Right now, I think there is a ~35% chance that the Somerton Man was a Russian merchant seaman who had worked on a WWII Lend-Lease ship bringing goods from America to Vladivostok on the Pacific Route. We know his physical appearance, height, fingerprints, and his rough date of birth: and that he was found dead on a South Australian beach on 1st December 1948.
What struck me last night was that this might well be all we need to work with.
So at long last, I’ve finally formed a Somerton Man plan. Here’s what I’ll do (though it won’t happen in a day or even a week):-
(1) Find the Soviet crew lists for Lend-Lease ships landing on the West Coast of America during 1941-1945 (e.g. via Ancestry.com or elsewhere), and merge them into a single list.
Once this is filtered for merchant seamen of the right age (and I’ll happily take your suggestions as to what age range to filter against), my estimate is that I should have ~250 names to work with.
(2) Find out if any of these were alive in 1949 and beyond.
As I recall, there is a Maritime Cemetery in Vladivostok. My guess is that a fair few of these merchant seamen will be buried there: hopefully I’ll be able to find a nice administrative list or database to work with.
I estimate that this should reduce the list to something closer to 100 names. If other usable secondary databases exist, they might help get the list down to ~50 names.
Once I get to this point, it seems that there are four parallel strategies to follow, each of which might independently work:-
(3a) Trace these 50 names further using other Soviet databases. (Though because this was the era of Stalin’s Russia, there might well be rather less to go on than one would normally hope for).
(3b) Find crew-lists of Soviet ships arriving in or leaving from Australian ports 1943-1948 (and/or Australian alien seamen registration forms), and cross-reference against these.
(3c) Network through to retired Russian merchant seamen who worked on Lend-Lease ships and see what / who they remember. (There are, as I also recall, Homes for Retired Seamen in Vladivostok, which would seem to be a good place to start).
(3d) See if I can get a Vladivostok journalist interested enough in the story to try to run it in a paper. Who knows what might come out of it.
Perhaps one of these will work, perhaps it won’t. But it certainly beats sitting around trying to guess what “MLIABO” might conceivably stand for (“Making Love Is A Bad Option”, etc). 😉
Perhaps Konstantin Strelbitskiy (who is the Russian navy historian and activist of the searching movement) is the right person for you to approach. He has published some works regarding Soviet navy and merchant fleet losses in the Pacific theatre. He can be reached I think through the searching movement forum (patriotcenter.ru), here’s the link to his profile: http://forum.patriotcenter.ru/index.php?action=profile;u=1148
(I don’t know him in any way, just googled him out).
Hi Nick, Well, you’ve got your work cut out tracing Russian seamen. Newspaper contacts in Vladivostock may well be your best bet, photos of the SM may just trigger someone’s memory of a relative or a shipmate.
If nobody was talking then, nobody will talk now. jestyn is the key
Sherbakov is still unaccounted for as far as I am aware of. Missing . Ps friend was in Darwin the same time with a light aircraft.
It seems that a Mr Jock Armstrong may have lived in the Glenelg area, and it appears that he was a dancer and a circus performer of some sort. Maybe a trapeze artist? Worth following up I think.
Wirth’s was preparing for a tour of New Zealand in late 1948. Perhaps SM stayed behind and went visiting his old haunts such as Glenelg? In my experience a “Jock” is rarely Australian born, so there is a chance that we can find him in the passenger records.
Chronicle (Adelaide) 29th November 1934 page 46
Returned Soldiers League Notes. By Gareth Owen
GLENELG. The annual social was held on Saturday, November 24, and proved to be one of the most successful since the inception of the branch …….. a feature of the evening was the speciality dance number by Jock Armstrong, who has just returned from a successful season with Wirth’s Circus. A happy evening concluded with community singing — always popular with the diggers.
Incidentally, Wirth’s circus attracted the attention of the security services after WW1.
I noted the following in the archives:
Japanese activities in South Australia [names of Japanese residents, Japanese members of Wirth’s Circus, possible Japanese links with Chinese Kuo Min Tang. 1918-1921
I note a file on one Karl Kronin, a Russian member of Wirth’s circus in 1918.
