Coughlan, John Francis (Jackie)
[SS "Koombana": list of crew as per copy of Articles at shipping office, Fremantle, Adelaide Steamship Company, April 1912. provided to the author by Jean Northover, City Beach, Western Australia]
THE CREW AGE BIRTHPLACE
...
J. Coughlan, fore cabin steward 31 Adelaide
...
["Story of the Koombana", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 31 March 1912, page 12]
["The Crew", The West Australian, Wednesday 03 April 1912, page 7]
The following is the complete crew which left with the vessel, according to the records in the Adelaide Co.'s office:--
...
J. Coughlan, fore cabin steward;..
["The Koombana", The West Australian, Friday 12 April 1912, page 7]
OFFICIAL LIST OF CREW
The following official list of the names of the crew who signed on the s.s. Koombana's articles and who were supposed to have gone in the vessel is supplied by the Shipping Master of Fremantle (Captain T. W. Smith). The age, birthplace, and capacity of each member is given:--
...
J. Coughlan, 31, Adelaide, fore-cabin steward;
...
[Passengers Arriving 1855-1922, Shipping Master's Office, Sydney. State Records Authority of New South Wales, NRS13278, X259 reel 2046, see Crew list, "Koombana", Sydney, 13 June 1909]
KOOMBANA
OF ADELAIDE, JNO. REES, MASTER, BURTHEN 4399 / 2678 TONS
FROM THE FREMANTLE via MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, 13TH JUNE 1909
Surname Given name Station Age Of what Nation Status
REES JNO. MASTER CREW
...
COUGHLAN J. FORE CABIN STEWARD 28 ADELAIDE CREW
...
AB notes:
John Coughlan was already with Koombana as Fore Cabin Steward in June 1909.
[Wreck of the KOOMBANA - letters re men's estates, Correspondence between the office of the Chief Harbourmaster, Fremantle, and the families of lost crewmembers, Harbour and Lights Department, 1912. State Records Office of Western Australia, AN16/5 Cons 1056 Item 062]
[img 478]
Pt Adelaide
May 10th 1912
Captain Smith
Shipping Master
Pt Adelaide
Dear Sir
I hereby apply to
you for wages due to my
Son J. F. Coughlan late Fore-
Cabin Steward of the illfated
S.S. Koombana I being
his widowed Mother if you
could kindly get same for
me from your Shipping Office
Fremantle
Signed Elizabeth Coughlan
Langham Place
Pt Adelaide
Witness
Mr T Quirtey(?) J.P. S. Australia
[Wreck of the KOOMBANA - letters re men's estates, Correspondence between the office of the Chief Harbourmaster, Fremantle, and the families of lost crewmembers, Harbour and Lights Department, 1912. State Records Office of Western Australia, AN16/5 Cons 1056 Item 062]
[img 502]
Port Adelaide
7/6/12
I hereby Certify
that John Francis
Coughlan was Born
at Port Adelaide
on June 2nd. 1879.
Signed by his
Mother
E. Coughlan
Witness M. ?Quirtey? JP
["Personal", The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), Tuesday 9 April 1912, page 6]
Mr. F. J. Coughlan, the fore-cabin steward of the missing steamer Koombana, was a resident of Port Adelaide. He had been in the Adelaide Steamship Company's employ about 16 years, and at one time was a steward on board the company's steamer Yongala.
["Port Paragraphs", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 02 June 1912, page 15]
...
It is rather a coincidence that the late Jack Coughlan, whose photograph appeared in the last issue of "The Sunday Times," was a steward on board the ill-fated Yongala before he joined the Koombana. Jack was one of the most popular men at the Port, and on the Nor'-West coast his smiling face was always welcome to the residents of the towns where the lost Koombana put in. A great personal friend of the deceased, Mr. "Bob" McMullan, the South-terrace plumber of flying machine fame, has been in communication with the widowed mother of the dead man, and from her home in Port Adelaide she sends messages of thanks to all those men of this town who forwarded their sympathies when it finally became known that the Koombana had gone the way of the Waratah and the Yongala.
...
["Court Cases", The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), Wednesday 04 September 1912, page 4]
COURT CASES.
KOOMBANA WRECK RECALLED.
...
Consideration was given to a similar application in regard to the will of John Francis Coughlan, who was a steward on the ill-fated vessel. Mr._ G. W. Dempster, who appeared for Dennis Fitzgerald, the sole executor, said the testator had left all his property to his mother. Affidavits were put in from P. D. Haggart and Archibald H. Lewis, a clerk in the Perth office of the Adelaide Steamship Company. It was stated by the latter that he saw the deceased on the Koombana when the vessel left Fremantle. Mr. Dempster said the testator left only aboul £6 in South Australia, but he had between £1,000 and £1,500 invested in Western Australia.
The Chief Justice--That's a very good beginning for a steward.
The case was eventually adjourned till a date to be fixed to enable Mr. Dempster to supply further evidence. The Chief Justice said he thought it would be sufficient ta get an affidavit by someone who saw the deceased on board the Koombana at Port Hedland.
["In Memoriam", The West Australian, Friday 21 March 1913, page 1]
...
COUGHLAN.-In sad remembrance of Mr. J. F. Coughlan, who was lost in the ill-fated Koombana.
-Inserted by R. McMullan.
["Heading North (5)", The Western Mail (Perth, WA), Thursday 15 May 1941, page 10]
...
The arrival of the Koombana on her return trip from Wyndham meant all hands down to see her come in and depart. It was ever after till she went down a pleasure to go aboard and meet her skipper, Johnny Reece, and that grand little steward, Jackie Coglan, who was most mourned by ex-passengers when she went down.
T.Y., Perth.
