A report into the circumstances attending the loss of MV Derbyshire which foundered on or about 9 September 1980 in position approximately 25° 30° North, 130° 30’ East with the loss of 44 lives’ (Department for Transport, 1986)
R. E. D. Bishop, W. G. Price and P. Temarel, A Theory on the loss of the MV Derbyshire’, Transactions Royal Institute of Naval Architects, 133 (1991), 1–27
M. Dickinson, ‘Report of the ITF Derbyshire Mission (International Transport Workers’ Federation, London, 1994)
D. Mearns, ‘Search for the Bulk Carrier Derbyshire’. Unlocking the Mystery of Bulk Carrier Shipping Disasters’, International Conference Man-Made Objects on the Seafloor, Society for Underwater Technology, London, 1 February 1995
D. Ram well and T. Madge, A Ship Too Far — The Mystery of the Derbyshire (Plodder & Stoughton, London, 1992)
The Honourable Mr Justice Colman, ‘Report of the Re-Opened Formal Investigation into the Loss of the MV DERBYSHIRE’ (The High Court of Justice [Admiralty Court], 2000)
UK/EC Assessors’ Report, ‘MV Derbyshire Surveys’ (Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 1998)
III HMS Hood and KTB Bismarck’. SEARCH FOR AN EPIC BATTLE
Iain Ballantyne, Killing the Bismarck (Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley, 2010)
David Mearns and Rob White, Hood and Bismarck (Channel 4 Books, London, 2001)
Burkard von Miillenheim-Rechberg, Battleship Bismarck (Arms and Armour Press, London, 1991)
Norman Polmar and Michael WEite, Project Azorian (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2010)
Mike Rossiter, Ark Royal (Bantam Press, London, 2006)
Bruce Taylor, The Battlecruiser HMS HOOD (Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, 2004)
IV TSS Athenia: THE FIRST CASUALTY OF WORLD WAR II
Francis Carroll, Athenia Torpedoed, the U-Boat Attack that Ignited the Battle of the Atlantic (Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley, 2012)
Cay Rademacher, Drei Tage im September: Die Letzte Fahrt der Athenia 1939 (Mare, Hamburg, 2009)
Melanie Wiggins, U-Boat Adventures: Firsthand Accounts from World War II (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2013)
Andrew Williams, The Battle of the Atlantic (Bantam Press, London, 2006)
V HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran: SOLVING AUSTRALIA’S GREATEST MARITIME MYSTERY
Commissioner T. R. H. Cole, The loss of HMAS Sydney II (Department of Defence, Canberra, Australia, 2009)
T. Detmers and J. Brenneke, Hilfskreuzer Kormoran (Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich, Germany, 1959)
T. Frame, HMAS Sydney — Loss & Controversy (Hodder & Stoughton, Rydal-mere, NSW, Australia, 1983)
G. H. Gill, Australia in the War of1939–1945, Royal Australian Navy 1939— 1942, Vol. 1 (Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia, 1957)
R Hore and D. L. Mearns, ‘HMAS Sydney – An End to the Controversy, Navy Historical Review, Vol. 24, No. 4, December 2003
M. McCarthy, HMAS Sydney (II) (Western Australian Museum, Welshpool, WA, Australia, 2010)
G. McDonald, Seeking the Sydney: A Quest for Truth (University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, WA, Australia, 2005)
D. L. Mearns, The Search for the Sydney (Harper Collins, Sydney, Australia, 2009)
M. Montgomery, Who Sank the Sydney? (Leo Cooper and Seeker & Warburg, London, England, 1983)
W Olson, Bitter Victory — The Death of HMAS Sydney (University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, WA, Australia, 2000)
W Olson, HMAS Sydney (II) – In Peace and War (Wesley John Olson, Hilton, WA, Australia, 2016)
Royal Australian Navy, Sea Power Centre, HMAS Sydney II, The Cruiser and the Controversy in the Archives of the United Kingdom, ed. Captain Peter Hore (Royal Navy, Defence Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia, 2001)
P. Schmalenbach, German Raiders – A History of Auxiliary Cruisers of the German Navy 1895—1945 (Patrick Stephens, Cambridge, England, 1979)
B. Winter, HMAS Sydney — Fact, Fantasy and Fraud (Boolarong Publications, Brisbane, Australia, 1984)
VI AHS Centaur, SUNK ON A MISSION OF MERCY
R. Goodman, Hospital Ships (Boolarong, Brisbane, Australia, 1992)
D. Jenkins, Battle Surface – Japans Submarine War Against Australia 19421943 (Random House Australia, Milsons Point, NSW, 1992)
David L. Mearns, A Quest for Australia’s Wartime Wrecks’, The Explorers Journal Vol. 88, No. 2, p. 22–27 (2010)
C. S. Milligan, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur (McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1981)
C. S. Milligan and J. C. H. Foley, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur The Myth of Immunity (Nairana Publications, Queensland, Australia, 1993)
A. E. Smith, Three Minutes of Time: The Torpedoing of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur (The Lower Tweed River Historical Society, Queensland, Australia, 1991)
VII Esmeralda: VASCO DA GAMA’S SECOND ARMADA TO INDIA
Pêro d’Atafde, Carta de Pero de Atayde a El-rei D. Manuel Fevereiro 20, 1504, ANTT, Corpo CronolANTT, Corpogico, Parte I, Maço 4, No. 57
J. Barros, Ásia de JoÃo de Barros: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no des-cubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente, Decada I, Livro VII, Capitulo II (1552)
F. L. Castanheda, História do descobrimento & conquista da Índia pelos portu-gueses, Livro I, Capitulo LIV (trans. 1582; 1st edn 1551–60)
G. Corrêa, Lendas da India, Livro I, Capitulo VI (Lisbon, Academia Real de Sciencias, 1858; written c. 1550s)
Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius, Foundations of the Portuguese Empire 1415–1580 (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1978).