There was a rumour once. That JEstyn had runaway when she was about 13 years of age to join “the circus” .
I’d be very surprised if the bones in the ground are Somerton Man’s. I have it on good authority that the coffin has already been exhumed, and recently.
Jesus JET was a [lame troll insult]
Nick, have you been able to research a ‘lead’ I gave to you several weeks/months ago? I mentioned that the US had sent a team of scientist/purchasing agents to Australia to negotiate for uranium. I mentioned that one of them disappeared. The date of his disappearance was right around the time a body appeared on Somerton Beach.
So, if you know of anyone who can research Australian military records for the ‘goings-on’ of Australian defense measures for the strafing of Alice Springs by Japanese, you may be able to find out if the American scientists were successful in obtaining the material necessary for developing the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Nick, mate – we don’t mind asking each other the tough questions. Bozo to Dome: His name is Keane, we know this three times. There is no argument strong enough to say that he isn’t.
Nick:
What would you think of a Google enquiry that gets you nothing back – like this one : Tamam Shud Mystery Arnold Deutsch –
Otto. Give AD an ear job and its almost a match
Pete – I agree with you and have searched far and wide for other photos of him to get a different view of the ears!
No pics…
Problem with the eyes misca, reference 2 on the Wikipedia entry says he had ‘sparkling’ blue eyes ….
He had dead grey eyes
Another description that I’ve found of him has him as “stout” and about 5′ – 7″. Still worth a look though!
Pete – A little research shows that the SS Dunbass might indeed, NOT have sunk. See THIS BLOOD RED SEA by Anthony Hulse. What he writes is also corroborated by accounts of the SS Daniel Morgan. (The SS Dunbass gave assistance to the Daniel Morgan). It seems that the Dunbass may have eventually made it’s way back (with survivors) to Archangel.
Pete/Nick – This one actually might be “testable”…Oscar Deutsche was either Arnold’s “cousin” or “uncle” (depending on what article one reads). Oscar has known living relatives. Oscar had a son named Ronnie and he has three children in their late 50’s who also have children.
Forgive me for all the separate posts…I just wanted to make a correction. The incident I refer to above regard THIS BLOOD RED SEA appears to have taken place in July of 1942…So, prior to the “sinking” of the Donbass (incorrectly spelt above) that occurred on November 7, 1942. Nonetheless, there were survivors in the Nov 7 event.
Misca, Re the Donbass, I think that there were 16 survivors rescued by the Z27, they were made POWs in Germany.
Professor Abbott is still online at reddit, and answering every question, we are now on the Deutsch possibility
I can’t put the link up – sort on new.
Pete – Could you at least give a broken link?
I remember that in Janet Fife-Yeomans’ article “The Man With No Name” printed in the Weekend Australian Magazine, 15-16 September 2001, or in the subsequent discussion in the Australian newspaper, it was mentioned that police suspected that SM was of Eastern European origin because of his distinctive dental work (which was not further described). From memory this information came from Lionel Leane, but I have mislaid my notes. If anyone has access to the archives of the Australian newspaper it would be worth confirming this point and also checking what else may have come to light.
Derek Abbott ruled out T Keane, a decision based on his own faulty research. The search for T Keane has been exhausted in the Australian Archives, ask Gerry Feltus.
Find a T Keane in US, Irish or British war records, find him in Sydney in October 1946, and you may have him. It could be that simple. Include the individual contracts that existed between the US Small Ships Company and their crews. 4F didn’t apply, a man with bad feet could get a job.
Any additional info. Found?
Henry: well, I did end up finding a Russian seaman in an Australian hospital in exactly the right time period, but unfortunately he wasn’t the Somerton Man. All the same, nice to know that I was at least correct that this was historically possible. 😉
The search continues!
I don’t suppose anyone has come across a Ted Keane in their research?
He was apparently a baritone with the ‘Italian Troubadours’ . I can’t seem to find anything more about him, just a few bits on Trove.
