History of Warana
Warana was built in 1932, at a time when Sydney was one of the world’s great commercial ports. She was one of the smaller ships in the fleets which were built to handle the coming and going of the many large ships in the harbour. Many of which have faded into the past but thankfully Warana fell into the hands of Richard Poole and then Simon Paterson who have restored her to her former glory.
Built by infamous boat builder WL Homes, she was originally called the Camden and worked the Camden waters. Then renamed Warana 1945 worked Newcastle harbour, and finished at Port Kembla south of Sydney harbour. As of 2020 there are only 7 in existence and she’s now a Heritage item of Sydney water ways.
Warana today is seen regularly on Sydney harbour, Co-Owners Simon Paterson & Richard Poole both have a lot of fun as members of RMYC Point Piper Sydney, Where Warana lives. She’s is a great Parade boat, participating in many RMYC club days and special events such as Australia Day, Sydney to Hobart start of the race and New Years Day.
Warana’s sister ship is PV Richmond (PV standing for Pilot vessel), Richmond is on display in Ballina Council museum. In the late 1970’s Warana become a private vessel. She was purchased in the early 1980’s by Richard Poole and good friend Simon Paterson invested and became a shareholder in 2020. Since then they have fully restored Warana spending some $200,000,00 to bring her back to glory.
The Shark Arm Murder Case (& Warana’s connection)
The Shark Arm case refers to a series of incidents that began in Sydney, Australia, on 25 April 1935 when a human arm was regurgitated by a captive 3.5-metre tiger shark, subsequently leading to a murder investigation and trial.
The tiger shark had been caught 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the beach suburb of Coogee in mid-April and transferred to the Coogee Aquarium Baths, where it was put on public display. Within a week, it became ill and vomited in front of a small crowd, leaving the left hand and forearm of a man bearing a distinctive tattoo floating in the pool. Before it was captured, the tiger shark had devoured a smaller shark. It was this smaller shark that had originally swallowed the human arm.
Fingerprints lifted from the hand identified the arm as that of former boxer and small-time criminal James "Jim" Smith (born England, 1890), who had been missing since April 7th 1935. Smith's arm and tattoo were also positively identified by his wife Gladys Smith and his brother Edward Smith. Smith led a high-risk lifestyle, as he was also a police informer. Examination revealed that the limb had been severed with a knife, which led to a murder investigation. Three days later, the aquarium owners killed the shark and gutted it, hampering the initial police investigation.
Early inquiries correctly led police to a Sydney businessman named Reginald William Lloyd Holmes (1892-1935), the man who built Warana. Holmes was a fraudster and smuggler who also ran a successful family boat-building business at Lavender Bay, New South Wales.
Holmes had employed Smith several times to work insurance scams, including one in 1934 in which an over-insured pleasure cruiser named Pathfinder was sunk near Terrigal, New South Wales. Shortly afterwards, the pair began a racket with Patrick Francis Brady (1889-1965), an ex-serviceman and convicted forger. With specimen signatures from Holmes' friends and clients provided by the boat-builder, Brady would forge cheques for small amounts against their bank accounts that he and Smith then cashed. Police were later able to establish that Smith was blackmailing Holmes.
He told detectives that Patrick Brady turned up at his house late one night holding Smith’s severed arm. He threatened to blackmail Holmes if he didn’t pay him ₤500. He explained to Holmes how he had killed Smith, dismembered his body and placed the parts in a trunk, which was tossed into Gunnamatta Bay. Such an ocean burial was referred to as a “Sydney send-off” in crime circles in the ’20s and ’30s, the vast uncharted ocean and its many access points being the best means of disposal for a body. The left arm, with its distinctive boxing tattoo was kept so there was no mistaking the victim.
Holmes gave Brady the money and he left, leaving the arm in Holme’s living room. Panicked, Holmes drove to Maroubra and, under the cloak of darkness, tossed the arm into the ocean. A small shark then ate the arm, and was in turn eaten by a tiger shark. Nine days after the murder, Bert and Ron Hobson plucked this shark from the ocean, put it on display at the Coogee Palace, and the perfect crime began to unravel.
After explaining all this to police, Holmes agreed to be a witness at the inquest into Jimmy Smith’s death, to be held on June 12. But the morning the inquest was to began, Reginald Holmes was found dead in his car, three bullets in his chest. He was parked on Hickson Rd, under the Harbour Bridge, and it has been speculated that Holmes himself ordered a hitman to take him out, a bizarre and violent suicidal tact.
It’s more likely that Brady ordered the murder, although other business associates were also accused of the murder over the coming months. Nevertheless, without Holmes as the star witness the case against Brady soon fell apart and no conviction was recorded. Brady walked free.
Nobody was ever charged over the deaths. Until his death in 1965, aged 76, Patrick Brady denied he had anything to do with either.