Seascape Factors in the Loss of the SS Waratah

Abstract The SS Waratah was lost with all 211 lives circa 27 July 1909 off the South African eastern coast, for reasons unknown, and the wreck has not been found despite numerous searches at the time and into the present. The purpose of this paper is to identify possible sinking locations based on the interaction of meteorological fronts, Agulhas current, and bathymetric features. The route of the ship is reconstructed from historical documents, and the account of the following ship Clan Macintyre, using haversines. The analysis shows that the Waratah met the storm on the edge of the continental shelf of Algoa Bay. Multiple simulations were conducted to explore parameter variability, and the meeting location shifts accordingly, bracketing an area of 40 nm by 10 nm (nm). It is proposed that the ship sank on meeting a rogue wave in the storm, or shortly afterwards, at the continental shelf break, possibly near the head of a submarine canyon. Two locations stand out for meeting these criteria and these are 34.3482 o S 26.2627 o E, and 34.3942 o S 25.9394 o E. The work provides a new hypothesis, backed by detailed navigational modelling from the known facts, regarding where and how the ship sank. The novel contribution of this research is the combination of multiple disciplines, such as historical research, principles of maritime engineering, navigational modelling, meteorological phenomena, and oceanographic analysis, to reconstruct the ship's likely route and identify potential shipwreck locations.