It would appear that the greatest danger to human life at Willis Island is a serious illness, or serious accident far from medical attention. An accident may be caused by a cyclone indirectly, e.g. being struck by flying debris in a hurricane.

The remainder of our tour of duty passed uneventfully until the day of our relief approached. We were told that the 'Bopple' could be expected at Willis Island on 16 or 17 April. But it did not arrive.

Later messages from Townsville advised us that the ship had put to sea twice, but had been forced to return because of bad weather. We had already taken stock of our regaining provisions which were running low, but with the uncertainty of our relief we had to re-arrange our menus.

We were relieved on 28 April, by which time some lines of food were exhausted, the flour for making bread being one of them.

We were rewarded by a very smooth trip back, a contrast to Davis's return trip. The ocean was quite flat without even a ripple. Under these conditions passage through the Great Barrier Reef is most dangerous, for there is little evidence of breaking seas to indicate the position of isolated reefs particularly at night. Consequently, as we were approaching the reef in the dark, the ship was steered in large circles to await the dawn.

Bureau of Meteorology