Expedition to find the mystery ship Waratah that vanished
off the eastern coast of South Africa. September, 1987.
The Waratah was one of the most baffling mysteries of
the sea. In July of 1909, the 500 foot steamer, on her
return maiden voyage from Australia to Capetown, went
missing with over 200 passengers and crew somewhere in
the Indian ocean off the rugged eastern coast of South
Africa.
For 79 years she rested lost, but not forgotten. Her
loss was the subject of numerous books, articles and
endless speculation as to he fate. Rather than write
another redundant report, I've simply added newspaper
accounts on her loss and testimony of a handful of witnesses.
My own involvement came in April of 1985 when my British
publisher sent me to South Africa on tour to plug my
then latest book, "Deep Six". I had often
read of the Waratah and was most interested in her tale,
but brushed off any thought of an expedition to find
her since flying a NUMA crew and our equipment 8000
miles to South Africa and back was simply too damned
expensive. Then, add to the fact the search area was
not easily accessible by air or car.
Fortunately, after a talk I gave in Capetown on shipwrecks,
I was approached by Mr. Emlyn Brown, a native South
African who had spent ten years researching the lost
ship. We had a drink together and formed a partnership
to find the Waratah. Brown would be search director,
put together and lead the expedition, while I through
NUMA would fund and consult.
In the end we contracted with a marine survey firm
by the name of Sistema Ltd., near Capetown. I'd like
to say that Emlyn Brown did a Herculean job of overcoming
obstacles of local incompetence and uncaring interest.
All credit for the discovery of the wreck must go to
Emlyn. The results of the survey for the Waratah come
behind the newspaper accounts of the liner's loss.
The readings by the South Africans were hardly what
we've come to expect during our own expeditions. Gary
Kozak of Klein & Associates studied the sonar readings
and found them too vague to draw solid conclusions.
There definitely is a shipwreck in the area the witnesses
described, especially Joe Conquer, who watched the ship
disappear on the correct date, and D. J. Roos, an airmail
pilot, who spotted a large wreck on the bottom in the
same position during a flight to Durban.
Records show no other iron steamer on the bottom within
sixty miles, and those are accounted for.
Odds favor our find being the Waratah, but until we
get an ROV down on her, we can only assume we've finally
solved the enigma of her disappearance. Another expedition
plus a documentary is in the making. So it should be
only a question of a year or two before we actually
see her up close.
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