GlamMosher
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2011
- Messages
- 380
100 years ago, in 1912, my great aunt boarded a ship called the Koombana to travel to the north coast of Western Australia with her new employer, a wealthy woman who owned cattle stations in the north west, and the woman's grandson.
As they left Port Hedland after a stop there, they ran into a major cyclone and the ship was never seen again. The wreckage has never been located in spite of thorough searches. It is not even know exactly where the ship went down as they presume she tried to escape the storm and probably went off course.
Now the odd part of the tale is this (from the book, Coast to Coast: The Great Australian Coastal Liners):
Australians will know the name Mickleberg - one of the brothers convicted and then cleared of the gold heist, had developed some form of equipment to track the ocean floor from a light plane with the express purpose of locating the Koombana. On his first test flight, the plane crashed and he was killed.
The ship was very luxurious and was for ferrying wealthy people up and down the WA coast. There was apparently a fortune in jewels on board, in addition to the pearl, held in 2 safes (the captains and the pursers).
A ex crim has stated he at one time found the wreck whilst diving and raised one of the safes. He said he reported it to the authorities but they didn't believe him, so he kept the goodies.
The sad part is my great aunt wrote a post card just before she set sail, saying "I am sorry but I am going by the "Koombana" on Tuesday. I don't want to go but I must. I have engaged myself for 12 months. I would have liked to have come and said goodbye but it is impossible. I feel very much troubled. You will say goodbye for me to all friends. Goodbye from Flo"
As they left Port Hedland after a stop there, they ran into a major cyclone and the ship was never seen again. The wreckage has never been located in spite of thorough searches. It is not even know exactly where the ship went down as they presume she tried to escape the storm and probably went off course.
Now the odd part of the tale is this (from the book, Coast to Coast: The Great Australian Coastal Liners):
A legend subsequently grew blaming the loss of the Koombana on a supposedly cursed pearl that a passenger on board the lost ship was carrying. Known as the Roseate Pearl, it was a particularly large and beautiful specimen, which had been found by a white pearler, but stolen from him by another pearl diver. The pearl was stolen from him by 2 Chinese underworld figures who were later hanged for an unrelated murder.
The pearl was then purchased by a man who died of a heart attack, while the next owner committed suicide after the pearl was stolen from him. In 1905 a man who traded in stolen pearls was murdered at Broome when negotiating to purchase the Roseate Pearl, and over the next few years violence and death stalked anyone associated with the pearl.
A former pearl diver Abraham De Vohl Davis, who had become very wealthy and owned a sheep station near Port Hedland had purchased the Roseate Pearl (my note - for a reported £20,000). He boarded the Koombana for the voyage to Broome reportedly carrying the Roseate Pearl with him, and the legend claims that is why the ship sank.
Despite all this, there is no certainty that the Roseate Pearl really existed, but there were many murders and much violence connected with the pearl trade in that era.
Australians will know the name Mickleberg - one of the brothers convicted and then cleared of the gold heist, had developed some form of equipment to track the ocean floor from a light plane with the express purpose of locating the Koombana. On his first test flight, the plane crashed and he was killed.
The ship was very luxurious and was for ferrying wealthy people up and down the WA coast. There was apparently a fortune in jewels on board, in addition to the pearl, held in 2 safes (the captains and the pursers).
A ex crim has stated he at one time found the wreck whilst diving and raised one of the safes. He said he reported it to the authorities but they didn't believe him, so he kept the goodies.
The sad part is my great aunt wrote a post card just before she set sail, saying "I am sorry but I am going by the "Koombana" on Tuesday. I don't want to go but I must. I have engaged myself for 12 months. I would have liked to have come and said goodbye but it is impossible. I feel very much troubled. You will say goodbye for me to all friends. Goodbye from Flo"