The Mercury, Hobart, 6 April, 1912.
Captain Allen, seemed disinclined to
leave Port Hedland, and when, he
decided to do so said, "I am going
straight out to sea, and will be lucky
if I get back to Broome on Saturday."
To date all the Trove newspaper reports refer to Captain Allen asserting that "he would be lucky to get to Broome by Saturday." This has always struck me as odd given that Saturday was 3 days from Wednesday, the day of departure from Port Hedland. The distance is about 260 miles, and Koombana averaging 13.5 knots should have covered this comfortably in 19.5 hours, making the Thursday spring tide access to Broome by +/- 9.30 a.m..
Predicting a delay of two days suggests anticipating a storm of Biblical proportions - a very bad idea to have sailed from Port Hedland, 20 March. In fact:
The Daily News, 25 March, 1912.
It is evident that she first encountered
the beginning of the blow between
Port Hedland and Bedout Island. - 'If
the wind were favorable it is reasonable
to suppose that Captain Allen at
once steered a course for the open sea,
and may have had to run out for about
200 miles.' As it blows very strongly after
these cyclonic disturbances, it is evident
that she would be a great way out of her
course before she was able to cut for Broome,
and that it would take at least 41/2 days
before she reached her destination.
If, however, we accept the turn of phrase offered in this, rare, report, we get a different sequence of events.
Under normal circumstances Koombana would have docked at Broome by 9.30 a.m., 21 March; offloaded and shipped cargo and passengers, departing for Derby on the late morning spring tide, a 200 mile run comfortably achieved by the morning of Friday, 22 March. Repeat same process and Koombana should have been able to return to Broome by Saturday.
Any hitches, such as steaming into a stiff headwind (gale) and reducing speed significantly could have unraveled this tight schedule.
There is one piece of evidence against this assumption:
01/11/11 14.10: 12'2"frd 18'8"aft
The above draft figures according to Koombana's log refer to the Derby return trip departures from Port Hedland i.e. 1 week interval. The Wyndham return trip required a two week interval.
If we extrapolate from this scenario, Koombana should theoretically have departed Port Hedland again Wednesday 27 March, not Sunday, 24 March and Broome reached the day before, Tuesday 26 March.
It does seem more compelling that Captain Allen was literally concerned about getting to Broome within 3 days, which certainly, if true, highlights how serious he viewed circumstances at sea, 20 March.
One could come to the conclusion that Captain Allen understood the gravity of conditions out at sea that fateful Wednesday morning, before departing. All the signs were there!!
If we extrapolate from this scenario, Koombana should theoretically have departed Port Hedland again Wednesday 27 March, not Sunday, 24 March and Broome reached the day before, Tuesday 26 March.
It does seem more compelling that Captain Allen was literally concerned about getting to Broome within 3 days, which certainly, if true, highlights how serious he viewed circumstances at sea, 20 March.
One could come to the conclusion that Captain Allen understood the gravity of conditions out at sea that fateful Wednesday morning, before departing. All the signs were there!!
 |
| 200 n miles. courtesy Google Earth |
courtesy Trove and Boyd, Annie. Koombana Days (p. 246). Fremantle Press. Kindle Edition.
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