D. GUniversityis, ChrUniversitynica do Felicíssimo Rei Dom Emanuel, Parte 1, Capitulo LXXIV; Parte 4, Capitulo LXXXVI (Lisbon, 1567)
A. Gomes and A. M. Trigueiros, Portuguese Coins in the Age of Discovery 1385–1580 (Lisbon, 1992)
Livro das Armadas da India, 1497—1640 (manuscript in the Arquivo Nacional Torre de Tombo)
Livro das Armadas da India, c. 1568, Memoria das Armadas que de Portugal passaram à Índia esta primeira é a com que Vasco da Gama partiu ao desco-brimento delà por mandado de El-Rei Dom Manuel no segundo ano de seu reinado e no do nascimento de Cristo de 1497 (manuscript in the Academia de Ciências de Lisboa)
David L. Mearns, Dave Parham and Bruno Frohlich, ‘A Portuguese East Indiaman from the 1502–1503 Fleet of Vasco da Gama off Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman: an interim report’, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 45.2: 331–351 (2016)
S. Subrahmanyam, The career and legend of Vasco da Gama (Cambridge, 1997)
A. M. Trigueiros, Apareceu O ‘Índio’de D. Manuell, Moeda, 21.2, 55–9, 1996
VIII Indianapolis and Endurance: WAITING TO BE FOUND
Stephen Harding, The Castaway’s War: One Man’s Battle Against ImperialJapan (Da Capo Press, Boston, MA, 2016)
Dan Kurzman, Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis (Atheneum, New York, 1990)
Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell, Shackleton’s Way (Nicholas Brealey, London, 2003)
Pete Nelson, Leftfor Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis (Delacorte Press, New York, 2002)
Richard F. Newcomb, Abandon Ship: The Saga of the USS Indianapolis, The Navy’s Greatest Sea Disaster (HarperTorch, New York, 2001)
Ernest Shackleton, South (William Heinemann, London, 1919)
Frank A. Worsley, Endurance (Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, New York, 1931)
The Shipwreck Hunter
Afterword
Robert D. Ballard, The Discovery of Titanic (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1987).
Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette L. Drew, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of Cold War Submarine Espionage (Hutchinson, London, 1999)
Acknowledgments
The original idea for this book came from Tom Gilliatt, Publishing Director for Allen & Unwin in Australia, some years ago after I had located the wreck of Centaur. During those initial discussions Tom made a pretty convincing case
that people would be interested in a broader book about how someone becomes a ‘shipwreck hunter’ and what a career in this unusual profession would entail. I hope he was right, but I take full responsibility for whether I’ve managed to live up to his expectations and have been able to convey what a truly exciting thing it is to make such remarkable shipwreck discoveries. To look back thirty years and more of one’s professional life takes time, however, so I am most grateful to Tom for his patience in waiting until I could manage the break needed to complete this book.
I would also like to thank Clare Drysdale, the Editorial Director of Allen & Unwin, for her enthusiasm and encouragement throughout the project. It was important to me that this book was published in both Australia and the UK. I thank my agents, Heather Holden-Brown and Margaret Gee, for finding the right publisher to make that happen. I would also like to thank Alison Cathie who introduced me to Heather, and was extremely kind and generous with her time in taking an interest in my writing career.
