Fullbore Friday

...a story that should be told, but can't be..

The last two FbFs, we’ve looked at some of our favorite stories about auxiliary cruisers and armed merchantmen, and I almost added a third this week, but then I saw that it was just 15 months or so ago that I posted the story about the Komoran and HMAS Sydney—so that is too soon for a repeat.

However, I recently heard a side story about that last battle that had missed my scan before.

It may seem an unusual story for FbF, which is usually a story of incredible ships, crews, or individuals—but it still rings true.

I offer for your consideration Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark, Royal Australian Navy.

Every navy is full of such men.

Clark was born in Brisbane on 28 January 1920. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on 23 August 1940, and was trained as a submarine detector at HMAS Cerberus and on HMAS St Giles. Clark joined Sydney's crew on 19 August 1941, and was promoted to Able Seaman several days later. He was newly engaged at the time of Sydney's sinking.

He was considered lost at sea along with the entire crew of Sydney, but he was just waiting for the future to find him.

During the late afternoon of 6 February 1942, 79 days after Sydney sank, lookouts on Christmas Island spotted an object out at sea.^[10] Initially thought to be a Japanese submarine, closer inspection from a pilot boat found it was a Carley float with a dead person inside. The float was then towed ashore.^[10] With the island at risk of invasion, the deceased was quickly examined by the harbour master, the medical officer and the man in charge of the radio station. The body was buried in an unmarked grave near Flying Fish Cove.^[11][12] The examiners wrote reports that were later destroyed when Japanese forces occupied Christmas Island. They would later recreate these reports from memory.^[12][13] An inquest was not convened until mid-February and had not concluded when evacuation began on 17 February in anticipation of Japanese forces occupying the island on 23 March. It is unknown if the doctor on Christmas Island had performed an autopsy as no report of him doing so was found.^[14]

…

A preliminary examination in 1942 by the island’s medical officer, Dr J. Scott Clark, found that the deceased was a tall young adult male caucasoid.^[15] The remains were partly decomposed, the eyes, nose and all of the flesh from the right arm were missing and believed to have been consumed by fish or birds.^[16] According to the Harbour Master, Captain J. R. Smith, the body was clothed in a blue boilersuit which had been bleached white by exposure, with four plain press studs from neck to waist.^[16] However, J. C. Baker, who was in charge of the radio station at Christmas Island, stated that the boilersuit was white.^[14] The body was not carrying dog tags or personal effects.

A shoe was found beside the body, which Clark did not believe belonged to the dead man.^[10] Later recollections of the shoe varied with Clark stating that it was “probably branded “CROWN BRAND PTY 4”, although he had some doubts about “CROWN” and “4”. Captain Smith recalled a canvas shoe of a brand named “McCOWAN PTY” or “McEWAN PTY”, which carried symbols representing a crown and/or a broad arrow. A sergeant with the party who recovered the raft later contradicted the finding of a shoe, instead stating that a ‘pair of boots’ were found on the raft.^[17]

In Smith’s opinion, the life raft was a naval Carley float, which had come from Sydney.^[3] The wooden decking was manufactured and branded with the word “PATENT” while the metal framework was branded “LYSAGHT DUA-ANNEAL ZINC. MADE IN AUSTRALIA” inside.^[18] The float had been damaged by gun or shellfire, with shrapnel embedded in the outer covering. The underside was covered with barnacles and other marine growth, indicating that it had been at sea for some time.^[3]

…

The 1998 Joint Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into the loss of Sydney recommended that attempts be made to find the grave, in order to exhume the body and acquire DNA for comparison with the next of kin of the crew of Sydney. This would determine if the unknown sailor was from the cruiser.^[22] The RAN searched the graveyard during August and September 2001 to no avail until a second search in October 2006 found the body.^[23][24] The body was found in an unusually-shaped coffin, which appeared to have been constructed around it as the body was buried "with legs doubled under at the knee." That was same position it had been in when found on the raft, possibly due to mummification. Press studs and small fragments of clothing were found in the coffin.^[25] Following an autopsy and sampling from the body for identification, the remains of the still unknown sailor were reburied in the Commonwealth War Graves section in the Geraldton Cemetery in Western Australia with full military honours on 19 November 2008.^[26][27]

…

Brain trauma caused by a shell fragment of German origin was identified as the cause of death.^[28][29] Bruce Billson (the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence) reported that a piece of shrapnel struck the front of the skull and lodged in the left forehead. On first examination, it was thought that the fragment might have been a bullet but this hypothesis was later rejected. In addition to this injury, the pathologist identified a second major skull injury of bone loss on the left side, above and behind the left earhole. This injury was believed to have occurred around the time of death. The analysis also identified multiple rib fractures, but it is unknown whether these occurred around the time of death or long after death with the settling of the grave. No other shrapnel or projectiles have been found elsewhere in the remains.^[29]

He had shrapnel in his forehead, along with another head wound. Multiple broken ribs perhaps as well…but he made it into a raft.

Here is where the Sydney was sunk.

It is a 1,000 nautical miles from there to Christmas Island.

That was this Sailor’s final underway.

In 2021, DNA testing identified the remains as those of Clark. The identity was revealed at the Australian War Memorial on 19 November 2021, the 80th anniversary of the battle.^[1][34][2] Clark is the only member of Sydney's crew known to have reached a life raft.^[1]

The one survivor. How long did he survive afloat? How close did he get to rescue, if ever? Don’t know. The sea holds its secrets—full of stories we will never know.

And here is he, finally at rest with a visit by his nephew.

So many families have lost loved ones at sea, never knowing their fate. To bring closure for some…hard to put a price on that, but it is a duty we owe them all.