SS Koombana was a passenger steamship built in Scotland in 1908 for the Adelaide Steamship Company, to operate coastal liner services between Fremantle and the northwest coast of Western Australia. She sank in a tropical cyclone somewhere off Port Hedland in 1912, with the loss of all 150 people aboard. Her loss was one of Australia's worst weather-related maritime disasters in the twentieth century.
Previously, in April and May 1909, Koombana took the Premier of Western Australia, Newton Moore, on a tour of the northwest, which included the official opening of the jetty at Port Hedland, now the highest tonnage port in Australia. Koombana was also the first ship to berth at that jetty.
In November 1910, Koombana was part of a welcoming flotilla of vessels at Broome, Western Australia, for the arrival in Australia of the Royal Australian Navy's first two destroyers, and . In November 1911, Koombana was the subject of an industrial dispute that had consequences throughout Australia.
Koombanas loss in 1912 caused the Adelaide Steamship Co's to withdraw from serving the northwest coast. This led the Government of Western Australia to found Stateships, which dominated that trade for the rest of the twentieth century.
Building, registration and identification
Koombana was the first passenger and cargo ship to be designed and built exclusively for the Western Australian coastal service. Her purpose was to develop trade with the northwest of the State. She was built under the British Corporation shelter deck rules, to carry first and second class passengers, many head of cattle, general cargo, and refrigerated cargo.
The Adelaide Steamship Co was the main operator of coastal shipping between Fremantle and the northwest coast when it ordered Koombana. Since 1900 the Bullarra had worked the route. Koombana was to be her far larger replacement. She was specially designed for the semi-tropical climate of the northwest coast.
Alexander Stephen & Sons built Koombana at their Linthouse shipyard in Glasgow as yard number 429. She was launched on 27 October 1908 by Mrs S Elgar, wife of one of the Adelaide Steamship Company's superintendents in Britain. Company policy was to give each of its ships a name from a local aboriginal language. At the suggestion of the Premier, Newton Moore, the ship was named Koombana, after Robert Forrest's Koombana Mill, near Bunbury, Western Australia. "Koombana", first recorded by John Arrowsmith in 1838 as "Koombanah", is the Noongar name of a bay near Bunbury, now called Koombana Bay. "Koombana" may mean bay ("ana") of spouting whales ("koomba"), and also "calm and peaceful".
Koombanas registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . Her tonnages were and . Babcock & Wilcox supplied her water-tube boilers. She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion engine, which was rated at 423 NHP or 3,000 hp. She could achieve , and her average speed, fully laden, was .
The Adelaide Steamship Co registered Koombana at Port Adelaide. Her UK official number was 122725 and her code letters were TQSF.
Koombana was described as "... as luxurious as the Titanic ..." and as "... the last word in seagoing opulence". After her arrival in Fremantle on her delivery voyage, she was praised as "... the acme of perfection as regards the comfort of passengers, facilities for handling cargo, and appliances for skilful navigation ...". However, she was also criticised as "... too good for the trade".
Architecture and equipment Passenger facilities
Koombana had several decks with passenger facilities. Immediately above the lower hold was the orlop deck, and above that, the main deck. Above that was the spar deck, which had most of the passenger cabins and both dining saloons. Over the spar deck was a promenade deck, above which was the bridge and boat deck, with the navigating bridge on top.
The drawing and smoke rooms were both on the promenade deck. In the drawing room, there were portable lounges and Waring & Co furnishings, all upholstered in purple plush. The drawing room had satinwood panelled walls, a bookcase with up-to-date library, and other furniture, including a Broadway piano and a pair of Chippendale-style writing desks. Its ceilings were white painted canvas with a gilt-edged floral design; its main entrance and the stairway leading to the promenade deck were both panelled in mahogany. The smoke room was upholstered in scarlet.
Koombana'''s dining room in the first saloon was roomy, well ventilated, and had green-upholstered seating for 75 people. Its walls were panelled in oak. The galley and pantries had modern appliances, including a patent electric egg boiler in the kitchen, and an electrically driven dough mixer in the bakehouse.
There were berths for 300 first and second saloon passengers. Most cabins had only two berths, and all had electric fans. The first class cabins were built according to the island system, with each division having a separate entrance from the deck, and easy access to and from the saloon.
EquipmentKoombana's bridge had various instruments and machines, including the latest navigation aids. There was an Alfred Graham patent telephone switch, which linked the bridge with the captain's cabin, the poop, and the engine-room. The telephone was used in emergencies, or when the officers on the bridge wanted to be more explicit in their instructions to the engine-room. It was supplemented by a telegraph, for communications between the bridge and the aft end of the ship. Also on the bridge were several automatic indicators, a telemotor to control the steering gear, and a portable chart table in a glass.Koombana had electric navigation lights with auxiliary oil lamps, and indicators to warn of failure of any of the navigational lights. The indicators were in the form of discs in the wheel house. Were anything to go wrong with a light, a coloured flame would flare up in the respective disc. If the indication were disregarded, an electric bell would ring.Koombana carried a motor launch. It was for use when she missed the tide at northwestern ports, and could be sent ashore as necessary.
