What happened to the SS Waratah?

Dear Diary,

My second voyage to Australia proved uneventful. It was so good to feel the sea spray on my hull again. After the little incident on the first trip, I was worried that I would be stuck on those dry docks forever!

We’ve delivered our precious cargo and passengers, and the crew is scurrying about to load everything for our next trip. Humans are such strange little creatures; digging things up here then loading it on ships to take there only to load stuff up there and send it back here again. I don’t mind; I’m a ship. Sailing is what I do best.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Durban. We might pick up a passenger or two, but we won’t stay long — then, onwards to Cape Town. I’m a little nervous. The waters there are treacherous. I trust my captain and my crew, but we don’t know each other that well just yet. I can’t always tell what they’re about to do, and I know they feel the same about me. The ships in the dry dock told me not to worry; another voyage or two, and we’ll understand each other.

Good thing I’m unsinkable!

Welcome aboard

In 1908, the Blue Anchor Line launched their brand new flagship, the SS Waratah, on her maiden voyage from London to Australia. Built by Barclay Curle and Co, the Waratah was a 456 foot luxury liner and since her design was based on the Geelong, a ship that had an uneventful career, the Waratah was to be the pride of the Blue Anchor Line fleet.

The Waratah was a combination passenger and cargo vessel – she would take European emigrants to Australia and return with freight. For the comfort of her passengers, she had 100 first class cabins, 8 state chambers, a salon decorated with crimson waratahs and even a music chamber. The cargo holds could be converted into dormitories for up to 700 more passengers when not carrying freight.

In total, she could carry up to 1000 passengers, or 15 000 tons of cargo, and still maintain 13 knots p/h. The Waratah was also equipped with a state of the art desalination plant that could produce drinking water from sea water and carried enough supplies to last a whole year at sea. Radios weren’t standard issue yet, but she was supposed to be fitted with a radio upon her return from her second trip to Australia. Sadly, she never made it home for that vital upgrade.

Instead, she vanished, giving rise to one of the most enduring nautical mysteries.

A mysterious disappearance

The Waratah’s second trip from London to Adelaide went smoothly. She left Adelaide on 7 July 1909 for her return to London and arrived at the port of Durban on July 25th. Two passengers disembarked in Durban – one was hoping to find a job and another had had some really bad dreams. She left Durban for the port of Cape Town carrying 211 passengers and crew and 6500 tons of cargo on 26 July at 8pm.

She was expected to arrive in Cape Town on the 29th. According to port officials, the Waratah left the port upright and stable. The weather was fine, and if Captain Ilbery, an experienced and respected mariner, had any doubts about reaching Cape Town in one piece, he kept it to himself.

On July 27th, early in the morning, the Waratah caught up with the SS Clan MacIntyre. Using signal lamps, the two ships exchanged names and destinations. This was common practice before radios became standard issue since there was no other way to track of ships at sea. Waratah reported strong south-west and southerly winds, but no issues, and the Clan MacIntrye logged the encounter in their logbooks.

The senior crew of the Clan MacIntyre noted that the Waratah was upright and steaming fast and she didn’t appear to be experiencing any problems. She was making around 15 knots with the help of the strong Agulhas current. Being a much faster ship than the Clan MacIntyre, she finally disappeared from view at around 9h30 am in the vicinity of the Xhora River mouth. This would be the last confirmed sighting of the SS Waratah.

The search is on

When the Waratah didn’t arrive in Cape Town at the expected time, there was no immediate cause for concern. Ships being delayed for a few days or even weeks weren’t uncommon. Besides, she was unsinkable, so what could possible go wrong?

However, when the Clan MacIntyre finally arrived in Cape Town after weathering a severe storm, concern grew. According to the captain of the Clan MacIntrye, the weather worsened later on July 27th, after their encounter with the Waratah, and soon became the worst storm he’d ever experienced in his 13 years at sea with strong winds of up to 50 knots (90km/h) and waves up to 30 feet (9m). The Illovo had a similar tale to tell. Her deck cargo had been swept overboard and her captain had to jettison 30 tons of coal when the Illovo started listing unhappily off Danger Point.

This did not bode well for the Waratah. Soon more ships that left Durban after the Waratah began arriving in Cape Town with no reports or sightings of the SS Waratah.

Initially, it was hoped that the Waratah had simply run into mechanical issues and was helplessly adrift. The first search was launched on 1st of August, 1909, by the tugboat T.E. Fuller. However, due to the bad weather, she had to abandon her search and return to port.

