Captain Stanley Robinson and the Waratah

Captain Stanley Robinson

Today we mourn the passing of Captain Stanley Robinson whose dedicated research into the Waratah has lasted a lifetime. To him we owe his excellent, detailed blog at 

https://stanleyrobinson309.blogspot.com/

He says:

'I have included some photographs as a reminder to the followers of the Waratah, most I have dealt with in past blogs apart from the ss Strathspey. Many events never reached the court of inquiry and were kept under wraps but were forthcoming  coming after the inquiry closed including the latest stability figures which were too late to be included at the hearing. Once the great storm in which the Waratah was lost between Durban and Cape town started to filter through there were a great many nervous insurance brokers in London looking at late ships they had insured and had no word of them to date. The Strathspey was one such ship, owned by by Burrel and Sons of Glasgow she was built in 1906 being of 4432tons 111.8m x15.9 m, with a speed of 9 knots. Under the command of Captain Osbourne she was bound for Hamburg with a load of phosphates and had left Durban some 5 hours before the Waratah on the 26th of July 1909. Late in the afternoon of  the 27th of July Waratah overhauled the Strathspey which had taken the offshore shore course in the hope of picking up some more speed with the prevailing current. There is no record of signals exchanged but if in daylight it would have been by signal flags and therefore merely a short one with regards to identity of each other.'

See more on Captain Stan's Blog.

 

SS Waratah 111th anniversary

  

SS Waratah 1909

 

 

                                                                   Psalm 107:23-31

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;

These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders of the deep. . . .

Captain Josiah Edward Ilbery, Crew and Passengers,

lost in heavy seas off the South African

Coast between Durban and Cape Town

27 July 1909.

This day, 111 years later,

27 July 2020

to the descendants, friends and all those devoted

to the SS Waratah:

Let us remember this fateful voyage,

her Captain, Crew and Passengers,

by keeping the memory alive

and passing this unique and tragic

maritime history

onto future generations.

Rest in Peace

Acknowledgement: Suzanne-Jo Leff Patterson.