Writing this book allowed me to appreciate the importance of my teachers and mentors in helping me develop as a scientist, a professional and as a person. I owe an enormous amount to Gregg Rice,* formerly of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Al Hine and Peter Betzer from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science, and to Don Dean who gave me my chance at Eastport International and who showed by his example how to lead a team.
I was extremely fortunate to have joined two pioneering companies at the precise moment they were developing ground-breaking technologies to reach the greatest depths of the ocean. However, what really made Eastport International and Blue Water Recoveries truly special were the talented people who worked there. Both companies were small enough that your co-workers were also friends. While their names might not appear in the book the following people played big parts in several of the stories I’ve told. At Eastport International: Mark Wilson, Bill Lawson, Craig Bagley, Larry Ledet, Carl Overby, Ron Schmidt,* Paul Nelson, Greg Gibson, Terry Carroll, John Finke, Jerry Marenburg, Don Dean, John Kreider, Larry Mocniak and Roy Truman. At Blue Water Recoveries: Bob Hudson, Mark Cliff, Carole Menzies, Jim Mercer, Julian Cope, Peter Cope and Lyle Craigie-Halkett.
There are numerous other colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to the projects covered in this book. Although I haven’t the space to name them all, I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people in particular.
Lucona: Irv Bjorkheim and Larry Robinson; Derbyshire: Mark Dickinson, Rob White and Rory McLean; HMS Hood: Ted Briggs,* Julian Ware, Sarah Marris and Lindsay Taylor; HMAS Sydney: John Perryman, Wes Olson, Barbara Poniewierski, Peter Hore, Garry Baverstock, Glenys McDonald, Keith Rowe, Don Pridmore, Patrick Flynn, Mack McCarthy and the Finding Sydney Foundation Directors; AHS Centaur: Chris Milligan, John Foley,* Anthony Crack and Arthur Dugdale; Esmeralda: Alex Double, Dave Parham, Bruno Fröhlich, Hassan Al Lawati, Ayyoub Al Busaidi and Ahmed Al Siyabi; Endurance: Terry Garcia, Kristin Rechberger and Alexandra Shackleton.
Finally, to my wife Sarah and our children Sam, Alexandra and Isabella, my eternal thanks and love.
(*deceased)
Index
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Adventure Galley, 357
AEl, Australian submarine, 370–71
Al Munassir, RNO, 348–9, 350–52, 354
al-Gaddafi, Muammar, 54
al-Siyabi, Ahmed, 354
Albuquerque, Francisco de, 336, 338
Allen, Paul G., 163
AMS-60 sonar, 240, 306–8
Androsch, Hannes, 27
Anson, HMS, 114
Antarctic, 174
Antelope, HMS, 152
Aquitania, RMS, 234, 235
Arisan Maru, 171
Ark Royal, HMS, 128, 163, 197
Ataíde, Pêro de, 336–8, 353
Athenia, TSS, 172–97
Atlantic Donaldson Line, 181
autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), 371, 383, 384
Bagley, Craig, 73, 81, 84
Baleares, 367
Ballard, Dr Robert, 14, 70, 97, 112, 132, 135, 140, 218, 381–3
Bartolomeo Colleoni, 204, 205, 206
Baverstock, Ernie, 368
Baverstock, Garry, 368
Bayes, Thomas, 147
Bayliss, Marion, 93–4
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 172–5, 186, 190–92, 195–7
Beatty, Admiral David, 114
Berry, Jessica, 346–7, 354
Bibby Line, 57, 69, 72, 102, 104
Billson, Bruce, 231–2
Birmingham, Ron, 229, 231
Bishop, Price and Temarel, 60, 61, 86
Bismarck, KTB, 70, 112, 116, 120–30, 131–43, 150,218, 383
Bjorkheim, Irv, 35, 37
Blecha, Karl, 27, 31, 33
Bligh, Anna, 273, 274, 276, 293, 304, 310,311,313, 323
Blue Funnel Line, 278, 286