The Royal Navy deployed the HMS Pandora and HMS Forte, and later the HMS Hermes, to find the Waratah and rescue her passengers and crew. However, the Hermes, while searching the area where the Waratah was last seen encountered such rough seas she suffered hull damage and was placed in the dry dock once she returned to port. The Blue Anchor Line chartered the cargo ship Sabine, fitted with search lights and other equipment to find their wayward ship. She covered 14 000 miles (22 500 km) in a systematic 88 day search, but still nothing was found.

On 10 August, 1909, news reached Australia from South Africa: ‘Blue Anchor vessel sighted a considerable distance out. Slowly making for Durban. Could be Waratah.’ The Chair of the House of Representative in the Australian Parliament halted proceedings to read the cable, and in Adelaide, the town bells were rung in celebration. Sadly, the joy was premature. The ship spotted was not the Waratah.

Finally, in December 1909, the Waratah was listed as officially missing by Lloyds of London.

However, family and friends of the passengers of the ill-fated ship weren’t willing to give up just yet. In February 1910, they managed to get funding for another ship, the SS Wakefield, to search for the Waratah. The Wakefield logged heavy seas, and the engine speed had to be reduced. A lookout was kept from the crow’s nest during the day, and she covered around 15 000 miles (24 000 km) in total, but the Waratah remained missing.

The Blue Anchor Line’s other ship, the Geelong, deviated from her route from Cape Town to Adelaide to help search the seas east of South Africa where the Waratah was thought to be adrift. The German steamship, Goslar, also kept a lookout for the Waratah while sailing from Port Elizabeth to Melbourne. However, the SS Waratah, with 211 souls on board, had simply vanished.

Nightmares

While most passengers enjoyed the trip from Adelaide to Durban, one passenger, Claude Sawyer, an experienced sea-traveller and engineer, was less enamored with the experience. When the ship reached Durban, Sawyer, who was booked through to Cape Town with the option of continuing on to London, left the ship and sent a telegram to his wife stating: ‘Thought the Waratah top-heavy, landed Durban.’ Sawyer’s intention was to reach London, but since he was only paid up to Cape Town, his departure from the ship in Durban isn’t quite the big deal many articles make it out to be. Was Sawyer a particularly good judge of ships, or did he have a little help from the great beyond?

Sawyer claimed that he had had the same nightmare three times in one night while the ship was making her way to Durban. In the dream, a blood-stained figure wielding a long sword in his left hand, holding a rag saturated in blood in the other, rose from the sea and then disappeared beneath the waves. Many articles embellish this dream, but I find it pretty unsettling as it is.

There are different accounts of what happened next. Some articles claim that Sawyer wisely kept the dream to himself and, considering it a warning against danger, left the ship in Durban; however, other articles claim that Sawyer discussed his nightmare with fellow passengers. Alexandra Hay from Coventry, England, was on her way back home with her daughter.

She was disturbed by the dream but not disturbed enough to leave the ship. Sawyer next tried to convince John Ebsworth, a solicitor on his way to London, to get off in Durban with him. However, Ebsworth, while agreeing that it was indeed a disturbing dream and possibly even an omen, also refused to leave the ship and suggested that Sawyer talk to Father Fadle.

The South African priest merely scoffed at Sawyer’s tale. What can I say; we can be a cynical lot. According to one source, Sawyer even mentioned his concerns to Captain Ilbery who, unsurprisingly, didn’t make sailing decisions based on the dreams of passengers, and dismissed both Sawyer and his dream.

However, according to Sawyer’s own testimony, he never told the Captain why he left the ship. He told the manager of the Union Castle Line, Mr Hadfield, about his nightmares the morning after departing the ship; this did wonders for his credibility since he mentioned his concerns before the Waratah disappeared.

While I’m not a firm believer in the power of premonition, I’m inclined to think that, being an experienced traveller and engineer, Sawyer realize there was something fundamentally wrong with the ship; however, not having any nautical knowledge or ship-design experience, he might not have been able to pin-point what was bothering him. He claimed to have shared his concerns with fellow passengers, but there’s no-one left to verify whether this was indeed the case. True premonition or sheer dumb luck, leaving the Waratah in Durban saved his life.

However, Sawyer wasn’t the only one to have premonitions. The chief officer of the Clan MacIntyre, C.G. Phillips, who later became Commodore of the Clan Line, suggesting him to be a capable and level-headed individual, came across a specter of his own.

