not always straight forward establishing coordinates for positions in the vicinity of Bedout Island as illustrated by the widely varying coordinates for the island itself between 1864, James Martin; earlier charts and the 1912 coordinates, as per the Government Gazette - less than 0.5 mile deviation.

courtesy Trove and Google Earth.