CAPTAIN ALLEN EXONERATED.

The Geraldton Express, 2 March, 1910. 

A COMPLAINT,

CONCERNING THE KOOMBANA'S

SAILING.

(To the Editor.)

I suppose the agents of the Koombana

are forced, by their contract, to

run their vessel on time, but even this

restriction does not justify the extra

ordinary state of affairs which prevailed 

this morning. The vessel was first 

announced to arrive here on Saturday. 

That arrangement was cancelled. Next 

there was a notice put up yesterday on 

the Post Office board

(surely an official announcement) stating 

that the Koombana would arrive

at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and sail

an hour later. Next we were told

that she could not get here till 2 this

morning. What then happened will

scarcely be credited.  About half-a-dozen 

ladies, several children, and a number 

of men, had to camp all night on

the jetty. Some of the men lent the

ladies their rugs to cover them, and

others made shift with tarpaulins. Several 

swagmen had taken up their

quarters in the shelter shed earlier in

the evening, therefore the ladies and

children had to camp in the open air.

The Koombana did not arrive till half

past six this morning. These are

surely shocking arrangements. Could

intending passengers not have been 

notified the evening before that the

Koombana would not sail till morning. 

Or if that could not be done,

why do the agents, as is done else

where, not take the addresses of all

who have booked passages, and send

them word as soon as the vessel is

sighted. Supporting last night had

been wet or cold what an experience it

would have proved for those women

and children. — Yours, etc.,

RELATIVE.

Geraldton, Feb. 28th, 1910

(Mr. Faulkner, manager at Gerald-

ton for the Adelaide Steamship Company, 

on being seen by a representative of this 

paper, said that according to the A.S.S. Co's. 

contract with the Government,

the Koombana should have arrived at 

Fremantle on Sunday evening. As it had not 

even reached Geraldton on that evening, it 

would be seen that the vessel was considerably 

behind time. The conveyance of mails was the 

steamer's most important duty. Passengers and 

cargo had to give way to the necessity of 

delivering the mails on time. He did not

mean by that that passengers should

not look for consideration. He simply meant 

that, as dispatch was the essence of the contract, 

the vessel could not, if she arrived during the

night, be detained till the morning

for the convenience of passengers. Personally 

he tried his best to meet the convenience of 

passengers. Regarding the notices of sailing it 

was true that the Koombana was first announced 

to sail on Saturday. That notice was altered in 

Friday night's "Express," when Sunday afternoon 

was given as the time. On Saturday a wire from

Captain Rees intimated that, provided he could get 

in and out of Shark's Bay without difficulty, he 

would arrive at Geraldton on Sunday afternoon. 

He failed to do so, consequently he again wired 

that he would reach Geraldton at about 2 a.m. on 

Monday, weather permitting. On the run down

however, he encountered a strong headwind, while 

the thick haze also retarded progress. There is no 

need for passengers to camp on the jetty as

there is good accommodation in Geraldton at the 

hotels and boardinghouses, who make it their 

business to keep in touch with steamers' movements 

and call their lodgers in time to catch them.

Let there never be a moment's doubt in our minds about the pressure Captain Allen was under to depart Port Hedland that fateful Wednesday morning. 

As we well know, steamers the size of Koombana could end up 'neaped' for up to a week at Port Hedland if they missed the spring tide. In addition, Captain Rees' difficulties getting in and out of Shark Bay highlighted the navigational challenges of Nor'West coastal ports and the knock-on delays incurred. 

Irrespective of publicized and vehement passenger complaints, the officious tone of the Adelaide Steamship Company's response, cargo delivery obligations, R.M.S. (Royal Mail Steamship) Koombana was subsidised and obligated to deliver mails on time - £5 fined for every hour delayed.  

To say that Captain Allen was reckless to depart Port Hedland after consultation with Captain Upjohn 20 March, is both disingenuous and unwarranted from the vantage point of comfortable historical-review armchairs.

Final word:

"If Captain Allen had remained at anchor at 

Port Hedland and the Koombana had been 

driven ashore there and wrecked, the 

probabilities are that he would have lost his 

certificate, having acted against the Board of 

Trade regulations or instructions, which, I believe, 

require a captain under certain circumstances

(threat of a storm) to make with all speed for the 

open sea."

Tom Allen.