According to Phillips, some hours after the final signal to the Waratah, he was standing on the bridge when he saw another ship – an old-fashioned sailing vessel. He claimed not to be the superstitious type, but the ship reminded him of the Flying Dutchman, a legendary ghost ship. The specter disappeared in the direction taken by the Waratah, and Phillips had a bad feeling that some kind of disaster was to befall the ill-fated ship. Unfortunately, he was right.

Sightings

The doomed ship’s meeting with the Clan MacIntyre is considered the last confirmed sighting, but it wasn’t the only sighting. Even many years after her disappearance, unconfirmed sightings of wreckage kept cropping up. Some of these sightings can be explained, or at least reasonable alternatives have been suggested, but there are a few that should’ve been taken a little more seriously in my opinion.

On July 27th, the Guelph, a Union Castle Liner, passed a ship during the storm at around 9h30pm. The ship was about 5 miles away heading in the opposite direction, towards Cape Town. They exchanged signals, but due to poor visibility, they could only make out the last three letters of the ship’s name: “T-A-H”.

It sounds very dramatic. However, when you dig a little deeper, the real story is slightly different. Firstly, according to both Mr Blanchard, the third officer of the Geulph, and the captain, there was a strong westerly wind but no storm; the storm only hit the Guelph the next day.

Blanchard reported that the ship appeared to be a passenger vessel, but he was unable to estimate her speed or precise heading. The ship was visible for around 10-15min, which is more than enough time to, at the very least, get her name. One article suggested that the third officer was actually chatting with another ship when the captain entered the bridge.

The other ship signed off using the informal ta-tah and our officer needed to explain why he was gossiping with the neighbors instead of doing his job. Don’t worry buddy, we’ve all been there.

Another sighting on the open seas came from the steamer SS Harlow. On the evening of the 27th, some crewmen aboard the Harlow reported seeing a ship around 10-12 miles behind them. It was clear that she was working hard against the heavy seas and the captain saw a great deal of smoke making him wonder if the ship was on fire.

When night fell, they could still see the other vessel’s running lights behind them. The Harlow was around 3 miles off Cape Hermes when the shipmate saw two bright flashes coming from the ship’s direction followed by complete darkness. It’s worth noting that no-one reported anything that sounded like an explosion.

Instead of noting this in the ship’s log, the shipmate decided that the flashes were simply from brush fire on the shore which isn’t uncommon in the area that time of year. They only realized its possible significance when they arrived in port and learned about the missing ship. However, when dry brush in South Africa catches fire, which it does quite regularly, it burns with the enthusiasm of a six – year old in a candy store.

We’re not talking one or two flashes; we’re talking about walls of flame that can be seen for miles when things really get going. Did the crew of the Harlow see the end of the Waratah or the beginnings of a brush fire?

Another sighting of the Waratah’s possible demise came from land. Edward Joe Conquer, a mounted rifleman stationed on the Wild Coast, was watching the seas through a telescope on either the 27th or the 28th of July, sources differ on the exact date. His unit was scheduled for live shell fire practice and signaling exercises.

Conquer claimed that, while stationed on a knoll on the bank of the Xhora River, with a fellow soldier, he saw a ship around 4 miles offshore. The ship, matching the Waratah’s description, was struggling against heavy seas and moving in either a south-westerly or north-westerly direction, again, sources differ. A wave rolled over her and, before she could right herself, another wave rolled over her and she disappeared.

Around three days after his sighting, a newspaper arrived at their camp with news that the Waratah was overdue in Cape Town. He claimed that he reported this sighting to M.C.R. headquarters, initially by semaphore and then later in writing, and apparently some wreckage was found in the area not long after he saw a ship disappear. However, this flotsam was carried off by locals.

The Mounted Riflemen did carry out a search along the coast when the Waratah vanished yet none of this flotsam was ever recovered or identified.

There are a few problems with Conquer’s version of events. Firstly, there’s no record of a report in the documentation collected for the inquiry into the Waratah’s disappearance held in London, so the person in charge of gathering evidence from the Colonies didn’t contact the military authorities in South Africa, or if he did, there was no report on file. Either Conquer never reported the sighting as he claimed, or his superiors didn’t consider the report important enough to file and simply threw it away.

Conquer also claimed the ship was 240 degrees from his position; this would put her inland so he probably meant 60 degrees. He also claimed that the ship was around 4 miles out to sea, but there was a storm coming in so visibility would’ve been poor making it difficult to estimate how far out she really was.

