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Archaeologist's incredible invention gaining credibility after 'finding' Australian warship
AFTER more than 60 years of silence, the dying tales of a warship named the HMAS Sydney were finally heard by the world.
The vessel, one of the Allies’ lesser known combatants against the German-Japanese pact, went down on November 19, 1941. Critically wounded in combat with a disguised German vessel, it took some 645 crewmen with it to the seabed.
It was the greatest single loss of Australian life in the entirety of the war, and the fractured hull of the Sydney would be the country’s largest war grave.
Yet despite its scale, the ship sunk without trace. It left many hundreds of families waiting for closure, the explanation of their loved ones’ deaths uncertain, their bodies never laid to rest.
In the decades that followed, the story began to give rise to conspiracy theories. The absent wreck and dearth of information surrounding that final battle raised cries of a cover up, and theories arose to plug the holes in history.
Was the Australian Government burying a botched rescue? Were survivors killed by the German crew? Could there have been Japanese involvement, predating the attack on Pearl Harbor and potentially skewing our understanding of the progress of the war in the east?
One question stood proud among the many posed by the historians and authors who tried to deconstruct the tale over the years. Why is the Sydney still missing?
The question, it could be argued, applies no longer. In March, famed sea explorer David Mearns found the wreck, unmistakably identified by its unique markings, preserved for 65 years. As director of The Finding Sydney Foundation, he made good on the AUS $4.1m provided by the Australian Government for the task.
Time to unravel the mystery? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Because someone from Wetherby found the Sydney first.
Eighteen months ago, the Wetherby News ran two features on a man named Tim Akers.
A marine archaeologist, Akers’ experimentation with digital photography had seen him chance upon a remarkable process.
By combining images from different parts of the light spectrum, using software he developed, he found himself able to look underground, 75ft under the Earth, to be exact – and 10,000 feet under the sea.
Processing data from satellite images – Landsat 7, NASA’s primary photographic satellite and the basis for Google Earth – he began combing the Indian Ocean from his Wetherby home.
He was looking for the Sydney, a high profile archaeological target, to give his claims some tangible credibility. And he found it.
Sceptical? Naturally, everyone is. Akers certainly won’t reveal just how his system, dubbed Merlindown, actually works. It’s not hard to understand why – if genuine, it’s a very valuable secret.
But since he last featured in these pages, interest has come knocking – from English Heritage, from German documentary television, from the Italian Government and many others.
Credibility, it seems, is not far away.
It came one giant leap closer on March 26 , when The Finding Sydney Foundation indirectly verified his data and found the ship, off the coast of north-western Australia.
Just how a lone Wetherby enthusiast outdid 65 years of Government searching from the other side of the world is a mystery in itself. Talking to the man, it swiftly becomes apparent that a book could be written on the topic. Before too long you’re waist deep in conspiracy.
It’s a can of worms too large for this space. Akers, fortunately, is just happy the ship has been found.
“I was elated,” he said. “Because it’s bringing the discovery to a head.
“There is a mystery that occurred in November 1941 and the Australian people have never been told what the ship was doing at the time, and why it engaged the Kormoran.
“There has never been an enquiry as released by the Government. So this means, firstly, a chance for people to find out why their loved ones were lost and final closure to know where the grave is.
“So these people now have a purpose, and a location, to mourn. Even if it is out at sea it is in their minds. It’s closure.
“It doesn’t matter who found it. It has been found and we have got a basis there to work from.”
Of course, the discovery also helps to verify his data, and his Merlindown system. The official scan of the seabed corresponded strikingly with Akers’ Merlindown digital image of the same site, produced back in 2006.
And it did more than that. The archaeologist had been encountering a spate of navigational hiccups, which the discovery of the Sydney unwittingly solved (see Lost at Sea, right).
It’s made him more confident than ever. It may be located 12,000 miles from his front door, but the Sydney is a final, tangible piece of the Merlindown puzzle.
It gives him, at long last, substantially more than a simple sales pitch to demonstrate his incredible invention to those who might be interested.
And that’s a long list. Archaeological groups seeking ruins, construction companies needing swift land surveys to locate underground hazards, charities funding mine clearance, even governments tracing their military wrecks.
The current alternative is a costly geophysics survey – averaging 15,000 for a 40 acre site and a two week wait. Akers’ system will cost one fifth of that, and has the potential to turn the results around in a day.
“Archaeology is a labour of love,” he said. “But knowing where to look is the hard part, and it can be very expensive.
“If you can do it from the comfort of your computer... well, imagine the implications.”
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Weather for Wetherby
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
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