The Merman of the Waratah

Epilogue

Even as George Brown enjoyed his new life as a merman, the rest of the world was asking questions: What really happened to the Waratah? No one had seen the ship sink and no one else had ever lived to tell the tale. Whatever happened on that stormy sea that would prove useful to the outside world was lost and gone forever.

Initially, the unsinkable Waratah was thought to be delayed by engine failure, but a month passed with no word from the ship and then it was decided to send out a search party. The search and rescue team consisted of three Royal Navy cruisers: Pandora, Forte, and Hermes.

In December 1910, the British Board of Trade, which is the governing body over British maritime law, held an inquiry in London's Caxton Hall to investigate the ship's disappearance. Passengers and crew of the Waratah's maiden voyage and those who disembarked on the final one, including Claude Sawyer, were summoned to give testimony. They believed that the ship was very unstable, that it would list from side to side even in calm conditions and would roll excessively. In general, the Waratah was, by most accounts, an unhappy ship. The builders rush to prove that, even with large loads on her decks, the ship was not top heavy. When one witness found a 1,000 ton cargo of lead concentrate liable, it further added to the theory that ship had capsized.

In the end, the Board of Trade gave several criticisms to the Blue Anchor Line for it's performance and seaworthiness of it's new ships. Hopefully, the next generation of Blue Anchor ships would be a major improvement over Waratah and her sister ship Geelong.

In many ways, the disappearance of the Waratah was well-regarded as one of the greatest maritime mysteries of the 20th century, but all too soon it would be overshadowed by the likes of much larger ships and the many disasters associated with it, such as Titanic, Empress of Ireland and Lusitania.

As for George, Arion's parents welcomed him into their home. At the same time, they were upset with their son for not telling. Them sooner that he was going to live amongst the humans, for they had been worried sick. George was soon accustomed to the ways of the merpeople, eating their food, going to the same schools as them, and many other adventures that followed with Arion and his friends, who had taken a liking to George. Being a merman had its ups and downs, but George did not mind, for he loved living under the sea.

That didn't mean, however, that he missed his family. Every June 28th, he would turn back into a human to return on land for one hour, mourn for his parents, aunt and sister and then return to the sea. It was a life that was simultaneously happy and lonely, but in the end, George Brown, the boy who had become a merman, lived through it.