Conquer was later promoted to the position of Sergeant-Major and eventually became a commissioned officer. Considering Conquer’s military career, I’m inclined to believe he wasn’t prone to imagining things or making up stories – you need a level head to do well in a military environment. While he probably saw a ship, he didn’t see her sink, he only saw her disappear. Considering the rough seas, it’s possible she changed course or just disappeared from view due to poor visibility.

There was a storm coming in after all.

There were a few more sightings from the coast. A police officer patrolling on horseback reported seeing a ship sink off the Transkei coast. An illegal diamond prospector, Jan Pretorius, claimed to have seen a large steamer in late July from the banks of the Mbashe River, and apparently, a lifebuoy labeled TSS Waratah was found by natives in the mouth of the Mbashe River. A trader from Willowvale also claimed to have seen a large steamer too close to the reefs while camping near the Xhora River.

However, none of these could be verified.

And then there were the dead bodies.

Firstly, a number of crewmen aboard the SS Insizwa claimed to have spotted four bodies, two dressed in black and two dressed in white, 10 miles off the Mbashe River mouth being tossed about by a strong southwest Agulhas current on either August 11th or August 13th. However, due to rough seas, the bodies couldn’t be retrieved. A tugboat left from East London and the Miltiades, supposed to sail from Durban to Cape Town, also searched the area where the Insizwa reported seeing bodies, but nothing was found.

Since there were no other reports of persons missing at sea, it’s possible that the bodies were passengers or crew from the doomed Waratah. The claims were later dismissed by the inquiry, but the crewmen aboard insisted that they saw bodies in the water, and they never wavered from this claim.

Then, early in August, several members of the SS Tottenham reported the body of a little girl in the water. She was seen around 20 to 25 miles south of East London. According to an apprentice, the girl was wearing a red dressing gown; however, the second mate said she was dressed in a red cape and black stockings and appeared to be about 10 or 12 years old.

There were two sisters, the Shaumann sisters, on board the Waratah who would fit this age. However, not everyone agreed. The Tottenham’s chief engineer claimed that it was a roll of paper in a red wrapping.

The captain immediately turned the ship around to locate the body and bring in on board. Sadly, by the time they returned to where the girl had been spotted, the currents had swept the body, or roll of paper, away. A third ship, the Director, also reported dead bodies in the water around the same time, but I couldn’t find anything more about this sighting.

Three different ships independently reported seeing bodies in the water, so I’m inclined to believe that they saw something; the question is what. At the time, there was a whaling station at Durban and often offal from the station, such as dead sunfish and whale remains, was disposed of in the ocean. According to the captain of the Tottenham, that was what his crew saw, but what about the Insizwa?

They insisted that they saw bodies, but if not from the Waratah, where did the bodies come from? Whaling ships would sometimes be at sea for 3 years before they returned to the station. If a whaling ship went missing, it would take a very long time before anyone realized something was amiss.

Some ships, like the Charles W. Morgan, a wooden whaling ship, would process the entire whale out at sea – this included boiling meat and blubber. A fire on a wooden ship covered in oil and grease is a Health and Safety violation waiting to become a full-fledged incident.

It would go up like a South African veld in August and sink fast. A whaling vessel catching fire would explain the flashes reported by the Harrow, and a warship out at sea also reported seeing a ship on fire in the Cape Hermes area around this time. It also wasn’t uncommon for the captain’s family to accompany him on the extended trips, so there might’ve been children on board.

If the crew and passengers of a burning ship managed to launch lifeboats, the storm wouldn’t be their only concern. All the whale offal would attract sharks, so anyone ending up in the water wouldn’t have a chance – in fact, one of the witnesses on the Tottenham claimed that he saw the torso of a human being that most likely had been the victim of a shark attack. So did the bodies in the water come from the Waratah or an unfortunate whaling ship that was only reported missing months or even years later?

All of these sightings occurred between Port St John’s and just south of East London. That’s around 200km of coastline. Considering the southerly currents in the area, the ship in question had gone down north of East London, possibly a little north of Port St John’s, and the bodies drifted south with the current.

The Harlow’s report and Joe Conquer’s sighting from land also occurred on this stretch of the coast. Of course, all of these sightings place the Waratah too far north. Based on her speed and heading when she met up with the Clan MacIntyre, she should’ve been much further south.

However, the reports consistently place the Waratah on the same stretch of coast, and I find it unlikely that all the witnesses were lying or imagining things. So, what if she turned around? If the Waratah ran into mechanical difficulties, Captain Ilbery, being an experienced sailor, might’ve chosen to turn back to Durban instead of facing a storm with a distressed ship.

