FURTHER WRECKAGE?

Geelong Advertiser, 15 April, 1912. 

KOOMBANA WRECKAGE FOUND.

Perth. Sunday.-Further wreckage

consisting of air-tight copper tanks, has

been found 151 miles from Broome, 

between Wallal and Bedout Islands. It is

believed by mariners that the tanks are

parts of a boat belonging to the missing

steamer, Koombana.

We know that three copper air-tight tanks from Koombana lifeboat(s) were found between Solitary Island and the coast during this time frame. Could the tanks referred to in this report be one in the same thing or were these additional, and thus spreading and expanding the distribution of wreckage discovered?

 

courtesy Trove and Google Earth.

STRANGERS TO THE TRUTH.

courtesy Trove.

In this image Koombana's rudder and propeller were well submerged, appearing suitably ballasted and trimmed - no obvious list.

courtesy: Australian National University and Adelaide Steamship Company Ltd. for this extraordinary Koombana photo.

In this image, compared to the one above, it appears that Koombana was in light condition with a list to starboard.  The image also suggests that 20 March, 1912, was not the first time Koombana departed / arrived at port, crammed with passengers, in light (top heavy) condition.

The Inquiry claimed Koombana departed Port Hedland drawing 19 ft. aft, (a mere 1.7 ft. short of load line). The recorded level of water over the bar measured 19 ft. at 10 a.m.. With a ground swell coming in from the northwest, Koombana could not have cleared the bar without incident.

Koombana's tanks were empty and she was carrying 14% of cargo component. It was IMPOSSIBLE that she could have been drawing 19 ft. aft - in point of fact it was observed by an expert that she was drawing 16 ft. aft, plausible by calculation and probably similar to that represented in the image above.
 
The lies had begun...

Kalgoorlie Miner, 27 April, 1912.

BEDOUT ISLAND LIGHT.

ITS BEARING ON THE CASE.

Perth, April 26.

The inquiry into the loss of the

steamer Koombana opened at 

Fremantle Courthouse yesterday, 

was continued this morning.

Wm. Ernest Moxon, attorney and

manager in West Australia for the

Adelaide Steamship Co., Ltd., said

that the Koombana was one of the

company's fleet.

Mr. Parker: Before the Koombana 

left Fremantle were any instructions 

given to Captain Allen to push on?

Witness : No such instructions

were given. The vessel was running

on the time table. I might mention

for the information of the Court

that the time-table for this service

is drawn. up by the company and 

approved by the Federal authorities.

Continuing, the witness said that

the vessel had had ample time to

discharge at ports.

Given all we know about the narrow spring tide-dependent access to ports such as Port Hedland, this comment was disingenuous to say the least, and delays at prior ports potentially had a serious knock on effect gaining access to and exiting Port Hedland - in some instances missing the window of opportunity altogether - incurring inconvenience and anger in port communities.

Moreover, it must be remembered that Koombana was an R.M.S. vessel and the contract hinged on timeous delivery of mail to destination ports along the coast of Western Australia. In fact, for every hour delayed, a fine of ￡5 was incurred. To say that Captain Allen was not under schedule pressure was as disingenuous as it can possibly get!

Mr. Moss: You had a certain duty

to perform in regard to the vessel

when it was reported overdue ? 

— The company's duty was to make 

every endeavour to search for the vessel

in order that the interests of all on

board were preserved.

Mr. Moss : Was that duty carried

out?

Witness : Yes, in its entirety. We

made every endeavour to find the

vessel. A number of boats were 

requested to keep a look out for the

vessel along the Nor'-West coast.

The Government also rendered 

assistance.

- Have you received any reports

from the company's manager at

Port Hedland?

— Fortunately I have received 

reports and it will show that some 

of the reports published are incorrect. 

Mr. Gardiner in his letter states that 

he was with Captain Allen for an 

hour on the bridge deck prior to the 

departure of the ship, when the 

question of 'willy-willies' (cyclones)

did not arise.

Falling barometer, ground swell from the NW, strong winds from the NE all pointed to the very real possibility of a cyclone out at sea, so this statement was clumsy and again disingenuous in the context of it being the season for cyclones along the Nor'West coast. 

Only a fortnight previous to that date 

the glass had fallen considerably, but 

nothing had resulted on that occasion.

Disregarding a barometer 'falling considerably' in an age when this could be the difference between safety and disaster, was hardly a counter argument. 

