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Who is the missing sailor?
Bryan Patterson
June 24, 2007 12:00am
THE young man survived the sinking of his ship, only to die days later, alone on a tiny life raft drifting in the Indian Ocean.
He was found lying dead -- arms outstretched next to a pair of boots -- on the Australian Navy raft that washed ashore on Christmas Island three months after HMAS Sydney sank in 1941.
The island doctor later noted in his records that he examined the body of the relatively tall, young white male, partly decomposed and clothed in what appeared to be a blue boilersuit bleached white by exposure.
There were no personal effects or identifying items on the body.
He was buried on the island with full military honours as an unknown Australian sailor in an unmarked grave.
"Who he was, we will never know," wrote a Christmas Island local in his journal.
"He rests in honour."
The shrapnel-ridden raft -- which bore the small tag Made In Australia -- was burned days later, just before everyone on the island was evacuated to escape the advancing Japanese.
That was 65 years ago.
No one is yet certain of the young sailor's name, but a state-of-the-art forensic investigation of his remains could soon unlock that mystery.
He is almost certain to be one of three men who served on HMAS Sydney -- Sub-Lt Frederick Harold Schoch, who was 22, from WA, Sub-Lt Allen James King, 26, from Adelaide or Lt Allan Wallace Wilson, 31, of parts so far unknown.
Sub-Lt King's sister, Helen Blackburne, 84, said yesterday she was shocked to hear the sailor could be her brother.
"I couldn't believe it when they said they may have found him," she said.
"We've never forgotten him. We'd just like to know. It would be wonderful if it were Allen."
Mrs Blackburne's son, Allen, 57, was named in honour of his uncle.
He said news that one of their family could be the sailor was "more than amazing".
"It's completely out of left field," he said.
"Our family has been following the Sydney story for many years. We know the identity of the sailor is yet to be proven, so we are not jumping to conclusions. But it is pretty amazing."
Forensic experts are hoping DNA evidence can soon definitely link the remains to one of the three sailors.
They were all on board Sydney about sunset on November 19, 1941 when it sank off the West Australian coast, allegedly after being fired on by the German raider HSK Kormoran, possibly disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel.
The battle lasted only about half an hour, but was Australia's worst ever naval disaster.
The only confirmed relics found later were a lifebelt and a Carley life float damaged by shellfire.
All 645 Australian sailors perished that November night, except, it now seems, for one -- the one washed up on Christmas Island, more than 2000km from the likely site of the battle, on February 6, 1942.
But which one of the 645 sailors was this man?
The search for his identity has been methodical and arduous. It has involved the best skills of dental experts, skull specialists, anthropologists, ballistic experts and bone authorities.
And some miracles.
The first step was to find the sailor's unmarked grave.
In June 2001, the Navy led an unsuccessful expedition on Christmas Island, 2600km northwest of Perth, to locate the grave. Last November, it was finally identified in the island's Old European cemetery.
Brian O'Shannassy, who worked on Christmas Island in the 1950s, was shown the gravesite by a man present when the body was found and had taken a photograph on an old Box Brownie camera.
Using the grainy photo as a guide, the Navy expedition team composed of a senior Naval officer, an archaeologist, a forensic anthropologist and two forensic odontologists, dug six trenches by hand in severe heat.
The unusual slope of the land, the incredibly dense soil full of rocks and the inability of getting any mechanical diggers through the dense rainforest-like foliage, meant that the exercise was long and arduous.
One of the team, Cmdr Matt Blenkin, said seven trenches were dug without uncovering the remains.
"Then we checked between two graves and noticed the ground was softer than you'd expect. Then we found a small splinter of wood that could have been from a coffin. Then more pieces.
"Finally we found a small foot bone and we knew we had something. It was pretty exciting."
Eventually, the team uncovered the fragile remains -- an entire skeleton remarkably well preserved -- buried with bits of wood and nails. In the skull, they found what appeared to be a bullet.
Some of the digging was done with satay sticks and toothbrushes to avoid damaging the skeleton.
Searchers were concerned that the bones may have dissolved. But the soil had a pH balance that was conducive to preserving bone material.
The skull had two major injuries. Forensic experts believe the sailor, despite his terrible injuries, may have survived for several days after the sinking of HMAS Sydney.
There were other vital bits of evidence found. They included press-studs, which could have been part of a sailor's uniform.
The fabric had rotted away, but there were tiny fragments of fibre attached.
The skeleton was packed and flown by RAAF aircraft to Sydney, accompanied by a Navy chaplain.
AT Shellshear Museum, part of the Department of Anatomy in the University of Sydney, initial forensic tests were carried out to identify the remains.
The chief NSW pathologist concluded the death occurred between 50 and 100 years ago -- consistent with the sinking of the Sydney.