In this case, she would’ve been running against a strong current, while trying to outrun a violent storm, so she wouldn’t have made good time. I’m not a sailor, but considering what we know, this theory seems plausible to me.

In the years following her loss, occasional reports of wreckage surfacing have made the rounds. In 1910, some wreckage washed up in Mosselbay, and in 1939, cork and timber washed up near East London in South Africa, but there’s no proof it came from the Waratah. In 1911, a life preserver marked ‘Waratah’ washed up on the coast of New Zealand. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know whether the preserver went overboard while the Waratah was still in Australian waters or after she disappeared.

In 1925, a pilot in the South African Air Force, Lt. D.J. Roos reported seeing a wreck in the water while flying over the Transkei coast.

He spotted the outline of a large ship, offshore near the Xhora River, and was of the opinion that it could be the Waratah. Joe Conquer, who saw the ship disappear, and Lt Roos met in an officer’s mess and compared notes, drawing a rough sketch of the area indicating where they believe the Waratah might be. However, Lt Roos only spotted the wreck once despite flying this particular route many times.

The spot was checked with sonar searches many years later, but no ship was found. In 1962, Bill Elston was flying over the Transkei coast and also spotted a passenger ship beneath the water. He described the ship as being of intermediate size but couldn’t see whether she had a funnel or masts.

However, a breeze rippled the ocean and the ship disappeared, never to be seen again.

Emlyn Brown started his search for the Waratah as early as 1983 and, in 1997, he thought that he’d finally found her. Financed by adventure writer Clive Cussler, founder of NUMA (National Underwater & Marine Agency), Emlyn Brown and his team used a submersible, shipped from California, to dive down to the shipwreck. It was not their first joint endeavor.

The two men dedicated years to finding the Waratah. When a side scan sonar by a research vessel discovered a shipwreck off the Xhora River mouth in 375 feet (117m) of water, they thought that they’d finally found the prize. A high resolution survey done by Brown and Dr Ramsay in 1999 confirmed that there was, in fact, a wreck on the ocean floor.

Unfortunately, the wreck was not that of the Waratah but of the Nailsea Meadow, a transport ship carrying military hardware, and was one of many ships torpedoed in 1943 by German U-boats.

A one Fred Croney, staff member of the Daily Dispatch, apparently had a map of the Wild Coast coastline in his office. A point off the Mbhase River mouth was marked with a cross and notation reading ‘here lies the Waratah.’ We’ll never know how he knew this, what otherworldly insight he had, but considering that the Waratah simply vanished without a trace, his guess is as good as any I suppose.

The Inquiry

Disasters of any kind have a tendency to generate a whole lot of paperwork, and thus, to satisfy the bureaucracy gods, an inquiry was held in London in 1910 when it finally became clear that the Waratah wasn’t going to be found any time soon. Passengers and crew from the ship’s maiden voyage were called to testify, but the testimonies differed wildly – some considered the Waratah one of the safest and most stable ships they’ve ever travelled with while others claimed the exact opposite.

Claude Sawyer, the man whose nightmare saved his life, was among those called to testify. According to Sawyer’s testimony, he noticed a big list to port when the ship left Melbourne and when the ship encountered turbulent weather on the way to Durban, she ‘wobbled about a good deal’ and then listed over to starboard where she remained for a long time. While recovering from a roll, she would often jerk causing injury to some passengers.

Mrs Caywood hurt her arm and hip in one incident and in relatively smooth seas Dr Fulford and Ms Lascelles were injured after being knocked off their feet. In one instance while he was taking a bath, the ship rolled, and he was able to judge by the bathwater that she had rolled at least 45 degrees. When he asked one of the officers on board to confirm the angle, he was told that it wasn’t a cause for concern.

He also mentioned that the ship took longer than usual to right herself after a roll which he found very worrying and other witnesses echoed this sentiment. Physicist Professor William Bragg was a passenger on the Waratah’s maiden voyage, and testified that, while in the Southern Ocean, the Waratah developed a list to starboard to such an extent that water would not run out of the baths and this list was held for several hours before she rolled upright. Professor Bragg theorized that the ship’s metacenter was just below her center of gravity.

When she slowly rolled to one side, she would reach a point of equilibrium and would stay in that position until either a shift in the sea or the wind pushed her upright again. Other passengers and crew would also comment on the Waratah’s lack of stability and some of the crew handling the ship in port claimed that she was so unstable when unladen that she couldn’t be moved without ballast. This isn’t unusual for cargo ships since they’re built to carry heavy loads.

