Case file · High strangeness
SS Koombana
The coastal steamer Koombana sailed from Port Hedland into a cyclone on 20 March 1912 with about 150 people aboard and disappeared; only a few pieces of wreckage were ever found.
1912 CE · -19.80, 118.00 · status: unexplained
The sceptical view
The cyclone explains the loss; only the wreck site remains unknown.
The researched reading
A coastal steamer lost in a cyclone. Only the wreck site remains unknown.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Undetermined | 42% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 40% | She left Port Hedland as a severe tropical cyclone approached, a decision questioned afterwards; a few pieces of wreckage, including a stateroom panel, were later found, consistent with her breaking up in the storm. |
| A cultural story | 8% | Legends grew of a cursed or valuable pearl aboard, a common motif on the pearling coast. |
| Something in the surroundings | 3% | The cyclone is the environment here; nothing else in the surroundings is implicated. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 3% | Questions about whether the ship was stable and whether she should have sailed concern judgement, not mystery. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | No fabrication in the record. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 2% | A ship lost in a cyclone needs no strange cause. |
Official position: A marine inquiry concluded the ship was lost in the cyclone; the wreck has never been located.