Two sets of draughts were presented; one by the Inquiry and the other by the harbour master of Port Hedland. The Inquiry came to the conclusion that Koombana was drawing 19 ft. aft and 12 ft. forward when she departed Port Hedland for the last time. Immediately there is a problem with these figures. The outer bar, 20 March, 1912, was only 19 ft. deep which means that Koombana could not have cleared it without incident drawing 19 ft. aft. The harbour master's figures were far more realistic, confirmed by Captain Upjohn's synopsis of Koombana draught readings relative to ballast tank status. Departing Port Hedland Koombana carried generally minimal cargo, stowed forward (eg 260 tons) and all ballast tanks forward filled = 12 to 13 ft.. Generally the after peak could be emptied allowing an aft draught of 17 ft. and if an additional tank, number 6 was emptied, the aft draught could be reduced to 16.5 ft.. In order to clear the outer bar (19 ft. deep) 20 March with a ground swell coming in from the NW and gale from the NE, Captain Allen had no choice but to empty all ballast tanks to clear the bar without mishap. Emptying all tanks would have reduced the forward draught from 12 to 11 ft. which makes sense and the empty aft tanks from 16.5 ft. to 16 ft., given the overall reduction. We can confidently come to the conclusion that the harbour master figures were correct and the Inquiry figures wildly off.
Hedland Advocate, 25 May, 1912:
"Several can be found to prove
the ship drew no more than
16ft 6in aft and 11ft for'ard as she
lay at anchor at the Hedland jetty."
"The ship's propeller was showing
when anchored at the jetty"
For Koombana's propeller to be 'showing' confirms that the aft draught was less than 16 ft. 6 in. --> 16 ft.
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