However, the crew handling her in port would be aware of this, so the fact that they came forward, testifying the ship to be dangerously unstable, does suggest that something about the Waratah was concerning to those who knew better.

Correspondence between Captain Ilbery, the managers of the Blue Anchor line, and the builders of the ship showed some contradictions. In letters to the managers of the Blue Anchor line, the Captain commented on some of the details – the ship’s fixtures, fittings, cabins, public rooms and ventilation to name a few, but there seems to be no mention of the Waratah’s seaworthiness or handling at sea. Some speculate that the Captain had concerns about the Waratah’s stability, but for some reason never raised his concerns in these letters specifically.

However, Barclay Curle, the builders of the ship, told a different story when they revealed letters written by Captain Ilbery where he mentions concerns regarding the stability of the ship. There were also some angry letters between the builders and Lund and Sons, the owners of the Blue Anchor Line, about stowage issues aboard the ship. The owners later claimed it was simply a bluff to get a financial settlement from the builders.

While I’m sure this is considered fraud and illegal, it’s clear there were some concerns about the ship’s stability when carrying cargo which should’ve been addressed before she left port a second time.

However, expert witnesses all agreed that the Waratah was built properly. According to Mr F.N. Laing, speaking on behalf of the Board of Trade, there had been no reports of problems after the Waratah’s maiden voyage. I’m guessing he forgot about the coal bunker fire.

There were claims that Captain Ilbery had told the captain of the Mongolia that the second trip would the Waratah’s last unless significant alterations were made. However, the captain of the Mongolia had never met Captain Ilbery, so where exactly this rumor came from is a bit unclear.

According to Mr Barry, chief of the scientific department of Barclay Curle and Co, the builders, all experiments conducted with the Waratah when she was first launched were satisfactory. The Waratah was superior with regards to width and depth. Unlike some ships, the consumption of coal, which would lessen the load, wouldn’t affect her stability. Even if the ship rolled so far to one side that her masts were parallel to the surface of the ocean, the ship would still be able to right herself.

In fact, a weight of 290 tons placed on one side would be needed for the ship to list even 15 degrees. He firmly believed that the ship wouldn’t list enough for it to roll over completely.

The Waratah passed the numerous inspections by her builders, her owners, the Board of Trade as well as two inspections by Lloyd’s of London, who insured the vessel and gave her their top rating. This rating was only given to ships inspected and assessed by Lloyd’s throughout the design, construction and sea trials. Crew members, ranking from stokers to a deck officer, as well as passengers aboard her maiden voyage claimed that the Waratah was perfectly stable, especially stable according to some, with a comfortable, easy roll.

Considering all these contradictions, you’d think someone was lying – but that’s not necessarily the case. Many passenger ships of the period were slightly top-heavy. This gave the ship a long, comfortable but unstable roll which is more preferable for many passengers than a short, jarring, but stable roll.

After a few voyages, the crew learned how to load and handle the ships correctly, so the majority of these ships were active without any major issues for decades. However, the Waratah ran into an unusually heavy storm on her second voyage before the crew really had a chance to get to know her little tics. This design could explain why the witnesses gave such strongly opposed testimonies.

An inexperienced or uninformed traveller might’ve interpreted the long, slow, soft roll as comfortable and safe while an experienced sailor or traveller, like Claude Sawyer, would’ve experienced the same motion as unstable.

The Waratah was also a combination cargo and passenger liner which complicated things a little bit. Passenger liners have a relatively small cargo volume relative to their gross tonnage and, therefore, have predictable ballasting requirements. However, the Waratah could carry a variety of different cargoes on the same voyage, especially when she wasn’t carrying that many passengers, which would’ve made the ballasting more complex and correct stowage more crucial. If the cargo suddenly shifted due to a violent storm, it could certainly have contributed to the ship rolling over too far to recover and capsizing.

In the end, the Blue Anchor Line wasn’t directly blamed for the tragedy, but their reputation was ruined and no-one was very keen to use their ships - no real surprise there. They soon went bankrupt and were forced to sell their remaining fleet to the P&O Company in 1910. What was supposed to be their flagship became their torpedo.

Theories

The only thing we know for a fact is that the Waratah was last seen at 9h30 a.m. on 27th July by the Clan MacIntyre. There are many theories, but so far, no-one has been able to find a wreck or explain how a 450 foot steam ocean liner managed to disappear without a trace, taking her passengers and crew with her. Some of the theories are just ridiculous; I’m fairly confident we can rule out alien involvement or inter-dimensional portholes, so let’s focus on the more likely theories.

