Gee, Gordon Alan (or Alan Gordon)
[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
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G.A. Gee, saloon waiter 25 Sydney
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["No News of the Koombana", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 31 March 1912, page 1]
OFFICERS AND CREW
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Gordon Gee, the saloon waiter, used to be on the Karoola, and afterwards he was employed at Smith's Railway Hotel, North Fremantle. He is about 25 years of age.
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["Story Of The Koombana", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 31 March 1912, page 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57729211]
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G. A. Gee, saloon waiter
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["The Crew", The West Australian (Perth, WA), 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:--
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J. Coughlan, fore cabin steward; H. Stanley, bar and store keeper; G. A. Gee, saloon waiter; W. P. Black, pantryman; H. Bow, night watchman;
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["Port Paragraphs", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 31 March 1912, page 15]
Port Paragraphs
By "The Pagan."
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Amongst those who were on board the Koombana was a young fellow named Gordon Gee, who was well known to most of the "boys" at the Port. He went in the capacity of a saloon waiter, having been broken in to that occupation on the Karoola. Between the time he left the Karoola and the period when be joined the Koombana Gee was employed as barman at the Railway Hotel at North Fremantle. It is only natural that there is much anxiety in the district in connection with the genial waiter-barman, who was always considered a model of respectability and good-nature.
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["A Saloon Waiter", Daily News (Perth, WA), Monday 01 April 1912, page 4]
A SALOON WAITER.
One of the crew of the Koombana is Gordon Gee, who is employed on the ship as a saloon waiter. Gee was a steward on board the Pericles when that vessel met her doom off Cape Leeuwin. He is 23 years of age, and prior to joining the Koombana was employed at the Railway Hotel, North Fremantle.
["Hope Abandoned", Evening News (Sydney), Tuesday 02 April 1912, page 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114802763]
Hope Abandoned.
THE MISSING KOOMBANA.
FREMANTLE, Tuesday.--Even among the most sanguine people in Fremantle, all hope for the safety of the steamer Koombana Is now given up. When the vessel was only one day overdue, those on shore, who knew her, expressed a very hopeful view. They pinned their faith to her well-known seaworthiness, and the ability of her captain. But as the days passed and no news came, and vessels sent in search found nothing, this hopeful view became modified, until now, no one expects to see the boat intact again.
There are many manifestations of the sorrow of the relatives of those who were on the steamer. There is one woman here whose husband was a steward on board; and who has six children dependent upon her. She is in a grave mental state, and doubt Is felt for her recovery.
Gordon Gee, one of the Koombana's crew, is a young Englishman who appears to have gone to sea once too often. He was a steward on the ill-fated Pericles; and had been working for some time as a barman in an hotel at Fremantle, when he joined the Koombana as a saloon waiter.
Of course, it is not absolutely certain that the vessel is lost, and her crew and passengers drowned, but all the same, hope is generally abandoned.
The steamers Minderoo and Gorgon have returned to Fremantle, and report no trace of the Koombana. The steamers Una, Minderoo. Bullara, Moira, and others will continue to keep a look-out for signs of the ill-fated vessel.
The Adelaide Steamship Company's Allinga is to take up the north-west running of the steamer Koombana. Preparatory to leaving Sydney the Allinga will be cleared and painted, and receive a general overhaul.
["The Koombana", The West Australian (Perth, WA), 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:--
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G. A. Gee, 25, Sydney, saloon waiter;
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["The Loss of the Koombana", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 07 April 1912, page 10]
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[Barker, Malcolm, 2001, The Truth Is So Precious, Success Print, Perth, Western Australia, page 48]
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The more poignant are surely those of the following "poor lost souls" for whom nobody would lay claims to their wages for their final voyage:
Name Age Place of Birth
C Norlin 32 Sweden
W Fitzpatrick 25 Cork, Ireland
O Olson 26 Goteborg, Sweden
T McDermott 30 Liverpool, England
G A Gee 25 Sydney, Australia
F W Cant 54 Cardiff, Wales
J Jones 27 Liverpool, England"
AB notes:
Wages never claimed, according to MB.
["Friends Found", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 21 July 1912, page 15]
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Alan Gordon Gee lost on the Koombana.
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[Family Notices, The West Australian (Perth, WA), Friday 20 March 1914, page 1, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26900678]
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GEE.--In sad and affectionate memory of our unfortunate chum ("Daddy"), Gordon Alan Gee, was lost on board the ill-fated Koombana on the Nor'-West Coast, March 20, 1912.
Esteemed by all who knew him,
A rare pal and a brick--
One whom everyone wished to meet
And hold his hand in friendship's grip.
--Inserted by his loving chums, H. S. Howison and F. W. R. Vernon.
