What happened to HMAS Sydney’s crew?
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.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:12 am
[...] The ongoing inquiry into the 1941 sinking of HMAS Sydney has concluded that a body which was washed up on Christmas Island in February 1942 came from the ship. It had drifted in a life raft called a Carley float for 3 months and is the only body to have been recovered. A theory for what happened to the others was raised ealier at the inquiry. [...]