There was a Theodore Keane, born July 1897 in Hurtle Vale, South Australia, and died May 1961 in Adelaide, South Australia…
It is very likely that he was living in Adelaide in 1948. Now, obviously the fact that he passed in 1961 excludes him as the Somerton Man, but I’m thinking that possibly his luggage was stolen or misplaced… meaning that it could have been found/sold and used by the Unknown Man… which leads back to the same problem – the “T. Keane” was likely a name that was known to be unrelated to the Somerton Man himself.
Rio: unfortunately, Theodore Kean’s handwriting (e.g. his signature on pages 1 and 2 of http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=7366649 ) looks markedly different from the writing on the tie.
In the same vein, Thomas Leonard Keane’s handwriting seemed a little closer – see http://ciphermysteries.com/2016/01/15/thomas-leonard-keane-and-the-somerton-man .
And, just so you know, there’s Tom Kean to consider too: http://ciphermysteries.com/2014/06/17/somerton-mans-clothes-thomas-kean-deceased
I forget whether I mentioned this last week….I think I decided not to because it’s very mundane – but if we’re looking for Keane’s who are definitely not SM but might have lost a suitcase….
What about Terence Henry Keane? As with the others, known to have died 1968 (in NSW) but if the luggage is not SM’s (or clothes have been handed down…)…
There’s a couple of military records of Terence (on some paperwork Terrence) which are somewhat mundane, except the acronym DAC appears like it might be a title (on one page he’s listed as DAC Keane and it’s also listed under Awards – I couldn’t find any reference to DAC in military acronyms (AC is or was Air Commodore – but the record is Army, and his rank is listed as private)) – and I know I’ll feel a right idiot when someone points out that DAC is something obvious and common on military stuff….
Of course, if it’s not his luggage or if the clothes were handed down it might all be a moot point.
Also, did people never bother with Keanic? was it too hard to find one, or was there simply nothing of interest found…
BV: Sometime back you were following a lead on a dancer cum circus artist named Jock Armstrong and I’m wondering how much headway you made. There has been recent mention of possible circus connections again and I recall looking at an American duo called the ‘Acro-Nuts some time ago but was frustrated by lack of information. They were a husband and wife aerial act, John & Marge Armstrong from Chicago who were mainly club acts and they included dance routines and a bicycle clown act. Their daughter Connie was also well known in the fifties and although she died in a 1969 auto accident, I can’t find out what happened to the parents. Whilst a photo of John taken in the 30s era does show some similar facial features to SM, he doesn’t appear much taller than his wife and I wouldn’t have too much confidence that he’s our man. Incidently another ballet star (probably Australia’s most famous) Paul Hammond was born in Marrickville at about the same time as Jessica Thomson and when he started his dance school in Melbourne one of his students was Roma Egan. It would not surprise me if there may have been some connection somewhere along the way and I might add that Hammond who spent many years with the Borovansky/Australian Ballet regarded Tadeusz Slavinsky as being the most influential figure in his early years as a dancer.
Pete: It seems that my post on this thread may have gone through to the keeper though it was a while ago and you may have missed it somehow. It seems to adequately cover Paul Hammonds involvement with Ballets Russes and his association with Roma Egan as one of his accademy’s students. As you will note there are other interesting aspects to his career but these are rather dated now and appear not to be significant in so far as our investigation is concerned. I can expand if you feel that they might take us somewhere; like over the rainbow for instance.
Who writes their name on one of three ties and only one of several singlets and nothing else except a wash bag of course. A culprit who is brazen, cunning, taunting and as sharp as a ’48 style utility knife; that’s who. A person who knows very well that the literal Germanic translation for the English name Keane and it’s derivatives or any compilation of same represents those very attributes. Perhaps that was the point our killer wanted us to grasp all along; maybe everyone of those suitcase items represented a particular clue as to his identity and that of his victim. Not so far fetched in my estimation; so I for one will pursue this angle and see where it leads. Join me for the ride if you’re KEANE…..
Assuming SHCHERBAKOV was Vassili, then we can rule him out. He was diplomatting in Argentina as at 2/1952.
