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The Koolama
The Voyage from Fremantle The Koolama sailed out of Fremantle on 10 February, 1942 with 90 crew and 100 passengers on board, including a compliment of 14 Army personnel. On her voyage north, the ship called at Geraldton, Carnarvon, Onslow, Cossack, Port Hedland, Broome and Derby, with Wyndham being the final scheduled port of call before Darwin. On 19 February, the Koolama departed Derby for Wyndham, and while sailing north up King Sound, she passed her sister ship the Koolinda on a south-bound course heading for Derby. The Bombing of the Koolama At about 11.30am on 20 February, while rounding Cape Londonderry and approximately 20 nautical miles north of the Cape, the Koolama was overflown by a Japanese flying boat which dropped 5 bombs. All bombs missed the ship. Two hours later, when in position 13o 37’ S, 127o 26’ E, three flying boats in "V" formation approached from the north and dropped a total of 18 bombs. Four or five bombs struck the ship in the stern area, at least one penetrating into the engine room before exploding. The bombers left immediately afterwards and headed back to their base in Ambon. Although the ship was badly damaged, no one was killed. One crew member was seriously injured when grazed on the head by a falling bomb and another two crew members received shrapnel wounds. Mayday and S.O.S. calls were sent out immediately. These calls were picked up in Fremantle and relayed to Darwin and Kalumburu. Unknown to the Koolama officers, Darwin had been bombed the previous day. The city was in chaos, and no one there could be of assistance.
Rescue of the Survivors
The lugger arrived at the ship late on 24 February and was directed across the Bay to Calamity Cove. The runners arrived the following day after covering 75 km of rough terrain in only 2 days. Fourteen sick and injured persons were evacuated by the lugger in addition to 14 days supplies to sustain the evacuees at the Drysdale River (Pago) Mission. At 4pm the following day, 28 ship's passengers, 11 soldiers and 2 aboriginal guides left on the overland trek to Drysdale Mission. At 7pm, a second party of 23 passengers, 31 crew and the remaining guides tackled the 75 km trek, leaving 10 passengers and 34 crew behind at Calamity Cove. There were still 28 crew members pumping and repairing the ship to make her seaworthy for the trip to Wyndham. At 6.30pm on 1 March, the Koolama (with steering unable to be repaired) steamed out of Koolama Bay, and made her way slowly down the coast, through the islands in Cambridge Gulf, and tied up at Wyndham wharf at 11am on the following day. Some military cargo was off-loaded by the ships cranes. However, the generators were needed for pumps to keep the ship afloat. Meanwhile, the overland trekkers had reached the Drysdale River, some 45 km from Calamity Cove, only to find that the “little creek” had swollen into a raging torrent due to heavy rains. One aboriginal and a soldier swam the flooded river and the aboriginal raced on to Drysdale Mission to fetch rope and supplies. Two days later, a party of six aboriginals arrived back with the rope and took 4 hours to ferry the 90 people across the swollen river. The first 16 left immediately on the 30km trek to Drysdale Mission and arrived deadbeat around midnight. The remainder slept and left at 4am, arriving at about 1pm that afternoon. At 9.30am on 2 March, air-raid sirens were sounded at Wyndham Port and the “sinking” ship was abandoned for safer ground. This air raid was simultaneous with the disastrous air raid on Broome. Without full pumping capacity, the Koolama took water during the day and finally capsized and sank at 5pm, nearly taking the jetty with her. There was reportedly still one unexploded bomb in the Koolama's hull. On 3 March, a Qantas Empire Airways seaplane evacuated 25 persons from Calamity Cove to Broome, the pilot promising to return the next day for the remaining survivors. The seaplane landed safely at Broome but was refused permission to fly back north due to the air raid on the city the previous day. Back at Calamity Bay, the remaining 19 shipwrecked sailors had waited 3 days for the seaplane to return from Broome. The lugger had returned to Calamity Bay, but the engine was not running. The remaining stores were loaded into the lugger and one lifeboat, and the two boats set off for Cape Londonderry and Calamity Cove under sail. After battling adverse currents, near windless conditions and a crippling load, the lugger completed the return journey of some 140 nautical miles in 4 days. The lifeboat arrived back at the mission a day later. The Evacuation South By this time, about 2 weeks after the bombing of the Koolama, all passengers and crew were safely landed in either Wyndham, Drysdale Mission, Kalumburu or Broome. On about 13 March, the Wyndham survivors were flown to Port Hedland, then on to Perth about a week later. On 21 and 22 March the overland trekkers were flown from Kalumburu to either Adelaide, Perth or Brisbane, depending on which direction the plane was going. The group in Broome, mainly comprising sick and injured passengers, were left to fend for themselves and made their own way back to Perth either by ship, plane, train or a combination of all three. The Salvage Attempt
The expensive salvage attempt succeeded in moving the ship about 100m to the northwest of the wharf, where she again settled back into the soft mud. After much discussion about what to do with the wreck, it was finally realised that she was in deep water and sinking further into the mud each year. The navigational problem for large ships was overcome by extending the wharf upstream away from the sunken ship. Today, the Koolama is completely covered by about 4m of mud and approximately 20m of water, and poses no danger whatsoever to shipping which is almost non-existent since the closure of the Wyndham meatworks. Calamity Cove in 2004
Three plaques (right) have been cemented into the rocks on the northern side of the flat grassy area behind The central plaque (right) is clearly legible. There is a track leading from the centre of the beach, through the mangrove thicket and up onto the grassy area. The only permanent resident seems to be a large croc that inhabits the inlet in the south-east corner of the cove. Acknowledgments This story has been pieced together from a number of sources. The major source was the excellent book "The Koolama Incident" written by the author and adventurer, Bill Loane and another source was the book "Kimberley - Dreaming to Diamonds" by Hugh Edwards. |
This page was last updated 12 April, 2008 - download The Koolama Incident.pdf |
The Koolama was a twin screw combined passenger vessel and freighter of 4000 tonnes displacement with an overall length of 106m, a beam of 17m and a draft of 6m. She was built and launched in Glasgow in 1937 and sailed to Fremantle under her master, Captain Jack Egglestone, arriving in Perth in April 1938. Koolama was fitted with a reinforced keel to allow her to sit on the bottom during low tides at the ports of Broome and Derby. She was one of three WA State Shipping Service ships plying the coastal route from Perth to Darwin, the other two being the Koolinda and the Kybra.
Following a look over the stern where freeboard had been reduced to five feet, and a brief inspection below, the Chief Engineer confirmed the ship to be unseaworthy. The captain headed directly for land and beached the ship in a large bay west of Cape Rulhieres now known as Koolama Bay (right).
Within an hour of the beaching, four of the ships lifeboats had been launched and were transporting 140 passengers, soldiers and crew to a cove (Calamity Cove), 3 miles from the ship on the western side of Koolama Bay (left). The following day another Japanese floatplane appeared from the north and dropped 4 bombs; fortunately, all bombs missed the stationary ship stranded on the beach.
In the meantime, the monks at Kalumburu dispatched two runners to Cape Rulhieres and prepared the mission lugger Teresita Moa for the trip around Cape Londonderry to Koolama Bay. 
In early 1946 a salvage team had been assembled to refloat the capsized ship and tow her away from the wharf (right) where she would no longer be a danger to shipping.
Calamity Cove (Pangali Cove) remains relatively untouched since the Koolama survivors departed in 1942. The waterfall in the south-east corner (left) runs until about mid-year. 
the mangroves.