MR BARKER.

Northern Times, 25 May, 1912

LOSS OF KOOMBANA

PORT HEDLAND EDITOR

ON THE BOARD'S FINDING,

CAPT. ALLAN UNEASY.

Perth, May 20.

It is reported that Mr. W. H. Barker, 

proprietor of the "Hedland Advocate", 

has stated that he has just read the 

finding of the Koombana Inquiry Board, 

and says that the statement - that the 

steamer when, she left Port Hedland 

was drawing 19 feet aft is not in accordance 

with what the harbourmaster told him. The 

harbourmaster made an assertion that the

Koombana was drawing 11 feet forward 
and 16 feet aft. As to the statement that there 

was no particular evidence regarding bad 

weather, Mr. Barker says for hours before the

Koombana sailed from Port Hedland people 

were battening down preparing for a gale, 

and forty luggers had run into the creek from 

outside for shelter.

Furthermore, Capt. Allan told him he

did not know whether to go out or

not, as he did not like the glass. He

was palpably uneasy and disinclined

to go. He remarked: "The passengers 

think they will get to Broome tomorrow 

(Thursday), but they will be lucky if they 

get there by Saturday. I am going right out 

to sea." Mr. Barker says - the Koombana 

rolled through the harbour entrance and 

had an ugly list to port. Mr. Barker was

not called upon to give evidence at
the inquiry.

No surprise that Mr. Barker was 'not called upon to give evidence at the inquiry'. 

Fix this text

In my opinion this sums up the truth of 20 March, 1912. Considering how quickly the Inquiry was convened how could it have been possible for Mr. Barker to get from Port Hedland to Fremantle on time? The Inquiry was a disgrace to the concept of 'seeing justice done' and Mr. Barker called it out for what it was. A whitewash is too kind a description!

courtesy Trove.

CAPTAIN ALLEN TOO POPULAR?

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 1 April, 1912

The Fremantle correspondent of the 

Melbourne "Herald," referring to the 

visiting steamer Koombana, telegraphed 

on Friday:

- Everyone in Western Australia connected 

with shipping knows Captain Thomas Allen, 

master of the Koombana.

Prospective passengers by the north-west

mailboat have often said, "I am sailing by

Tom Allen's boat," instead of mentioning

the steamer's name. The north-west coast

is dotted with communities in villages,

and should a vessel chance to miss 

unloading, say, a packet of tintacks at one

of these ports there are meetings of local

councils and vigilance committees, and 

telegrams are sent to Fremantle expressing 

indignation. 

Through these dangerous shoals of parochialism 

the masters of the north-west passenger and cargo 

steamers have to steer a safe course. 

And therein lies the rub.

It speaks well for the personal qualities of Captain 

Allen that he is generally recognised as the most

popular master that has ever traded to the 

north-west coast. 

Popularity might have come at the expense of safety and trying to meet demanding expectations instead of having the courage to put safety first and say 'NO! I am not going out today'.

Captain Allen is a native of  South Australia, 

and is about 48 years of age.  He is a single man, 

and when on his holiday  resides with his mother 

at Port Adelaide.

courtesy Trove.

Fix this text mother st Port Adelaide.

MAIL CONTRACT.

The Adelaide Steamship C.o.'s contract mail

service. S.s. Koombana under 1910 to 1913 

contract.

Serious trouble has occurred on

board the s.s. Koombana, belonging

to the Adelaide Steamship Company,

Ltd., which is the subsidised mail

boat for the Nor'-West ports, and

yesterday, it assumed such dimensions 

that instead of the Koombana

leaving for the Nor'-West last night

her sailing has been postponed indefinitely.

Fix this texfinitely.

Mr. Moxon:

"The contractors are liable to a fine of £5 per

hour if the mail steamer should run late and 

a satisfactory explanation is not given."

There is no doubt in my mind that this crucial factor contributed to Captain Allen making the hesitant decision to venture out into a troubled sea, 20 March, 1912. If he had elected to stay in port and the cyclonic event did not materialize as was alleged to have occurred a fortnight previously, the Adelaide Steamship Company might have been liable for this quoted £5 per hour fine. Surely this implies that the Federal Government contributed to the making of the disaster.

courtesy Trove.

DISGUSTED

The West Australian, 30 November, 1909

SHIPPING TELEGRAMS.

To the Editor.

Intelligence at the Perth G.P.O. leaves a

lot to be desired. Yesterday, for instance,

a number of persons interested in the move

ments of Nor'-West steamers were anxious

to ascertain the whereabouts of the Koombana 

and Minderoo, both known to be on

their way to Fremantle with an unusually

large number of passengers. The notice

board read:--Sharks Bay, November 27

Arrived: Koombana, from Carnarvon:

Koombana, from Sharks Bay. Then it was

notified from Sharks Bay that the Koombana 

had departed for Geraldton, also for

Fremantle. Nothing, however, was tele

graphed from Geraldton about the Koombana, 

and those desirous of meeting her at

Fremantle were in a quandary. Then the

board showed that the Koombana was sighted 

off Rottnest, but the intimation was

given too late to admit of Perth residents

being able to catch a Fremantle train soon

enough to meet the steamer on arrival. The

loose haphazard style of intimating that

a mail steamer arrived at Sharks Bay from

Sharks Bay on the same date naturally dis

counted the value of all the other notifications. 