A storm

The most likely theory, and the one settled on by the inquiry, is that the Waratah was lost during a storm. The Cape of Good Hope has many other names - the coastline is known as the Wild Coast, The Cape of Storms, and my personal favourite, the Graveyard of Ships. There are 26 wrecks just around Cape Town itself, and some estimate that between 2500 and 3000 ships have sunk off the South African coast since the 1500s. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but since the list of shipwrecks off the Overberg Municipal area, which covers around 160 miles of coastline, is 5 pages long with an average of 30 entries per page, I can believe it.

One theory proposed that the Waratah encountered a rogue wave while sailing through the storm the captain of the Clan MacIntyre described as the worst he’d ever seen. Rogue waves are thankfully not that common, and they were considered to be a nautical myth for many years. It’s only in the last few decades that rogue waves were considered to be an actual thing.

Essentially, a rogue wave can be greater than twice the size of the surrounding waves and since they often come from a different direction than the prevailing wind, they are highly unpredictable. Some reports describe them as a “wall of water”, steep-sided, and with an unusually deep through. According to National Geographic, the spot with the highest frequency of rogue waves is, you guessed it, off the coast of South Africa.

In 2020, a rogue wave of 17.6m was recorded off Vancouver Island; however, while it may officially be the highest on record, there are tales of rogue waves up to 24 m high. Research suggests that rogue waves off the southeast coast of South Africa, where they are most likely to happen, can easily reach up to 20m. That’s roughly the length of a tennis court. The combination of the strong Agulhas current and a narrow continental shelf is probably to blame, but for those facing a rogue wave, where it came from really isn’t that important in that moment.

If the Waratah was a little unstable due to some design flaw, being hit by a giant wave would’ve been disastrous. She was carrying 6500 tons of cargo, so if the cargo dislodged, the shifting cargo would certainly have contributed to the Waratah turning turtle and sinking. If she did roll over completely, any debris, and bodies, would be trapped under the wreck which might explain why nothing was ever found.

Many perfectly seaworthy vessels without any design issues have been very badly damaged in the violent storms around the Cape of Good Hope; we love irony down here. An unstable ship wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell against a 20 m wave.

An explosion

Another theory suggests the possibility of a fire or a catastrophic explosion on board. A fire on board might explain the flashes spotted by the Harlow. Coal dust can be self-combustible under the right circumstances so an unfortunate series of events could’ve lead to an explosion on board.

Many proponents of this theory also point out that the Waratah suffered a coal bunker fire on her maiden voyage. The fire burned for two days before it could be extinguished. However, the Waratah was repaired when she returned to port so whatever caused the fire was obviously rectified at the time. Smarter people than me stated that it would be unlikely for the same issue to cause another fire so soon.

Many believe that this theory also explains the lack of wreckage, but I’m not so sure. If the Waratah did catch fire, it seems unlikely that no-one was able to launch any lifeboats before she went down, and an explosion would have turned a big ship into small pieces. Some of those pieces would float, so there should be some wreckage.

Adrift and lost in Antarctic waters

The last theory worth considering is that the Waratah ran into mechanical trouble and was set adrift. If Captain Ilbery steered for open seas, unwilling to risk being too close to the rocks on the coast in a storm, she would’ve been too far out at sea for vessels travelling near the coast to see her signals calling for help.

In 1937, the Nottingham Evening Post published an article speculating that the Waratah drifted south, possibly all the way to the waters of Antarctica, where she finally foundered or was crushed by the ice. If the passengers on board didn’t drown during a freak storm, they would’ve been left to die of starvation and cold. She was well-stocked, so I find starvation unlikely – if she did make her way to Antarctica, I think hypothermia and disease most likely killed those on board. Either way, it would’ve been a horrifying experience for the passengers and crew.

A story published by The Daily Standard of Queensland on 5 September 1913 gave some credence to the Antarctica theory. The leader of the Australian Antarctic Expedition, Douglas Mawson, claimed to have come across what could be the wreck of the Waratah in the narrow inlet of a bay while exploring south of base camp. Three attempts were made to reach the wreck, but a blizzard finally made that impossible. They did manage to recover a lifebuoy marked Waratah and even reported footprints suggesting possible survivors.

However, the story was a hoax. The Daily Mail wanted to see if their rival, The Daily Standard, was stealing their stories and The Daily Standard fell for the ploy hook, line and sinker.