From there, it was always going to be a long process of elimination.
"We used what's called disaster victim identification. It's the same process we used with the Bali bombing victims. It's a matter of exclusion."
First was a dental examination. The experts were hopeful because the dental work on the skeleton was "distinctive" including a number of fillings and missing teeth.
But hopes of a quick identification were dashed because only half of the crew's dental records were found in old files in recruiting centres. The rest were lost with the ship.
But it did enable the forensic experts to eliminate more than 300 crew members. The next step was an anthropological examination of the skeleton.
That aimed at building up a biological profile of the sailor. Establishing the approximate age -- early 20s to early 30s -- and height -- between 1.7m and 1.88m -- eliminated another 200 crew members.
The experts were excited. That left about 100 potential matches for the remains -- still too many to manage for possible DNA testing.
A forensic pathologist looked for signs of previous traumas -- such as broken bones -- and childhood diseases that could help identify the skeleton.
Sometimes such ailments are listed in medical histories in service records.
That examination indicated an important identifying factor -- the sailor had regularly played sport. Another piece in the jigsaw fell into place.
Allen Blackburne said his uncle, Sub-Lt Allen James King, was a keen rower at school and at university, where he studied engineering. He also raced cars.
"He was extremely fit; a bit of a daredevil," said Mr Blackburne yesterday.
The Australian War Memorial carried out ballistic tests and a metallurgical analysis of the object found lodged in the skull. It could be evidence that some of the crew of Sydney were murdered after the ship sank.
The object was at first thought to be a small calibre bullet, possibly from a handgun.
If it was from a Japanese pistol, it would add weight to the theory that a Japanese submarine torpedoed HMAS Sydney during its battle with the German raider Kormoran, weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And perhaps the Australian survivors of the sinking were fired at while in the water.
Ballistic experts found it was a piece of shrapnel that matched the composition of a German manufactured shell.
The fragment contained silicon and manganese, typical of German metal hardening techniques at the time.
That was significant, because there were no traces of nickel and copper in the fragment, which would have been the case in a projectile.
The forensic experts then looked at artefacts found with the remains in the grave.
An Australian War Memorial analysis of cloth fragments caught within press-studs concluded that the man had been buried wearing overalls.
It was therefore likely that he was an officer or warrant officer from one of the technical categories. All three of the candidates were engineering officers.
Mike Cecil, of the Australian War Memorial, said the conclusion was based on the assumption that the sailor was dressed in accordance with Naval regulations and was wearing his overalls.
"This was the big breakthrough," said Cdr Blenkin.
"We established from bits of weave found with the studs that the overalls were white, not blue. There were only three officers authorised to wear white overalls on the ship."
DNA testing may provide the a final breakthrough.
"However, it is possible that we won't be able to extract viable DNA from the remains," Cdr Blenkin said.
Forensic experts hope a DNA sample from the teeth can be compared with surviving relatives of the three sailors to ensure a perfect match for one. But that may not be possible.
The bones have been in the ground in for more than 60 years and Christmas Island receives more than two metres of water a year.
The one thing that degrades DNA badly and renders it useless as far as identification goes is water.
DNA testing, if possible, will be carried out by Defence and Adelaide Research and Innovation, a commercial development company of the University of Adelaide within the next month.
"The process has been long, but rewarding," said Cmdr Blenkin.
"These people laid down their lives for their country. That's a debt you can never repay, but the least we can do is try to figure out who this sailor is."
The Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Bruce Billson, said despite the progress to date, an individual identification still remained a "long shot".
"While it is still quite possible that we will never know the identity of the sailor, the forensic examinations and historical research have, by a process of elimination, narrowed the field of potential matches considerably. The investigation team has done extraordinarily well," he said.
"The process has been extremely thorough in order to ensure the integrity of the findings and provide the greatest chance of success in finally identifying the unknown sailor. It is my sincere hope we will be able to identify him and bring a sense of closure to his family."
Identified or not, the remains will eventually receive reburial with full naval honours, probably at the war cemetery in Geraldton, WA.
A memorial cairn is likely to be erected on Christmas Island, marking the original burial site.
The Department of Environment and Heritage is overseeing work in relation to the actual search for HMAS Sydney.
There have been many unsuccessful attempts to locate the wreck over the years.
The Federal Government has allocated $1.5 million towards a search for HMAS Sydney off the West Australian coast. The ship is believed to be lying at least four kilometres below the surface.
A Perth-based ocean surveying company believes it has sonar powerful enough to locate HMAS Sydney within 12 months.
Geo Subsea is willing to send MV Geosounder with its hull-mounted echo-sounder to scan 14,000 square nautical miles of seabed near Dirk Hartog Island.
The company co-ordinating the search, HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd, believes that area -- known as the "northern site" -- is the warship's most likely resting place.