Cargo facilitiesKoombana was designed and built to carry livestock. Her main deck had pens for transporting about 220 head of cattle or 1,500 sheep. However, as early as her second northwest coastal run embarked 2,500 sheep at Carnarvon for Fremantle.Koombana had a refrigerating plant supplied by J&E Hall of London, and two large freezing chambers, with a total capacity of 1,800 tons of cubic space, perishable cargo. These chambers had capacity for about 800 tons of cargo, and were supplemented by an icemaking machine.Koombanas seven sets of Welin quadrant davits were all worked by hydraulic power, apart from one steam crane at the No 1 hatch forward.
Service history Delivery voyage
At the end of December 1908, Koombana left the UK on her delivery voyage to Melbourne, Australia, via Cape Town and Durban in South Africa, and Fremantle and Adelaide in Australia. Her Master for the voyage was Captain John Rees, who had been Master of Bullara.Koombana left Glasgow on 29 December 1908 in a severe snowstorm. After 36 hours' delay at Greenock awaiting snowbound passengers, she sailed at 7am on 31 December. She passed Las Palmas on 6 January 1909, Cape Verde three days later, and crossed the Equator on 13 January. She reached Cape Town on 23 January, embarked passengers, and left the next day.
On arrival at Durban on 27 January 1909, Koombana embarked many passengers bound for Australian ports, among them one JH Taylor. Two days after the ship left Durban, on 30 January 1909, Mr Taylor vanished without trace. He had been observed to be behaving "in a peculiar and eccentric manner". He had told other passengers that he had been in South Africa for some years, and had lost a lot of money. It was therefore assumed that "his losses had preyed upon his mind", and that "in a fit of melancholia", he had "jumped overboard in the night".Koombana passed Amsterdam Island on 5 February and reached Fremantle on 11 February. There she unloaded cargo including valuable thoroughbred and Suffolk Punch horses, a Dorset horn ram and five Dorset horn ewes in lamb. A well known former Australian trainer, Edwin Couch, had been engaged to accompany the horses from Glasgow to Fremantle. But after apparently displaying great interest in the matter, he had failed to appear to carry out his engagement, which had therefore had to be carried out by "another good man". Couch had later been discovered to have died by suicide using a revolver in an Exeter hotel.
On 12 February 1909, Koombana left Fremantle for Melbourne. At a reception held on board her in Melbourne on 5 March, the federal Attorney-General, Billy Hughes, responded to a toast to the Commonwealth Parliament by acknowledging the immense proportions that the Australian shipping industry had recently assumed. His Western Australian colleague Senator George Pearce, Minister for Defence, also gave a speech, in which he attributed the moves to establish a Royal Australian Navy to the need to keep the way open for coastal trade. In another speech, the Minister for Home Affairs, Hugh Mahon, who was also the federal Member for Coolgardie in Western Australia, asserted not only that the coastal trade was one of Australia's most precious possessions, but also, somewhat presciently, that no sacrifice should be too great to preserve it.
Soon afterwards, Koombana returned to Fremantle to replace Bullarra on the northwest trade. Shortly before dawn on 8 March 1909, she berthed at Victoria Quay, Fremantle, to complete her delivery. During the delivery voyage, her seagoing qualities had proved to be exceptionally fine.
Early northwest tripsKoombana left Fremantle on her first northwest trip to Derby on 12 March 1909, and from Geraldton the next night. She was expected to reach Carnarvon on the evening of 15 March 1909, but that morning she ran aground on a sand bank known as Bar Flats, from Denham in Shark Bay.
A subsequent inquiry by the Chief Harbourmaster, Captain CJ Irvine, established that the master, Captain Rees, had mistaken the mark buoy in the north side of the channel leading to Denham for the outer or westerly buoy. In the hazy prevailing weather, Captain Rees had been unable to verify his position by bearings from the headlands, and there was little warning of the approach of shoal waters. The Chief Harbourmaster therefore concluded that more care should have been exercised when approaching Bar Flats, and the speed of the ship reduced to "slow" until the vessel's position had been definitely ascertained. However, in light of Captain Rees's past good record, and in the absence of any damage to the ship, he recommended that no further action be taken.
Initially, Captain Rees expected to be able to float Koombana off the sand bank the next day. With the haze having lifted by the following morning, the ship became visible from Denham by the aid of glasses. Efforts to refloat her by emptying her ballast tanks were unsuccessful. Crew members then sent the motor launch towards Denham, but in a heavy sea its motor was swamped, and it returned to Koombana using its sail. Denham was reached only on a second attempt.
On 18 March 1909 at 02:30, SS Winfield left Geraldton to lighten her. The task of refloating Koombana took several more days, with the officers and crews of both ships working day and night. On 24 March 1909, Winfield herself ran aground for half an hour, while turning to come alongside. An attempted tow that day was unsuccessful, but at 14:30 the next day, after cargo had been taken out of Koombanas forehatch, she was finally refloated.