Blue Anchor Production SS Waratah "voyage into oblvion"

Logline “The story of how an impoverished immigrant rose to become a great shipping entrepreneur only to be humbled by mother nature”

Synopsis: A Danish immigrant without a brass farthing to his name rises to prominence in the world of shipping, due to his sailing ingenuity, foresight of trading patterns and courage to seize opportunities which others may have shunned. Rising to the top of his trade mainly in the Southern hemisphere providing freight and immigrant passenger services to Australia and her trading partners. Having built up a modern fleet of ships his humbling by nature was the loss of the flagship Waratah which disappeared off the East Coast of South Africa with all hands on her second voyage. He never regained his enthusiasm which was behind an eminently successful career after the tragic loss. 1909: Loss of Waratah: On the homeward leg of her second round voyage she left Adelaide on 7th July 1909 and arrived at Durban on 25th July after an uneventful crossing of the Indian Ocean to take on coal and passengers. She sailed from Durban on the 26th bound for Cape Town with 92 passengers and 119 officers and crew. Early on the following morning she overhauled and passed the slower steamer Clan MacIntyre which was on her way from Durban to East London and was soon hull down on the horizon. Several other steamers subsequently claimed to have sighted her but none of these reports were ever properly authenticated and it seems fairly sure that the Clan MacIntyre was the last ship to sight the Waratah before she disappeared with all on board. A severe south west gale described by some as the worst in living memory raged across the Waratah’s presumed path on the 29th and the conclusion reached at subsequent enquiry was that the vessel foundered in the storm. The most puzzling part of the whole tragedy was that there was no trace of the vessel in the way of floating debris was ever found in spite of an intensive search of the area including a month’s seeking by a vessel specifically chartered by the Australian Government for the purpose. The south flowing Agulhas current off this part of the coast was however most probably responsible for carrying any remains that did reach the surface down to the wastes of Antarctica. It was also just before the time before wireless became available. The tragedy must have occurred too quickly for any other message to be got away. Her master was Captain J.E. Ilbery who was not only the Commodore of the fleet with more voyages in the Australian service to his credit than any other master of any company in that trade but was almost as much part of Blue Anchor Line as Lund himself. The loss of the Waratah destroyed his interest in the future of his creation.

January 1910 fleet assets along with goodwill of the Blue Anchor Line Limited sold for GBP 275,000 to the Peninsular & Oriental SN Co. who had for some years been seeking and entry into the profitable emigrant trade to Australia via the Cape as a complement to their mail services via Suez. In July 1910, the Blue Anchor Line was put into voluntary liquidation and finally wound up a year later.

Characters

• William Lund

• Frank Lund (son)

• Captain Ilbery (commodore of the fleet)

• William Walker (ship builder)

Locations

Southern Ocean

Denmark

London: Surrey Docks and Rotherhithe

Cape Town

Durban

Australia

Storyboard

ID dự án: #33205809

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