Sydney Found
Posted at 12:00 PM, Thursday, March 20, 2008
On Tuesday, both The Age and The Australian newspapers carried the same cover photo: it is a black and white picture of hundreds of men, smartly dressed in their naval uniforms, posing proudly aboard a large battleship. The ship is the HMAS Sydney, which was sunk off the coast of West Australia in 1941. The ship had approached a merchant ship, only to discover that it was actually a disguised German raider, the Kormoran. All 645 men aboard the Sydney were lost, and no one was left to suggest where the ship may have come to rest. The battle left the Kormoran fatally wounded, and it too sank nearby. However, 300 out of its crew of 390 sailors were rescued. Although the German sailors were interviewed extensively about the location of the Sydney's remains, their testimony was treated with considerable suspicion. Relatives and friends of the lost Australian sailors have been searching for the Sydney for the last 66 years, with little hope of finding this rather large needle in an enormous haystack.
Two spectacular news stories broke within 24 hours of each other at the start of this week. On Sunday came the news that the wreck of the Kormoran had been discovered, pretty much exactly where its sailors had said it had been. Of course, just knowing where a ship might be doesn't necessarily mean it can be found when it is lying 1.5 miles beneath the surface. The Finding the Sydney Foundation managed to raise enough money to dispatch a boat with a very sophisticated sonar device to the suspected location and start sweeping the area. They eventually spotted the outline of a boat lying on the ocean floor that matched the Kormoran's description. Excitement exploded with the very real possibility that the Sydney might finally be located as well. I was listening to the news on Monday morning when a reporter broke in to make the announcement that the Sydney had already been located--also just about where the Germany sailors had predicted and ten miles or so from the Kormoran.
The Finding the Sydney Foundation has gone so far as to publish the GPS coordinates for the ships, so that those who wish to can travel to these deep-water graves. When an ABC reporter expressed concerns that unscrupulous individuals might exploit that information to plunder the ships, the Finding the Sydney director pointed out that no one can possibly reach the ships without really expensive equipment.
I've said before that Australia is not a religious country, but remembering the military dead is in many ways the closest to an official religion we have here. Along with the jubilation that this great ship has been discovered and that now the mysteries related to its sinking might be solved comes the somber recollection of 645 souls lost so close to home. Thousands of words about the event have been written already just in the last several days. "The Australian" has dedicated a whole section to the Sydney and its history, and for sure much has yet to be said.