Other theories suggest a whirlpool, a methane upsurge, or running aground on an uncharted reef, but none of these theories are very plausible in my honest opinion. She was too big to be sucked down by a whirlpool, a methane upsurge is incredibly unlikely, and if she hit an uncharted reef close to the coast, the wreck would most likely have been found. Another theory floating around was that she had fallen victim to pirates as she was carrying 300 tons of gold bullion. However, there’s no record of the Waratah carrying any gold, so I think this is unlikely.

Conclusion

The Waratah was probably doomed from the start. Between 1848 and 1894, four ships carrying the name Waratah were lost. On top of that, she was called unsinkable. Ships are much like cats. The minute you call them unsinkable, they’ll do their best to prove you wrong and sink at the first possible opportunity. But ships go down all the time, so why is the Waratah considered such a nautical mystery?

Firstly, at 450 foot, the Waratah was a pretty big ship, yet she disappeared without a trace. On top of that, she went missing along a very busy shipping lane. I don’t know how true this is for other beaches, but you can stand on any beach between the ports of Durban and Cape Town and you’ll likely see a ship - it’s pretty crowded. The captain might’ve put her further out to sea and visibility was very poor, but she likely foundered while there was more than one ship close enough to help.

Finally, there was no wreckage and despite searches going on for almost 50 years now, no sign of a wreck has been found. If she went down in the middle of the Atlantic, that would make sense, but it’s possible that she sank within sight of the South African coast. The search area is considerably smaller than it was for the Titanic. So where the hell is she?

The documentary on Emlyn Brown’s search for the Waratah is a story about adventure, but seeing the wreck of the Nailsea Meadow lying on the ocean floor, dark and silent, never to traverse the seas again, was a sobering sight. It wasn’t the Waratah, but it reminded me that this isn’t just a story; 211 people died, and their last moments, trapped on a ship with nothing but the icy cold waters beckoning them must have been terrifying. Just this once I think we need to remember not just the Waratah, but all the souls on board that she carried with her into the depths of the stormy waters around the Cape of Good Hope.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the SS Waratah?

The SS Waratah was a 456-foot luxury liner launched by the Blue Anchor Line in 1908. It was a combination passenger and cargo vessel designed to carry up to 1000 passengers or 15,000 tons of cargo.

What happened to the SS Waratah on its second voyage?

The SS Waratah vanished during its second voyage from Durban to Cape Town on July 27, 1909. Despite extensive search efforts, no wreckage or definitive evidence of its fate has been found.

What was the last confirmed sighting of the SS Waratah?

The last confirmed sighting of the SS Waratah was on July 27, 1909, by the SS Clan MacIntyre. The Waratah was reported to be upright and steaming fast with strong winds but no issues.

What were some of the theories about the SS Waratah’s disappearance?

Several theories exist, including encountering a rogue wave during a severe storm, a fire or explosion on board, and mechanical failure leading to the ship being set adrift. Some theories also suggest it may have drifted to Antarctic waters.

What was the significance of Claude Sawyer’s nightmare?

Claude Sawyer, an experienced sea-traveler and engineer, had a recurring nightmare about a blood-stained figure rising from the sea. He left the SS Waratah in Durban, possibly saving his life, as the ship vanished shortly after.

What was the outcome of the inquiry into the SS Waratah’s disappearance?

The inquiry held in London in 1910 found contradictions in testimonies about the ship’s stability. While expert witnesses agreed the ship was built properly, there were concerns about its stability and handling at sea.

What was the fate of the Blue Anchor Line after the SS Waratah’s disappearance?

The Blue Anchor Line’s reputation was ruined, and they went bankrupt, selling their remaining fleet to the P&O Company in 1910.

What was the significance of the SS Waratah’s meeting with the SS Clan MacIntyre?

The meeting with the SS Clan MacIntyre was the last confirmed sighting of the SS Waratah. The Clan MacIntyre reported strong winds but no issues, and the Waratah was seen steaming fast and upright.

What was the role of the SS Wakefield in the search for the SS Waratah?

The SS Wakefield was funded by family and friends of the passengers to search for the SS Waratah in February 1910. Despite covering around 15,000 miles, no trace of the Waratah was found.

What was the significance of the sightings of wreckage and bodies after the SS Waratah’s disappearance?

Several sightings of wreckage and bodies were reported, but none could be definitively linked to the SS Waratah. These sightings added to the mystery but did not provide conclusive evidence of the ship’s fate.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: What happened to the SS Waratah?
• Hero image source by Poppy Parkes-Old / openverse, by-sa.