Mirror, Perth, 30 March, 1935.
WHAT BECAME OF
THE KOOMBANA?
A Nor-West Maritime Mystery Recalled
By the Buffeting of the Koolinda This Week
The severe buffeting which the Koolinda has received on
her last couple of runs along the Nor-West coast recalls
firstly what a storm-tossed coast this part of Western
Australia is in the 'willy-willy' period of March, and secondly
one of the tragic disasters of earlier days when the Koombana
disappeared.
What became of the Koombana and her passengers ?
It is one of the mysteries of the sea — for to this day
not a soul knows.
On February 8 of 1912, with Captain
Allen in command, the s.s. Koombana
left Fremantle for Wyndham via ports.
A vessel of 3,499 (3,668) tons register and
340 feet in length and capable of doing
about 15 knots, she was reckoned the finest
and most up-to-date on the Nor'
West coast. She was constructed at
Glasgow and was only running for
a couple of years.
She had a crew of 80 odd and an original
passenger Iist of 47 when she set out on
her trip of doom. The last seen of her was
on March 20 at 1 p.m., when she was
sighted by the Bullarra, two hours out of
Port Hedland and heading northeast, the
gale that was then in evidence being one
blowing from E.N.E.
And her subsequent fate? ,
Only from pieces of wreckage and
deductions of mariners could any story be
built— and that but a story of surmise.
Maybe the hapless steamer was over
whelmed by a cyclone — maybe she was
caught in the terrible toils of two cyclones.
Almost certain it is. that she did not strike
a reef or rock and founder from that cause.
But with not a solitary survivor left to tell the
tale none can say exactly what her fate was.
It was a memorable storm which began on
March 19 and .
PLAYED HAVOC
along the coast between Roebourne and
La Grange Bay to the south of Broome,
and it was accompanied by heavy down
pours of rain. Appalling as was the ferocity
of the disturbance ashore, it was even more
vicious at sea. Nearly nine inches of rain
deluged itself on Roebourne in 24 hours,
while the hurricane howled and shrieked
as it blasted a trail of destruction along its path.
Point Sampson wharf was severely buffeted,
telegraph and telephone lines went down like
ninepins, and small craft became, in a number
of cases, just play things of the elements. The
lighters, Clyo, Enterprise and Steady were
wrecked on Depuch bland and on the night of
March 20 the pearling lugger Clare, was
also wrecked off the same island. Another
vessel, the Crown of England, of
1,847 tons met destruction on Depuch
Island, and a number of lives were lost.
 |
| In reality the brunt of the cyclone impacted Balla Balla through Point Sampson and Roebourne. Port Hedland and Bedout Island did not sustain damage, confirmed by reliable reports. Clearly Koombana's intended course took her away from, not towards, the cyclone. Bullarra, heading southwest, struck the inferior margin of the cyclone 22 miles from Balla Balla. Whatever befell the Koombana did not include being battered to pieces by the cyclone. Some argue that the pieces of wreckage suggested the latter, but if she had rolled over and struck the seabed, her superstructure would have been damaged creating such. |
The Bullarra rode through the waves
safely, but not unscathed, emerging after
A HEAVY BATTERING
from the ocean minus a funnel, a lifeboat
and about 45 head of cattle, which were
washed overboard. And when she reached
Cossack Roads safely, passengers heaved
sighs of relief and lauded the skill of Captain
Upjohn and the seaworthiness of the boat.
When the Crown of England went down,
seven men and a cabin boy perished,
Captain Olsen and nine others comprising
the survivors.
Appalling and devastating, cyclones are liable
to occur in the Indian Ocean between December
and April. They have ravaged our Nor- West coast
repeatedly and in December they generally make their
presence felt along the northern portion of the Nor-West
coast and when they get as far south as Shark's Say
customarily tear in approaching the close of the cyclone
season— March.
