Unidentified Body On Christmas Island - Connection To Sydney

Connection To Sydney

The island's inhabitants believed that the float and sailor were of naval origin, and had come from Sydney. A post-war investigation by the RAN, including reconstructions of the reports from the memories of those who wrote them, determined that although the body could possibly be a naval rating, the description of the raft did not match those used by Australian warships and thus could not have come from Sydney. Despite this, several parties consider the float to come from Sydney. Winter states that a carley float starting from the believed location of the battle and left to drift in the currents of the Indian Ocean would have propelled the float into proximity of Christmas Island around the time of its discovery. Olson claims that the reports compiled after the float was discovered were vague, and that there were inconsistencies between reports. However, he states that the rope used on the float, markings on the float, boilersuit, and shoe were of naval origin, and the descriptions of marine growth correspond with the time a float from Sydney would have been in the water. The government inquiry concluded that "on the balance of probability, that the body and the carley float ... were most likely from HMAS Sydney." In his book, Frame was sceptical of the raft's origins and stated that its connections to the cruiser were circumstantial only, but Olson claims that evidence presented at the 1998 inquiry had changed Frame's mind.