Bryan Patterson
June 24, 2007 12:00am
THE young man survived the sinking of his ship, only to die days later, alone on a tiny life raft drifting in the Indian Ocean.
He was found lying dead -- arms outstretched next to a pair of boots -- on the Australian Navy raft that washed ashore on Christmas Island three months after HMAS Sydney sank in 1941.
The island doctor later noted in his records that he examined the body of the relatively tall, young white male, partly decomposed and clothed in what appeared to be a blue boilersuit bleached white by exposure.
There were no personal effects or identifying items on the body.
He was buried on the island with full military honours as an unknown Australian sailor in an unmarked grave.
"Who he was, we will never know," wrote a Christmas Island local in his journal.
"He rests in honour."
The shrapnel-ridden raft -- which bore the small tag Made In Australia -- was burned days later, just before everyone on the island was evacuated to escape the advancing Japanese.
That was 65 years ago.
No one is yet certain of the young sailor's name, but a state-of-the-art forensic investigation of his remains could soon unlock that mystery.
He is almost certain to be one of three men who served on HMAS Sydney -- Sub-Lt Frederick Harold Schoch, who was 22, from WA, Sub-Lt Allen James King, 26, from Adelaide or Lt Allan Wallace Wilson, 31, of parts so far unknown.
Sub-Lt King's sister, Helen Blackburne, 84, said yesterday she was shocked to hear the sailor could be her brother.
"I couldn't believe it when they said they may have found him," she said.
"We've never forgotten him. We'd just like to know. It would be wonderful if it were Allen."
Mrs Blackburne's son, Allen, 57, was named in honour of his uncle.
He said news that one of their family could be the sailor was "more than amazing".
"It's completely out of left field," he said.
"Our family has been following the Sydney story for many years. We know the identity of the sailor is yet to be proven, so we are not jumping to conclusions. But it is pretty amazing."
Forensic experts are hoping DNA evidence can soon definitely link the remains to one of the three sailors.
They were all on board Sydney about sunset on November 19, 1941 when it sank off the West Australian coast, allegedly after being fired on by the German raider HSK Kormoran, possibly disguised as a Dutch merchant vessel.
The battle lasted only about half an hour, but was Australia's worst ever naval disaster.
The only confirmed relics found later were a lifebelt and a Carley life float damaged by shellfire.
All 645 Australian sailors perished that November night, except, it now seems, for one -- the one washed up on Christmas Island, more than 2000km from the likely site of the battle, on February 6, 1942.
But which one of the 645 sailors was this man?
The search for his identity has been methodical and arduous. It has involved the best skills of dental experts, skull specialists, anthropologists, ballistic experts and bone authorities.
And some miracles.
The first step was to find the sailor's unmarked grave.
In June 2001, the Navy led an unsuccessful expedition on Christmas Island, 2600km northwest of Perth, to locate the grave. Last November, it was finally identified in the island's Old European cemetery.
Brian O'Shannassy, who worked on Christmas Island in the 1950s, was shown the gravesite by a man present when the body was found and had taken a photograph on an old Box Brownie camera.
Using the grainy photo as a guide, the Navy expedition team composed of a senior Naval officer, an archaeologist, a forensic anthropologist and two forensic odontologists, dug six trenches by hand in severe heat.
The unusual slope of the land, the incredibly dense soil full of rocks and the inability of getting any mechanical diggers through the dense rainforest-like foliage, meant that the exercise was long and arduous.
One of the team, Cmdr Matt Blenkin, said seven trenches were dug without uncovering the remains.
"Then we checked between two graves and noticed the ground was softer than you'd expect. Then we found a small splinter of wood that could have been from a coffin. Then more pieces.
"Finally we found a small foot bone and we knew we had something. It was pretty exciting."
Eventually, the team uncovered the fragile remains -- an entire skeleton remarkably well preserved -- buried with bits of wood and nails. In the skull, they found what appeared to be a bullet.
Some of the digging was done with satay sticks and toothbrushes to avoid damaging the skeleton.
Searchers were concerned that the bones may have dissolved. But the soil had a pH balance that was conducive to preserving bone material.
The skull had two major injuries. Forensic experts believe the sailor, despite his terrible injuries, may have survived for several days after the sinking of HMAS Sydney.
There were other vital bits of evidence found. They included press-studs, which could have been part of a sailor's uniform.
The fabric had rotted away, but there were tiny fragments of fibre attached.
The skeleton was packed and flown by RAAF aircraft to Sydney, accompanied by a Navy chaplain.
AT Shellshear Museum, part of the Department of Anatomy in the University of Sydney, initial forensic tests were carried out to identify the remains.
The chief NSW pathologist concluded the death occurred between 50 and 100 years ago -- consistent with the sinking of the Sydney.
From there, it was always going to be a long process of elimination.