Not often does a year go by without
one of these visitations— more or less
fierce — occurring in the Nor-West. They
may spread themselves in area over a
distance of 20 to 30 miles and over 100
miles in diameter. Nowadays, of course,
wireless warnings can convey tidings to
captains of vessels of the approach of a
willy-willy.
The foregoing will give some idea of the
dirty weather that the ill-fated Koombana
struck. For a number of years the Nor-West
mail was taken by the Bullarra; when, the
Koombana came from England the Bullarra
was withdrawn from the run but a short time
before the Koombana met her doom was
again on the run in conjunction with the
Koombana.
When Captain Allen of the Koombana
left Port Hedland he is credited with
saying, 'I am going straight out to sea
and will be lucky if I get to Broome on
Saturday.' Terribly prophetic words!
The vessel took her departure at 10.30
a.m. on March 20 so light that the propeller
was beating out of the water, and as she
went through the harbour entrance
she rolled noticeably. Captain Allen is
said to have remarked that he would fill
the ballast tanks when he crossed the
outer bank. The ship took a course north
and about an hour later was followed by
the southward bound Bullarra.
What became of the Koombana?
For a while alarm was not felt
about her. but when she became well
overdue the worst was feared. And
with the finding of pieces of wreckage
came the realisation that a terrible tragedy
had occurred: The State was stunned
by the mystery and the magnitude of the
disaster, and with breathless interest
conned every scrap of information about
the wreckage recovered and theories
of the ship's fate.
The Koombana was the sole steamer
operating on the Nor-West coast that was
fitted with a state-room, and the captain
of the Gorgon (not the present one)
reported that he had found the door of a
state-room 50 miles from Port Hedland
north of Bedout Island, where there was
a lot of small wreckage. Captain Clark,
who had at one time served as chief of
officer on the Koombana for 15 months,
and who left in June 1910 to take up duty
with the Harbor Trust, expressed the
view that the state-room door
BELONGED TO THE KOOMBANA
and considered that the vessel had really
been caught between two cyclones blowing
in contrary directions, 'in the midst
of which no ship would survive.'
Absurd.
Captain Mills of the steamer Minderoo
reported on reaching Port Hedland that
be had picked up a smoke-room settee and
part of a cabin drawer 70 (55) miles west of
Bedout Island and the bottom parts of
a boat about 50 miles west of the island.
The s.s. Una conducted a search in the
vicinity of Bedout Island without seeing
any wreckage on the shore or any indication
of the missing vessel. At a point 33 miles
N.N.W. of the island however some wreckage
was discovered and amongst it was a mast
from one of the ship's boats and what seemed
to be some cabin panels. As all wreckage visible
was recovered from the sea before the crew went
to dinner, and there was
MORE. WRECKAGE
about after dinner, it was considered that the
wreckage was coming up from the bottom of
the sea. Captain Upjohn of the Bullarra reported
the finding of the bow of one of the Koombana's
boats with the company's crest upon it. And from
such grim relics as these the public of the day built
their own conjectures as to the fate of the Koombana;
But the secret of just what actually happened the
dead took with them to their watery grave.
By a grim coincidence the company
which owned the Koombana lost another
vessel on the other side of Australia in
mysterious circumstances 12 months before.
On March 26, 1911, a Queensland liner,
Yongala, which departed from Mackay on a
trip to Townsville on March 23, was posted as
missing. The latitude at which the two ships
met their doom
IN CYCLONIC STORMS
although they were the breadth of a
continent apart, was practically the same.
A lucky man to escape death on the
Koombana was a Mr. Thomas, who,
until the Koombana left Fremantle on
her last trip north, was third mate on
that ship. In order to join the Harbor
Trust at Fremantle he left the Koombana
at Fremantle and thus unknowingly
stepped out of the shadow of death.
He gave it as his opinion that the
Koombana was a wonderfully good sea
boat.
But her fate remains one of the
mysteries of the sea.
 |
| courtesy Iemandanders |
important update:
https://koombanarevisited.blogspot.com/2019/08/coordinates-conclusion.html
Courtesy Trove and Google Earth
So there.
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