Diving Thoughts

Evidence from an inquiry into the sinking of HMAS Sydney in November 1941 contradicts a theory that crewmen were machine gunned in their life raft by men the German ship Kormoran.

All 645 men from the Sydney were lost. The theory grew up because one life raft was recovered by HMAS Helos shortly after the battle, and it had  a large number of holes in i. However expert witnesses have studied the 339 ruptures in the float and believe they were caused by shrapnel from a shell exploding rather than by bullets.  The damage came from a horizontal angle and was more likely to have happened when the raft was on the ship’s deck, whereas if they had been caused by bullets, the angles of entry would have been from the top. The metal that was recovered from the float also looks more likely to have come from the casing of a German shell than bullets.

This seems to vindicate the German survivors from the Kormoran, which also sank after the battle, who have always denied shooting Australian sailors after the Sydney went down.

HMAS Sydney was a light cruiser and was sunk on 19 November 1941 by the Kormoran, a German auxiliary cruiser. Last year both wrecks were  found off Western Australia.

You can read more about the inquiry from the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Mary Rose was built in Portsmouth in 1509-1510 and was one of the most powerful warships afloat in the Tudor era. She sank in the Solent on 19 July 1545, but was rediscovered and finally raised  in 1982. She now lies in a dry dock in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard, very close to Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory. There is also a museum about the ship, but this is half a mile away near the dockyard gates.

Now planning permission for a new GBP 35 million building has been granted, and this building will be built around the dock containing the ship.  Galleries shaped like the ship’s missing port side will be built and will hold items from the wreck displayed in their original context. Galleries at either end of the ship will contain other artefacts and exhibits. At the moment only 6% of the 19,000 artefacts from the ship are displayed, so a lot of items will be displayed for the first time.

Building work is expected to start in the autumn.

Last June we posted a story about an Elizabethan warship that had been found off Alderney dating from around 1592. Further research seems to be confirming some of the initial findings, that Elizabeth I’s navy was becoming more professional and effective. Tests seem to show that was carrying powerful cast iron guns of a uniform size, firing standard ammunition. This was in stark contrast to the Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, which carried a wide variety of different weapons, many of which had been designed for land warfare.

The Alderney wreck was a pinnace, which would have carried 12 cannon, two of which have been recovered. Using these, replicas have been built and tested, which seem to show that they were capable of throwing shot at almost the speed of sound. While the guns are relatively small, theywere powerful enough to hit a target up to a mile away. Although whether they were accurate enough is another question. However, at a more typical fighting distance of around 100 yards, they packed enough of a punch to have been able to penetrate the oak planks of a ship and go out the other side.

Elizabeth’s navy seems to have worked out that a lot of smaller guns all firing at once, was more effective than a few larger guns. Presumably there would also have been a significant benefit in standardising gun sizes and ammunition. Although drawing the conclusions about standardisation when they have only recovered 2 of the cannons, is perhaps a bit of a stretch.

There is a good article on this from the BBC website, along with video of the tests they carried out on one of the replica cannon.

The Danton was a French battleship was laid down in 1906 and launched in 1909. She was a pre-dreadnought battleship which served with the French Mediterranean Fleet in the First World War. On 18th March 1917 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, U-64, while travelling between Toulon and Corfu.  She was carrying 1102  men, which was more than normal as she was carrying the crew of other ships to Corfu. 896 were rescued, but 296 including her captain, Captain Delage, were lost.

It has just been announced that in late 2007 a company doing a survey for  a gas pipeline discovered the wreck in 1000 metres of water, sitting upright with most of her gun turrets intact. The wreck is 35 km SW of Sardinia, some distance from where she was reported lost.

According to a BBC article, Rob Hawkins, project director with Fugro GeoConsulting Limited said that  “Its condition is extraordinary.” He also said that “After it was hit by the torpedoes, the Danton clearly turned turtle and rotated several times. You can see where it dropped some infrastructure on the way down and then impacted on the seabed. You can see where it slid along the seabed before coming to a rest,”

Researchers compared the position of its heavy guns with those shown on the original plans to confirm its identity.

The gas pipeline has been diverted south-east of the wreck location to avoid the wreck and any structural items that may have fallen from it as it fell to the seabed.

The photographs are from  BBC’s website where you can read the full story and even see some video of the wreck.

No, not Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar, which is still safely in dry dock in Portsmouth. Or at least it was just over a year ago when I visited her. But Nelson’s flagship wasn’t the first HMS Victory, in fact she was the sixth. Her immediate predecessor was built between 1726 and 1737 and when launched was considered the most technically advanced vessel of the age. She was one of the last ships to be lost at sea with a full complement of bronze cannons, before bronze was replaced by iron. Although a History channel programme the other night mentioned that Henry VIII started introducing iron guns in order to cut the cost of fitting out his fleet nearly 200 years earlier.