In regard to the reported remarks

by Capt. Allen that he did not think

he would make port before the Saturday 

following, Mr. Gardiner states

that what the master of the Koombana 

meant was that if he could not get into 

port at noon on the due date

with the midday tide he would not

be able to berth till 24 hours later

with the following tide.

Koombana was a powerful steamer capable of 15 knots. Captain Allen's prediction revealed and disclosed that he was not anticipating an average speed of more than 10 knots against gale force winds from the NE and heavy seas (pitching = decreased thrust), confirming concerns about weather conditions.

Mr. Moxon also read a number of

reports from pearlers and others in

the Nor'-West on the state of the

weather. In the reports it was stated 

by some (referring to Bedout Island)

that the light on the island, which

was a self -attended one, was not

alight on March 13 and 15.

A FULL WEEK BEFORE THE DISASTER!

- Mr. Moss : The ship was installed

with wireless telegraphy?

- Witness: Yes.

- I understand that some ships

spoke to the Koombana by wireless

on the night of March 19?

— That is so. The Riverina was in 

communication with the Koombana on the

night of March 19, the former vessel

being near Albany. The German

Australian steamer Adelaide (Gneisenau)

also reported having been in touch with

her, but no ship appears to have

spoken to the Koombana after that

night.

- Would the Marconi operator be

on special duty on an occasion such

as the time of a hurricane 

— An operator would be on special duty.

No one would be able to interfere

with him in duty.

The Marconi operator, Lyon was inexperienced and the set had required attention before departure from Fremantle due to some undisclosed fault. These two factors might have presented challenges during a crisis. Moreover, Marconi operators on board steamers of this era were not employed by the shipping company nor directly accountable to the captain of the vessel regarding shifts. Lyon might already have retired if the disaster occurred late into the night.

The chief harbour master (Captain

C. J. Irvine) was called by Mr. Parker 

to give some information to the 

court concerning the light on Bedout

Island. Captain Irvine said that he would

tell the court the reason why that

particular class of light had been

placed on Bedout Island. It had

been pointed out to the Government

that a light was required for Bedout

Island, but as the island was very 

dangerous, especially in the hurricane 

season, the department had received 

advice as to the means of securing a 

light that would burn for some time 

unattended. 

The matter was given thorough attention, 

and the department had secured an 

unattended light, which it was estimated

would burn 12 months without attention. 

The light, however, would not be left that 

long without being visited. It was first 

lighted on December 10, 1909, and up to 

the recent fault recorded the lamp had

given entire satisfaction. 

The report received by Mr. Moxon from

Port Hedland that the light was out

on March 13 had never reached him

(Captain Irvine). 

Unlikely!

The first advice concerning the light 

having been extinguished on that date 

was brought under his notice on 

March 26.

A week after Koombana had gone missing!?!?!?

 

Immediately on receipt of that advice

he had wired to all the ports a warning 

regarding the light.

'I am of opinion that the ship did

not touch Bedout Island, as wreckage 

would have been found there,'

continued Captain Irvine.

In fact Irvine was disingenuous about the whole affair and stated in the March gazette that the cyclone was responsible for the light being 'extinguished':

 

'Western Australia—North-West Coast. NOTICE is hereby given that the hurricane which passed over Bedout Island—lat. 19.35 S. 119.6 E.—on the 22nd inst., extinguished the unattended light established on this island in December, 1909. Further notice will be issued as soon as the lamp has been re-lighted. Charts affected. No. 1055—Bedout Island to Cape Cuvier. No. 1048—Buccaneer Archipelago to Bedout. C. J. IRVINE, Chief Harbour Master. Harbour and Light Department, Fremantle, 30th March, 1912.'  

The Inquiry was largely a whitewash and in the course of this blog I have come to the conclusion that the Bedout Light being out was critical in the sequence of events leading to the disaster.

Captain Dalziel of the schooner Muriel had this to say about re-igniting the Bedout Light:

"To gain admittance, I had to remove one of the larger panes of glass in the outer lantern. The lamp inside was apparently in thorough order and the automatic gear working satisfactorily. I put a match to the jets and they lit immediately. I then replaced the pane of glass and made a thorough search of the island but found no trace of wreckage of any description." 

The plain truth is that it would have been a simple task to re-ignite the Bedout Light at any time between 13 March and 20 March. 

Even though Captain Irvine declined to acknowledge that he knew about the light being extinguished, the port captain and Mr. Gardiner (Adelaide Steamship Company representative at Port Hedland) knew about it and therefore Captain Allen knew.

