Merry Widow Traditional Cache
Geomatica: I can no longer maintain this so, regrettably, it's off to cache heaven. It is still out there for those that wish to find it.
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The task is to find the final resting place of the merry widow Millicent Bryant (née Harvey) and thus the cache, a log-only, which lies close by. BYO pencil. The position above is gravesite Z853 occupied by the oldest resident Richard Weatherstone, who died aged 103. He is your starting point for locating unlucky Millicent in grave H389. Steer 180 degrees True for 71 metres. Watch out for dogpoo! Report DNF. Coords an average of 10 readings over 10 minutes. Starbrand muggle rating 2/5
Why was Millicent unlucky? Well, she’d been shopping in the City, lived in Vaucluse, and was aboard the 133 ton Sydney ferry "Greycliffe" (operating the 4.14 pm service from Circular Quay to Watson's Bay, known as the "School Boat") on a fine sunny afternoon on 7th November 1927. The ferry went via Garden Island to pick up some dock workers and then set off up the harbour with 125 passengers and crew. At the same time, the 8,000 ton Royal Mail Steamer "Tahiti" carrying 300 passengers (including the New Zealand cricket team)bound for New Zealand, Papeete and San Francisco left her berth at Darling Harbour and, on passing Fort Denison, the liner's engines were set to "full ahead".
A few minutes later, off Bradley's Head, in excellent visibility and on a calm sea, the "Greycliffe" was run down from behind by "Tahiti", cut in two, rolled over and smashed to pieces, sinking in seconds. A survivor said “We were never warned. One moment we were sitting on the ferry, the next we were in the water being sucked down" The liner's propellers churned through the wreckage killing 42 people (including 7 schoolchildren and Millicent Bryant) and seriously injuring 20 others.
So we shall never know whether the first woman in Australia to gain a pilot’s license (March, 1927) would have gone on to a great career in aviation, but she was about to begin an advanced flying course. Her funeral was accompanied by a flypast of five aircraft, led by Millicent’s flying instructor, Captain E.W.Leggatt, who swooped down and dropped a wreath of blue delphiniums and red carnations onto her grave.
In subsequent investigations - the Marine Court of Inquiry, the Coronial Inquest and the Admiralty Court of Inquiry - blame for the disaster was gradually shifted from "Tahiti"’s harbour pilot, Captain Thomas Carson (who coincidentally lived in Watson's Bay), to the ferry's master, William Barnes. The theory was that some failure of "Greycliffe"’s steering had caused her to swerve off course and into the path of the overtaking liner.
However, since these conclusions of nearly 80 years ago, modern hydrodynamic tests show that where a large displacement vessel at speed overtakes at close quarters a much smaller vessel, a strong suction effect develops which can pull the smaller boat towards the bow of the bigger. If "Tahiti" had not been doing 12 knots (50% over the harbour’s 8 knot limit), the collision would not have happened. Speed kills...
Additional Hints
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