"We used what's called disaster victim identification. It's the same process we used with the Bali bombing victims. It's a matter of exclusion."
First was a dental examination. The experts were hopeful because the dental work on the skeleton was "distinctive" including a number of fillings and missing teeth.
But hopes of a quick identification were dashed because only half of the crew's dental records were found in old files in recruiting centres. The rest were lost with the ship.
But it did enable the forensic experts to eliminate more than 300 crew members. The next step was an anthropological examination of the skeleton.
That aimed at building up a biological profile of the sailor. Establishing the approximate age -- early 20s to early 30s -- and height -- between 1.7m and 1.88m -- eliminated another 200 crew members.
The experts were excited. That left about 100 potential matches for the remains -- still too many to manage for possible DNA testing.
A forensic pathologist looked for signs of previous traumas -- such as broken bones -- and childhood diseases that could help identify the skeleton.
Sometimes such ailments are listed in medical histories in service records.
That examination indicated an important identifying factor -- the sailor had regularly played sport. Another piece in the jigsaw fell into place.
Allen Blackburne said his uncle, Sub-Lt Allen James King, was a keen rower at school and at university, where he studied engineering. He also raced cars.
"He was extremely fit; a bit of a daredevil," said Mr Blackburne yesterday.
The Australian War Memorial carried out ballistic tests and a metallurgical analysis of the object found lodged in the skull. It could be evidence that some of the crew of Sydney were murdered after the ship sank.
The object was at first thought to be a small calibre bullet, possibly from a handgun.
If it was from a Japanese pistol, it would add weight to the theory that a Japanese submarine torpedoed HMAS Sydney during its battle with the German raider Kormoran, weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And perhaps the Australian survivors of the sinking were fired at while in the water.
Ballistic experts found it was a piece of shrapnel that matched the composition of a German manufactured shell.
The fragment contained silicon and manganese, typical of German metal hardening techniques at the time.
That was significant, because there were no traces of nickel and copper in the fragment, which would have been the case in a projectile.
The forensic experts then looked at artefacts found with the remains in the grave.
An Australian War Memorial analysis of cloth fragments caught within press-studs concluded that the man had been buried wearing overalls.
It was therefore likely that he was an officer or warrant officer from one of the technical categories. All three of the candidates were engineering officers.
Mike Cecil, of the Australian War Memorial, said the conclusion was based on the assumption that the sailor was dressed in accordance with Naval regulations and was wearing his overalls.
"This was the big breakthrough," said Cdr Blenkin.
"We established from bits of weave found with the studs that the overalls were white, not blue. There were only three officers authorised to wear white overalls on the ship."
DNA testing may provide the a final breakthrough.
"However, it is possible that we won't be able to extract viable DNA from the remains," Cdr Blenkin said.
Forensic experts hope a DNA sample from the teeth can be compared with surviving relatives of the three sailors to ensure a perfect match for one. But that may not be possible.
The bones have been in the ground in for more than 60 years and Christmas Island receives more than two metres of water a year.
The one thing that degrades DNA badly and renders it useless as far as identification goes is water.
DNA testing, if possible, will be carried out by Defence and Adelaide Research and Innovation, a commercial development company of the University of Adelaide within the next month.
"The process has been long, but rewarding," said Cmdr Blenkin.
"These people laid down their lives for their country. That's a debt you can never repay, but the least we can do is try to figure out who this sailor is."
The Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Bruce Billson, said despite the progress to date, an individual identification still remained a "long shot".
"While it is still quite possible that we will never know the identity of the sailor, the forensic examinations and historical research have, by a process of elimination, narrowed the field of potential matches considerably. The investigation team has done extraordinarily well," he said.
"The process has been extremely thorough in order to ensure the integrity of the findings and provide the greatest chance of success in finally identifying the unknown sailor. It is my sincere hope we will be able to identify him and bring a sense of closure to his family."
Identified or not, the remains will eventually receive reburial with full naval honours, probably at the war cemetery in Geraldton, WA.
A memorial cairn is likely to be erected on Christmas Island, marking the original burial site.
The Department of Environment and Heritage is overseeing work in relation to the actual search for HMAS Sydney.
There have been many unsuccessful attempts to locate the wreck over the years.
The Federal Government has allocated $1.5 million towards a search for HMAS Sydney off the West Australian coast. The ship is believed to be lying at least four kilometres below the surface.
A Perth-based ocean surveying company believes it has sonar powerful enough to locate HMAS Sydney within 12 months.
Geo Subsea is willing to send MV Geosounder with its hull-mounted echo-sounder to scan 14,000 square nautical miles of seabed near Dirk Hartog Island.
The company co-ordinating the search, HMAS Sydney Search Pty Ltd, believes that area -- known as the "northern site" -- is the warship's most likely resting place.