Captain Allen would then have been pressed for time filling tanks 3 miles off Port Hedland, an operation which normally took about 3.5 hours to complete in ideal port circumstances, not rough seas. Koombana was in sight for only two hours which suggests that her tanks were not completely or adequately filled, compounding instability.

Why would Captain Allen risk this? It could be argued that at night in bad weather he might not have felt confident enough to accurately assess Koombana's course, given the limitations in response to the helm of a top heavy steamer light in heavy seas and strong winds. He might have come to the conclusion that the greater risk was running into the reef off Bedout after dark with no light to warn him.

This issue can be debated on the basis of speculation but a simple irrefutable fact remains; Koombana did not spend a minimum of  3.5 hours filling tanks off Port Hedland. The clincher:

“Normally,” he (Bert Clarke) recalled, “ships going northbound were out of sight within 30 or 45 minutes, but this day as the storm was getting stronger I stayed up there in the tower watching the Koombana pitching and rolling for nearly two hours.”    (courtesy Koombana Days, Annie Boyd)

The following extract from Truth (Sydney) dated 5 May, 1912 had a final word of sarcastic wisdom to impart:

The former chief officer of the lost

Koombana, Captain Upjohn, now of 

the Bullara, and Captain R. Arundel 

surveyor to Lloyd's, say that it was 

impossible for the Koombana to turn 

turtle, and declare it to be a popular 

fallacy that a ship having top hamper 

is unsafe — she is merely tender, not 

unsafe. These two captains ought to 

open a school for teaching landlubbers 

the art of sucking eggs, so innocent of

physics are they taken to be.

courtesy Trove and Google Earth.

THE STORM

It cannot be over-emphasized that Koombana was heading away from the Balla Balla Cyclone, afternoon 20 March, whereas Bullarra (as per log) headed into the Cyclone. 

Daily Commercial News and Shipping List (Sydney) 14 May, 1912.

No special forecast was issued from 

the Melbourne office of any storm from 

March 16th to 21st, inclusive. 

A report from Port Hedland on the

20th stated that the wind force was

four miles an hour, with threatening

weather and smooth seas, and Cossack

reported a barometer of 29.69 with wind

each blowing at the rate of 19 miles an

hour. On the 20th at 1 p.m. Cossack

advised that a fresh gale was blowing,

with high seas and weather threatening. 

Clearly the effects of the cyclone were being felt to a greater degree further down the coast towards Cossack rather than in the vicinity of Port Hedland.

On the 21st, next morning, the

barometer recorded 29.56, wind 37 miles

an hour, and there were very heavy

seas. The storm, from 15th to 21st

March, went in a south-west direction,

and evidently struck the coast at Cossack 

and curved. The centre of the storm passed 

north of Cossack. There was nothing to 

indicate that a cyclone was approaching. 

Continuing, he stated that apparently the 

depression struck the coast somewhere 

near Cossack, and, being interrupted by 

the coastline, and the width of the depression 

being narrowed, it resulted in a sudden storm. 

The diameter, he thought, would extend from 

Port Hedland on the north and Cossack on the

south, or about 90 miles north-east by 

south-west.

The Brisbane Courier, Wednesday 27 March, 1912.

Captain Brett Ward, master of the

Moira, which reached Wyndham 

yesterday, forwarded the following 

cable message, via Broome, to the 

Premier :-

"We encountered cyclonic weather at 8 a.m. 

on the 20th, in latitude 19 20 deg. south,

and longitude 117 deg. east, 100 miles 

north-west of Hedland." 

The Balla Balla Cyclone made landfall late 20 March, the full force being felt at Depuch Island / Balla Balla, hence the name. At some time shortly after noon 20 March Koombana steamed northeast for Broome. The following extracts reinforce the above reports.

A cattleman on board Bullarra heading southwestward (opposite direction to Koombana) from Port Hedland to Depuch and Balla Balla:

"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."

"Scarcely any damage

was caused by the 

hurricane at Port Hedland."

"on the 27th inst.(March), but found no trace of any

thing. She spoke to some pearling boats,

but they had seen nothing. At half-past 9

o'clock the same night the Bullarra was off

Bedout Island. The light there was not

burning. At 5.30 the next morning the chief

officer was sent ashore, and he searched and

found no trace of wreckage. The light

house is unattended. The glass was

found to be not encrusted which showed 

that the island did not meet the full force 

of the gale."

Whatever the cause of the Koombana disaster it was NOT being battered to pieces in the heart of the Balla Balla Cyclone.