As for the Minderoo travelling up and

down the coast, little or no information was

obtainable from the board, which ought

to be absolutely reliable and above all right

up to date.-Yours, etc.,

Fix this text

DISGUSTED

Nothing makes it clearer than this 'disgust' at the tardiness of the coastal service. Of course there was no insight into the immense challenges presented by tidal ports and weather conditions. No wonder Captain Allen was 'pressed on'.

courtesy Trove.

KOOMBANA NEAPED

Northern Times, 6 November, 1909.

The first tram to Point Sampson under the

new arrangement left on Tuesday, 20th

inst, to meet the Koombana, and was

availed of by a number, in addition to the

numerous passengers, and it is intended to

meet all steamers and also run as necessary

at other times till a regular time table is

required. The tramway service to Cossack

has been altered, and for the present a

day tram only will be run, leaving Roebourne 

at 10 a.m. The altered state of affairs will be 

much appreciated by the Roebourne public 

at all events, as now the despatch and 

receipt of mails will be greatly facilitated, 

and passengers will be able to remain 

at home till within a very few hours of the 

ship's arrival. Of course it will take some 

days to arrange matters, but Mr. Thomson 

is already showing himself ready to meet 

the wishes of the residents. Though the 

first tram left early in the morning yet a 

large number gathered to witness its 

departure, and later in the day, like the 

proverbial cat, "it came back" with a hungry 

and disappointed party, the cause being that

the Koombana had been neaped at Hedland. 

Word coming through later that the boat had 

left Hedland at about 6 p.m. the passengers 

left again for the boat, hoping for better luck.

The reality of Koombana being caught in Port Hedland by the tide. Inconvenience and a knock-on effect, potentially extending to other ports up and down the coast. One can understand the pressure Captain Allen experienced to 'press on'. The limited access to a tidal port such as Hedland was a central factor contributing to the disaster. It does raise a number of issues:

1. Did Koombana's size and draught qualify her for using this tidal port?

2. In order to clear the outer bar, Koombana had to empty her tanks which made her unstable in terms of GM - unseaworthy. 

3. Filling ballast tanks at sea was risky at best and frankly dangerous if Koombana was rolling and pitching, as was witnessed on the morning of 20 March.

4. 'Bumping' the outer bar on numerous occasions would surely have caused latent damage to the keel and hull of Koombana? It does remind one of the discovery of a 150 ft. section of her bilge keel near the coast after the disaster!!!

5. The harbour master at Port Hedland,who represented Captain Irvine, the Chief harbour master, sanctioned Koombana exiting his port on numerous occasions in extremely light, unseaworthy condition. The Department of Harbour and LIghts was thus, albeit indirectly, also responsible for allowing Koombana to go to her fate? 

6. Trying to save costs at the expense of lives and safety in terms of not dredging the bar and not providing lighters for ships the size of Koombana.

courtesy Trove.

DOOR DESCRIPTION

KOOMBANA WRECKAGE FOUND.

The Premier of West Australia has received the 

following message from the Resident Magistrate at Port

Hedland : —

'Captain Townley, of the Gorgon, reported on arriving 

here to-night, 25 miles north by west of Bedout Island,

we sighted a white panelled piece of wood. Stopped and

picked it up. The description is : Panelled door, painted

white, one side has been polished. The other fittings

were marked with crossed flags, and Walker and Hall in

brackets, and ornamented with a Grecian urn. The

door had apparently been forced off by pressure, as both

handles on the white side were gone, and on the reverse 

side had been driven in. 

What is interesting about the description is that the door was intact and showed evidence of having been forced out of the frame by a uniform force such as that exerted by a volume of water possibly when the steamer rolled over onto her port side.  This makes more sense than 'shredding' wind destruction in the middle of a cyclone.

We proceeded after stoppage,' and passed through several 

small pieces of wreck, one a painting stage. Others were 

apparently small pieces of board. An unusual number of 

birds were about.'

Birds do suggest that there were bodies adrift, not necessarily seen by the crew of the Gorgon.

On Tuesday last the Premier received' the following

telegram from the resident magistrate, Broome :— 

'Message just received from postmaster, Pt. Hedland, reads :

'Jones, of steamer Gorgon, just ashore. Found door

of stateroom 50 miles from here, north of Bedout Island,

where there is a lot of small wreckage. There appears

to be no doubt.'

Mr. Moxon, manager of the Adelaide Company at 

Fremantle, said in his opinion there was no doubt that the

flotsam comprised portions of the Kocmbana's fittings, the

description received from the company's manager at

Port Hedland clearing up any doubt in that regard. The

floating door was evidently from the chief steward's

cabin, leading off from the saloon entrance on the spar

deck, the leather-headed nails being used for the purpose 

of hanging nick-nacks upon. 

courtesy Trove.

IMPORTANT MAP

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4351575

The assumption made in previous posts is that the track from Broome to Port Hedland was the same in reverse. Logic did not prevail. It would be unlikely and unsafe for steamers traversing in opposite directions to narrowly avoid collisions. With this in mind it was an interesting discovery to find a map of the route most likely intended by Captain Allen of the Koombana - see image below. But perhaps even more interesting, is the Google Earth image of this route overlying the position of the oil patch, suggesting that Koombana was very much on course when she foundered!! 

courtesy Trove.