Lost Ships

SS Waratah and its 221 crew and passengers

were never heard from after 27 July 1909. Its

wreck has yet to be found.  She is / was often called

the “Titanic of the South”.

Ships are usually declared lost and considered wrecked after an extended period of their “disappearance time” has lapsed. The disappearance of a ship usually implies all hands aboard are thought to be lost. Without witnesses or survivors, mysteries that surround the fates of missing ships have inspired many topics of nautical lore and the foundation of paranormal zones such as the Bermuda Triangle.

Prior to the advent of global positioning and radar, lost ships were more commonplace than you may think.  Here are a few examples:

The steam service between Great Britain and the United States had only just begun when news of the “President” disaster came.  As fate would have it, her performance on the Atlantic was anything but successful. Her first voyage sailed from Liverpool on 17^th of July 1840 without incident but on the 11^th of March 1841 she left New York with one hundred and thirty-six persons on board. It is known that within two days she encountered a very heavy gale, but beyond that point, absolutely nothing is known of her. She vanished and all on board went with her. Among those passengers on-board were a son of the Duke of Richmond and a well-known comedian of the day, Mr. Tyrone Power I who was the great-grandfather of the later day American film star, Tyrone Power III.

Far more terrible was the fate of the “City of Glasgow”.  This vessel traded between Glasgow, Scotland and New York City. A beautiful craft of 1600 tons, it was thought she could withstand even the fury of the Atlantic Ocean. Her crew reached a total of seventy, and there was room for over five hundred passengers.  The ill-fated vessel left port on 1^st of March in 1854 with four hundred and eighty persons on board, and was never again heard of.

During the 1850's there was a famous Atlantic shipping organization known as the Collins Line. Several noble vessels were constructed for that line, amongst which included the paddle-steamers “Arctic” and “Pacific”.  On the 27'th of September in 1854, the Arctic was inadvertently run into by a small French steamer off Newfoundland.  Three hundred and twenty-two lives were lost, including the managing director of the company, Mr. Collins, and his wife, son, and daughter, all of who were on board. The shock of this disaster was scarcely over when the Pacific left port, never again to be seen or heard of. She had sailed from Liverpool on 23'rd of September in 1856, and disappeared with all two hundred and forty people on board.

Just five months later on February 26^th of 1857, the steamship “Tempest” of the Anchor Line, was added to the increasing list of mysterious disappearances on the Atlantic. She had sailed with a crew and passengers numbering one hundred and fifty all told, and was never seen again.

The same Anchor Line furnished the next disappearing ship incident with the loss of the steamer “United Kingdom” which disappeared with eighty persons on board.  She departed port on the17'th of April 1868, never to be seen again.

The “City of Boston”, was next, when on the 28'th of January in 1870, one hundred and seventy-seven passengers and crew left port, well found and with every prospect of a safe and speedy trip, but instead quite simply vanished.

The “Scanderia”, sailed on the 8'th of October 1872, and nothing was ever heard of her again. She had thirty-eight persons on board.  The “Ismailia”, sailing on the 27th of September 1873, and carrying fifty-two soles on board, disappeared and left no trace of her fate.

Early in 1877 the “Colombo”, a Wilson Liner, with forty-four persons on board, commenced the voyage across the Atlantic, but never arrived.    The “Herman Ludwig”, with fifty passengers and crew was lost on September 28^th 1878. In December of the same year another vessel called the “Homer”, having forty-three persons on board, disappeared completely; and on January 8^th in 1881, so did the “City of Limerick”, she was carrying 43 persons as well. Then on the 13th of November 1881 the “City of London”, another vessel carrying forty-one all told, left port never again to be heard of.

The “Erin”, with seventy-two persons on board, was lost in 1889, nothing ever being heard of her after she left port on 31st of  December. Scarcely a year later, the “Thanemore”, with forty-three passengers and crew, came to the same end; and finally on the 11'th day of February in 1893, the “Naronic”, sailed with seventy-four aboard all told, and was never heard of again.

As we have seen, “never heard from again” accounts for these seventeen fine Atlantic steamers, carrying passengers and cargoes, with a heavy loss of life (just short of two thousand soles) ought to be enough; at least you would think as much but alas, the mysterious carnage continues as shown in 1909,

when the “SS Waratah” (often called the Titanic of the South) embarked on her second voyage, from Sydney, Australia to England by way of South Africa. She filled up with families who were no doubt anticipating a new life on the other side of the world; but what started out as a journey full of hope ended abruptly when the ship vanished somewhere between Durban, England and Cape Town, South Africa.

Sources …

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Wrecks/never.htm           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missing_ships                 http://freaquewaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/lost-ship-ss-waratah.html