Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance

Date: 22 Feb 1911
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

A report was released in London about the disappearance of the Waratah between Durban and Cape Town. The twin-screw passenger and cargo steamship, one of the biggest liners on the Austalian run, was lost with 211 people, passengers and crew, on board. The report, conducted by the British Board of Trade, found that it was likely that the ship had overturned in a gale of exceptional strength. Her disappearance on her return maiden voyage from Australia to England in 1909, without any trace of wreckage or survivors despite a search by three naval vessels shortly after she failed to arrive in Cape Town, is one of the most baffling mysteries of the sea.

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How we know this

01Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds) (1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 11, p. 318.
02Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011336

South African History Online (2011) 'Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011336 (Accessed: 22 July 2026).

South African History Online, Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011336, (accessed 22 July 2026).

"Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011336. Accessed 22 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Report released on the Waratah steamship's disappearance." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011336.