Strange as it may seem now, many years after the event, Davis came very near to meeting the same fate as Power, on this return trip from Willis Island to Townsville.

On the journey back, as far as the Great Barrier Reef, the party encountered very rough seas. Later in Melbourne, Davis told me in his own words 'the bow spent more time beneath the water than above it' and 'there were times when it appeared that the ship would not recover after dipping her bow into the heavy seas.'

The steady trade winds of the dry season can raise rough seas in the Coral Sea, particularly at intervals coinciding with the passage of anticyclones. On such occasions the trades are reinforced by the gradient wind in rising pressure in the northeast sector of each high.

When in Melbourne Davis resumed the office of Director of Navigation, one of his first acts in the interests of safety of life at sea, was to declare the Warooka unseaworthy. A little later, the ship was towed out of Townsville harbour and scuttled a few miles offshore.

The 1921–22 cyclone season in the Coral Sea was unusually quiet. Two disturbances were noted, both in January 1922. One passed to the west of Willis Island, the other to the east, but in neither case was the storm sufficiently close to cause any damage on the Island, nor even to raise the wind force above Beaufort force 6 or 7. As a test of the safety of staff living there, the season did not supply a conclusive answer. After consideration of Davis's report, it was decided to maintain the station for another cyclone season, after which in July 1923, the decision of the Federal Government to place the Willis Island meteorological station on a permanent basis was announced.

Bureau of Meteorology