Nearly 110 years later, the SS Waratah and it's 211 passengers are still missing as well

The SS Waratah was a 465 foot (141.73 meter) long completed in October of 1908. The SS Waratah left Durban, South Africa with 211 passengers on July 26, 1909 at 8:15 PM, leaving behind Claude G. Sawyer, an engineer and experienced sea traveller who sent a telegram to his wife saying "Felt Waratah top-heavy, landed Durban". This is the last confirmed sighting of the Waratah. On July 28, the Union-Castle Liner Guelph was heading from Cape Good Hope to Durban and passed a ship during a storm, due to the weather, only the last 3 letters could be made out, the last 3 letters were T-A-H, presumably the Waratah, but we do not know for sure. Later that night, 180 miles from Durban, a ship by the name of "Harlow" claimed to have seen a large steamer 10-12 miles struggling behind them in rough seas, creating a lot of smoke in the process, two bright flashes suddenly appeared before disappearing. The captain, assuming they were just brush fires, didn't log the event until finding out about the disappearance of the Waratah. On August 13, 1909, the Insizwa reported seeing bodies at the mouth of the Bashee River, as did the captain of the Tottenham. 7 months later in Mossel Bay, some debris washed up that may have belonged to the Waratah, though the items weren't positively identified . In February of 1912, a life preserver saying "Waratah" was found on the coast of New Zealand. 30 years later in East London, South Africa, cork and timber washed ashore, presumably from the Waratah, though this wasn't positively identified either.



Previous passengers of the Waratah claimed the ships bow would dip into oncoming waves and frequently list to one side, even in calm seas and that it took awhile for the ships tilt to correct. This, atop the fact that the Waratah was carrying 1,000 tons of lead concrete lead many to believe the ship capsized and sank, though this doesn't explain the lack of calls for help and lack of wreckage. The coasts of South Africa are known to have freak waves which could have capsized the ship or filled cargo hatched, causing the ship to founder and promptly sink. This could explain the lack of bodies and debris because all the debris would be in the wreck, but given the extensive searched, the ship would have likely been found. The coasts of South Africa are also known to have nasty whirlpools, but no whirlpools have been found in the WORLD that could sink a 450 foot ocean liner almost instantly. The last theory is an explosion, which would explain the bright flashes of light, but an engine explosion couldn't sink a ship of that size that quickly and an explosion would send debris all over the place, so this doesn't make much sense. Nearly 110 years later, the SS Waratah and her passengers are still missing.



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Sources:



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Waratah



mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/cliffiesw/WARATALES.HTM