Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran located

There is sure to be a major buzz going on in Australian history circles today with the news that last Friday the wreck of the WW2 German raider HSK Kormoran was located roughly in the area where it's survivors said it would be - off the western most tip of the Australian continent.

The position of the main portion of the vessel is about 2,560 metres deep at 26° 05' 49.4" S. 111° 04' 27.5" E. There is a significant scattering of debris nearby at 2,740 metres deep, which is believed to mark the area of engagement with the Australian warship HMAS Sydney II. Some of the debris is very large and may turn out to be from it. However, the search for the main hull structure of the Australian warship is continuing. (See end of essay.)

By now most Australian televiewers and newspaper readers will have seen the superficial media reports. They'll be getting into more of a lather today. I suspect we will be swamped by 'instant experts.'

However, the best source of information about the discovery is on the website of the non-profit Finding Sydney Foundation.

The excellent and quite long technical report of the discovery of the wreckage, accompanied by several astonishing sonar pictures can be reached by clicking here.

The organisation was funded by a grant in excess of two million dollars by the former Howard government to engage a professional shipwreck hunter with specialised sonar equipment. At the time this caused envy and resentment amongst some amateur historians who had been pursuing their own theories, sometimes for decades.

The location of the Kormoran has immediately dismissed a theory that the German survivors engaged in a conspiracy to lie about the location of the battle right up to the present.

But there is another little known theory which might not go away. That is that the Germans scuttled their ship with severely wounded on board, and that about thirty wounded Australian sailors who had been picked up after the battle were included.

In the past there is a noticeable stance from the federal and state governments that eventual discoverers of the wrecksites should not be allowed to look too closely. Even with the discovery there has been an official emphasis that the Nazi/Hitler sponsored Kormoran, remains under the jurisdiction of modern Germany.

Captain Detmers and his crew probably should have been investigated more diligently as war criminals. They prowled the northern Indian Ocean on a vessel disguised as a Dutch merchantman. On the other hand it is often argued that any ruse de guerre is a legitimate tactic. Detmers made many friends during his visit to Australia with the German Navy in the pre-war 1930s.

Nevertheless, there is probably much more that the Finding Sydney Foundation can determine from a detailed forensic examination of the Kormoran wreck, and they should be allowed to do so.

The thorn in their side may be those who argue that any wreckage is a war grave and should not be disturbed under any circumstances. Such a view is always convenient for perpetrators of war crimes and their friends.

On the 19th November 1941 all 545 crew of HMAS Sydney perished as the result of the engagement with Kormoran. Australia has a duty to explore all the possibilities which led to their loss, including allowing forensic examination of the wrecksite and the respectful recovery of evidence.

The above paragraph was to be the final one for today, but I've just learned that the remains of HMAS Sydney hull were located last night. The position is 26° 14’ 37” S 111° 13’ 03” E in 2.468 metres of water. It's to the south south east of the Kormoran wreckage, which is the direction German witnesses last saw it heading. Everything seems to fit.

Read all about it by clicking here.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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Original still photographs are stored online in a cache at my Panoramio website or my Picasa site. Most of them have a brief description and a link back to a relevant essay. Images on Panoramio can usually be enlarged several times by clicking them.

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Check out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write at least couple of million words. Zzzzzzzz!