Blue Water Recoveries (BWR), 93, 116–17, 133, 140, 276, 302, 330, 337, 342
BLUElink, 235–6
Briggs, Peter, 371
Briggs, Ted, 113, 117–20, 125–6, 132–3, 144, 151, 153, 154–8, 160, 162–3, 169
British Research Ship Association (BRSA), 60, 61
Bryce, Quentin, 323, 324
Bucknall, Belinda, 66
Bulldog, HMS, 194
Bunjes, Wilhelm, 221, 226
Burgel, Dr Len van, 235, 290
Burnett, Captain Joseph, 206, 208, 210, 261, 264–5
Cabral, Pedro Álvares, 332–3
Calabria, Battle of, 203
CamÃrao, Antonio, 340
Cape York, SS, 297
Cast Kittiwake, 58, 61
Centaur, AHS, 224, 271–325
Centaur Association, The, 271, 274, 277, 313–14, 320–21
Central America, SS, 330
Ceylon, HMS, 133
Challenger Space Shuttle, 15–16
Chamberlain, Neville, 175, 178–9
Channel 4, 84, 91, 93, 111, 130, 138, 148, 197
Christensen, Owen, 283
Churchill, Winston, 114, 126–8, 193
City of Flint, SS, 183
City of Winchester, 343—5
Cliff, Mark, 116–17
Cliffe, Captain Blair, 238–9, 246
Clifford, Barry, 357
Cockroft, David, 67
Cocos, Battle of (1914), 202
Cole, Justice Terence, 262–5
Collingwood, HMS, 162
Collins, Captain John, 203–6
Colman, Hon. Mr Justice, 102–3, 105–6
Columbus, Christopher, 331, 357
Comanche ROV, 257–61
Cook, Captain James, 177, 179—80, 182–5
Cope, Peter, 338–41
Copland, Barnet, 181–2, 185–6
Costigan, Erica, 296
Crack, Anthony, 276, 288, 293, 294, 310, 313, 321, 324
Crane, Russell, 323
Craven, John, 147
Cunningham, Admiral Sir Andrew, 204
Curtin, John, 284
CURVIII ROV, 15–16, 18
da Gama, Vasco, 331–6, 362
Daily, Richard, 137
Daimler, Hans Peter, 31–2, 50
Daniel H. Wagner Associates, 38
Davies, Dr Chris, 73
Dean, Don, 24, 37, 66–7, 112
Deep Drone 6000 ROV, 15
Deep Submergence Laboratory (DSL), 96–7
Demetra Beauty, 55
Dennis, Professor Peter, 212–13
Derbyshire, MV, 55–107, 116
Derbyshire Families Association (DFA), 61, 64–7, 70, 83, 86, 87–8, 91, 93–4, 96, 102, 104, 106, 107
Detmers, Captain Theodor, 207–8, 210–11, 216, 218, 220–29, 248–50, 261, 265, 278
Dias, Bartolomeu, 331
Dickinson, Mark, 67, 73–4, 78, 88, 89
Dillon, AS H., 184
Don, David, 174, 181
bsp; Donaldson, John Francis, Baron
Donaldson of Lymington, 90, 91–3, 94, 96
Dönitz, Admiral Karl, 179, 181, 192, 193, 195
Dorsetshire, HMS, 129
Double, Alex, 339–40, 343
Doyle, Dr Eibhlin, 188, 190–91
Dugdale, Major Arthur, 313
Dundas, Bill, 117, 126
Durban, HMS, 206
Duvoisin, Jack, 291–3, 298
Eastport International, 14–16, 18, 23–4, 53, 66
Edlemaier, Johann, 45
EG&G 259–4 sonar, 12–13
Elder, Jean, 296–7
Electra, HMS, 126, 185–6
Emden, SMS, 202–3, 205
Endurance, HMS, 174
Endurance, USS, 377–80
Enola Gay, 372, 375
Erebus, HMS, 371
Escort, HMS, 185
Esmeralda, 329–63
Evans, Dr Ross, 295
Faulkner, Douglas, 91—4, 97, 98, 99, 107
Fincham, Peter, 192
Find AE1 Ltd, 371
Fischer, Heinz, 27
Fisher, Admiral Sir John ‘Jackie’, 113–14
Fisher, Mel, 329
Flynn, Patrick, 239–40, 244–3, 251
Foley, John, 277, 284, 298, 313, 315–18, 320
Foxton, Eric Gilson, 297
Franklin, Sir John, 371
Frohlich, Dr Bruno, 343–4
Fulk Al Salamah, 348
Fullford, Major R. K., 300–301
Gardam, Tim, 130–32, 143, 156, 197
Garrett, Peter, 321
General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), 384, 385
Geosounder, 236, 238–40, 248, 257, 258
Gibson, Greg, 45, 49, 76–7, 82
Gillard, Julia, 262, 310
Gillespie, Ken, 323
Giovanni delle Bande Nere, 204
Glass, Rudi, 300
Glossop, Captain John, 202
Gneisenau, 121
Goebbels, Joseph, 193
Graham, Ted, 228–9, 230–33, 254, 275–6
Gratz, Leopold, 27, 32
Griffin, Dr David, 235–6, 290, 304–5
Grove, Eric, 138
Grudzinski, Jan, 369–70
Gwinn, Lt Wilbur, 374
Harukaze, JDS, 170, 171
Hashimoto, Mochitsura, 375
Havock, HMS, 204
Hedrick Johnson, Tammi, 368–9