Anyway in 1744 HMS Victory was sent down to Lisbon to rescue a convoy that was being blockaded by a French fleet. After chasing the fleet away she was returning to the UK in October 1744 when she sank in a violent storm, killing approximately 950 men including 74 year old Admiral John Balchin, one of Britain’s highest regarded admirals.

For many years the ship was believed to have  hit the Casquets, a group of rocks north-west of Alderney in the Channel Islands. As a result Admiral Balchin’s reputation as a fine mariner was tarnished, as well as that of his captain and navigator. In addition a lighthouse keeper was also blamed and  charged with failing to keep his light lit.

On 18 November 2008 Odyessey Marine Exploration discovered the wreck approximately 60 miles from where she was believed to have hit the Casquets, which would seem to exonerate all involved in the sinking. It is now believed that the ship sank as a result of a violent storm, and that the ship’s design and construction may have contributed to her loss.

Two bronze cannons have been recovered from the wreck site and used to confirm the identity of the ship. These are a 12 pounder featuring the royal arms of George II, and  a 42 pounder with the arms of George I.

Odyssey Marine have apparently been working closely with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which hopefully means that their relationship with the UK will be better opinion that with Spain, whose government is suing them to recover 17 tons of silver coins that they recovered from a shipwreck which they believe is the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas, which sank off Portugal in 1804. HMS Victory was believed to be have been carrying a substantial amount of gold and silver coins when she sank.

Discovery Channel will apparently be showing a Treasure Quest; Victory Special in the UK on 8th February. They have quite a good section on their website about the discovery. And here’s a press release from Odyssey Marine, along with more details of the project. The photos on this page also come from their website.

HMAS Sydney (Australia War Memorial's catalogue)

HMAS Sydney was a light cruiser and was sunk on 19 November 1941 by the Kormoran, a German auxiliary cruiser. Last year both wrecks were  found off Western Australia. According to reports from the survivors of the Kormoran, the German ship was disguised and travelling under a false flag. When the Sydney approached the investigate, the armed raider opened fire causing extensive damage and sinking the Sydney. The Kormoran itself was also badly damaged and was subsequently scuttled, but many of the crew survived. The Sydney’s crew wasn’t so fortunate as the ship sank with all hands and no bodies were ever found.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald reporting into an inquiry into its sinking claims that anyone who got off the ship would not have survived for more than 50 hours. After that their bodies would have lost buoyancy and sunk, but eventually they would have become buoyant again as gases within them expanded. Because the Sydney sank in 2.5km of water, it is apparently unlikely that the bodies would have floated back to the surface until at least 10 days later. The air and sea search was called off after 9 days.

You can read the Sydney Morning Herald article here.

After an extensive survey by members of a project team called Java Sea Revisited – The HMS Exeter Expedition, the group has “confirmed” the discovery of the wrecks of HMS Exeter and her escort, HMS Encounter.

HMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser that was laid down on 1st August 1928, and was involved in the Battle of the River Plate that led to the scuttling of the Graf Spee. HMS Encounter was an E Class destroyer that was launched in 1934. Together they were sunk on 1st March 1942 north-west of Bawean Island heading for the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. They were engaged by 4 Japanese heavy cruisers and a number of destroyers. Exeter was hit in the boiler room and lost power. The crew may have been attempting to scuttle her before the Japanese destroyer Inazumi launched a final torpedo attack. Encounter was hit by 8 inch shell fire shortly afterwards. A second escort, USS Pope, initially escaped, but was later sunk by aircraft from the carrier Ryujo. The survivors were picked up and imprisoned.

The wrecks were apparently first located in February 2007 by a team onboard the MV Empress, owned and skippered by Vidar Skoglie. The others involved included Vidar’s wife, Alice, as well as retired US Navy captain Phil Yuetter and photo-journalist Kevin Denlay. You can read Kevin Denlay’s description of the discoveries of the Dutch cruisers Java and De Ruyter here. These cruisers were sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 Feb 1942, in which Encounter and Exeter were also involved. It was in this battle that Exeter was damaged and limped to Surubaya just prior to her sinking.

Exeter is lying on its starboard side in 60 metres, and is around 30 miles from the position the Admiralty estimated it as being sunk. HMS Encounter is reported as being a few miles away. The diving team are intending to publish a full report shortly.

I had the good fortune to spend 2 weeks diving from the Empress several years ago and had some excellent dives between Bali and West Timor.