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17 March 2008
David Mearns -
Search Director, The Finding Sydney Foundation
The day began very
early for all of us today. Actually for the past few days there
hasn't been much difference between days and nights as they have all
rolled into one long marathon session. Given what we have achieved
in the 5 days since last Wednesday when we found Kormoran and the
scene of the battle I wouldn't have wanted to miss a single second
for having my eyes closed. Anyhow, we started at 5am for the final
high-resolution sonar track over Sydney's wreck using the SM30
sonar. After another successful track the SM30 sonar was recovered
in order to make way for its higher frequency sibling, the AMS60.
Over the next two days more high-resolution sonar tracks are planned
in order to accurately map all pieces of wreckage in preparation for
the ROV video investigations that will begin next week.
Two key members of
our search team have been the DOF surveyors Nigel Meikle and Steve
Bagnell. They have really excelled over the past couple of days
making sure that our navigational tracks for all the high-resolution
sonar runs were precisely placed to get the best sonar image
possible. Nigel and Steve's challenge, working in collaboration with
the Williamson off-line processor Mike Kelly and the vessel's
officers of the watch, is to drive the sonar down a precise track
with as much as 9,000 metres of cable out. It is equivalent to
trying to thread a needle from about 10-feet away.
There has been a
fair amount of comment and surprise about how fast we located the
wrecks, especially as most of our whole first week at sea was lost
due to technical problems and bad weather. Considering that I truly
felt the search could become prolonged and last as long as 45 days,
I myself am impressed with how quickly we found the wrecks - but not
completely surprised. Right from the start I was quite confident in
the quality and veracity of the German accounts about where the
action took place, even though there were many other researchers who
strongly took an opposing view. It would be impossible for me to
fully explain my research and plotting methodology in a simple blog
like this, so perhaps the best thing is to show pictures of my
actual reconstructed navigational plot and corresponding search
boxes.
The one bit of
analysis I would like to mention, which I think did help in finding
the wrecks as quickly as we did, was a leeway drift analysis which
was literally completed the day before we departed Geraldton. This
analysis attempts to use the known pick-up position of the first
life-raft recovered after Kormoran sank and an estimate of the winds
and ocean currents over the 82 hours the life-raft was drifting to
back-track to a probable sinking position for Kormoran. The analysis
sounds simple and straight forward, but in fact it is very complex
because of the difficulty in estimating the actual conditions that
prevailed 67 years ago. I was helped in this analysis by three
experts I would like to acknowledge here.
Len van Burgel,
with assistance from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, conducted
an incredibly thorough estimate of wind conditions that constituted
a major improvement over similar studies done decades ago; Dr. David
Griffin, Research Scientist and CSIRO project leader of Bluelink II
based in Hobart, used his Bluelink dataset on ocean currents to
estimate their effect on the life-raft's drift; and Art Allen of the
U.S. Coast Guard's Office of Search and Rescue provided helpful
advice on leeway factors. I am extremely grateful for their
assistance and professional advice.
John Perryman -
Senior Naval Historian (Observer)
With today’s dawn came a feeling of great expectation, knowing that
news of yesterday’s remarkable discovery would soon be broken.
However, we still had work to do and this involved conducting a
final high resolution run over Sydney’s wreck with the SM30 side
scan sonar. At 05:21 we commenced our pass, and what a pass it was.
Before long we were rewarded with an amazing vista of Sydney’s wreck
casting a near perfect acoustic shadow onto the seabed. The high
points and low points of this shadow allowed David Mearns to gauge
both height and breadth of the shipwreck and also make a number of
other important observations. The concentration of high and low
points grouped together in the centre of the wreck was one of the
distinguishing features we were looking for and characteristic of
the wreck being a ‘man of war’. Soon the debris field also came into
view and again a large piece of wreckage was visible. These images
were immediately transferred ashore via the internet.
With the run completed at 05:58 our thoughts again turned to the
impending announcement. Because of the two hour time difference
between Western Australia and the eastern states and territories we
didn’t have long to wait, and it was with an enormous sense of pride
and satisfaction that we learned that the official announcement
concerning our discovery of HMAS Sydney had been made.
Before long the enormity of the announcement became apparent to us
as we followed its progress via the internet. At this point my
thoughts turned to the relatives of those lost in Sydney and in
particular those who have supported our collective efforts
throughout this historic endeavour.
Meanwhile the SM30 tow fish was recovered for the last time. The
plan now is to switch to the AMS60 which we will use to sweep both
of the wreck sites and the battle position in an attempt to obtain
sonar images of an even higher resolution. We then steered north to
the Kormoran’s position which would be the starting point of a
southerly run back to Sydney’s location using the AMS60.
As we arrived in Kormoran’s position our thoughts turned to
commemoration as this was likely to be the last opportunity during
this phase of the operation to conduct a service in this location to
commemorate the fallen Kriegsmarine personnel who died in Kormoran.
Having now changed into a uniform more befitting the occasion I led
a short but solemn unofficial service which culminated in the laying
of a wreath over Kormoran’s wreck, the playing of the Last Post
followed by one minute’s silence.
As we now make our way south to the site of Sydney’s wreck we are
preparing a similar order of service to commemorate Sydney’s gallant
crew and it is likely that this will be held tomorrow.
Currently the AMS60 is being prepared for deployment over our stern
in readiness for the first of this evening’s sonar passes over
Kormoran’s hull.
Glenys McDonald
- Director, The Finding Sydney Foundation (Observer)
At 5.15am we were coming up to another parallel pass on the wreck of
HMAS Sydney. Before us lay, without any shadow of doubt, a light
cruiser. What appeared to be substantial damage to the bow of the
ship became a focus for attention and further analysis.
Later we began the long exercise of bringing up the SM30 fish. By
11.30am we were once again alongside the Kormoran, and John Perryman
conducted a simple and moving service for the 80 German sailors who
lost their lives in this place on 19 November 1941. Ullrich Krafzik,
the German born cameraman from Electric Pictures read the naval ode,
and David Mearns laid a wreath.
Although it was noisy against the ship’s engines, which couldn’t be
stopped at this point in time, all the team who were able to
assemble, were on the back deck. We adjourned to the mess room where
David read to the whole ship’s company the congratulations and well
wishes from Prime Minister Rudd and the chairman of Finding Sydney
Foundation, Ted Graham.
I spoke of the many messages of thanks we had received from the
families of the crew lost in HMAS Sydney. It seemed from their
messages that the whole nation was awash with emotion and tears at
our news and I passed on the families words of gratitude.
Late in the afternoon the SM60 was deployed for a test run and a
technical hitch saw it returned once more to the ship. Later tonight
we hope to begin collecting high density sonar of the Kormoran
before moving on to the battle site and lastly tomorrow we will be
back with Sydney, where we will conduct another service. |
Above Photograph -
David Mearn's navigational reconstruction outlining the larger 1,768
sqnm search box for the Kormoran search and the smaller 360 sqnm
search box for Sydney in red pencil. The final wreck and battle site
locations are also plotted.
Above Photograph -
This picture shows the overlay of Kormoran and Sydney's tracks used
by David Mearns to assess different navigational scenarios by moving
the overlay over the chart.
Above Photograph -
Electric Pictures cinematographer Ullrich Krafzik and Lieutenant
John Perryman read the order of service.
Above Photograph -
David Mearns casts a commemorative wreath over the transom.
Above Photograph - The
commemorative wreath drifts over the wreck of HSK Kormoran.
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