Some Other Sherbakov’s I could find post 1947 (CIA ‘Soviets Abroad’ lists):
Lt. Col. Shcherbakov – Director Finance, Austria (presumably in the embassy). 1/1951. Instead of a first name there’s (lowercase) ‘fnu’ – I suspect that stands for ‘Finance Unit’ or something…..his underling is the same
Armanak SHCHERBIKOV (note splling differs) Driver, Iran 6/1948
Boris SHCHERBAKOV, Sweden 1953, also 6/1949
Boris A SCHERBAKOV, Italy 9/1949 (different wife so presumably different Boris – although interestingly one has a wife Yolana, the other a daughter Yolana )
Sergeyev Vailyevich SHCHERBAKOV Belgium, 3/1958
Igor Fedorovich SHCHERBAKOV Norawy 4/1958
Viktor Vasilyevich SHCHERBAKOV Switzerland 2/1958
Lt. Col. Lev SHCHERBAKOV (Possibly same as the Lt Col earlier) Yugoslavia 1/1958
It seems a not uncommon name….there are others too.
One thing I find a little interesting, is the national archive seems confused about whether he’s coming or not beforehand – and a QANTAS record doesn’t seem like the most categorical record that he arrived 9even an immigration record back then wouldn’t convince me…..we somehow convinced ourselves Johann Friedrich Hohenberger left the country, yet supposedly he was the John Friedich who led the Victoria branch of the Natioanl Safety Council….)
NOTE: “SHCH” seems to be the correct/accepted romanisation for the beginning of these names.
Incidentally, Pavel Ivanovich FEDOSIMOV is reported in them up until 07/1948 when he’s listed as returning to Russia (which we knew).
In 9/1949 he’s reported as 2nd Seccy, 4th GA, UK.
I also have him 3/1956 (with wife Vera Sergeyevna (who you’ll recall was also the PI Fedo’s wife in the US)) as 1st Secy in Libya.
For mine, any glimmer of possibility that the Pavel I Fedosimov at the conferences in the 60s was a different chap and this one met his end in Adelade are now extinguished.
Turns out he was hiding in Nick’s backyard after all the New York stuff went down….
Did Sherbakov even come to Australia – I’m not convinced…..
In the file in the archive there’s occasional mention of a Sherbakov as ‘possibly attending, but in any of the lists VISA requirements are mentioned Sherbakov doesn’t make an appearance.
I *think* the fact that they don’t use his initials endorses this. Everyone else is referred to as ‘A. B. Surname’ whereas he’s sort of added as “not sure about Sherbakov” or equivalent. This to me suggests that someone familiar with him is relaying an opinion that they’d expect him to be on the list, but that he’s not on any official list (at the Russian end). While he’s mentioned int he back-and-forth between Australia and their embassy in Russia (which is presumably talking to the Russians), he doesn’t appear in any of the lists of ‘expected attendees’ – which appear several times in the file. At one point, he is listed on a communication that sounds more definite – but has ‘No Initials’ specified – so it still to me sounds more like unfonfirmed stuff…
So why do we think he did arrive? Well, basically Qantas said he was on the plabe. But I think that’s quite problematic itself. A lot of the delegations shared planes with (as far as I can tell) the Russians going to London (where the UK and possibly Indian delegation would join the flight and maybe others (the Frennch, perhaps?)), then travelling to Singapore (where other delegations might join), and then travelling on to Australia. Early on there was some concerns about flights, with ‘Qants Empire Air’ eventually organising a DC3 (nto clear if it was theirs or if they sourced it through another company). At one stage, there’s concerns raised that it won’t be big enough for all the delegates joining that flight (“We’re gonna need a bigger boat plane”). Whether they got their bigger plane or not I don’t know, but ultimately my point is that we don’t know the basis of Qantas saying “Sherbakov was on the plane” – whether they actually recorded Pax, or were working off another list, or perhaps even had one of the Crew overhear someone being called that and later reported ‘There was a Sherbakov too’ (I think it was 3 pilots and 6 cabin crew for 13 people at one stage – I think talk of bigger planes was when the number reached 21).
One way or another, talk of Sherbakov is odd, and inconsistent with other delegates – so I think someone is getting the wrong end of the stick. So where could this confusion come from? Quite by accident, on the CIA’s FOIA site, I stumbled across shipping routes that involve ‘Sherbakov’ (as opposed to ‘Shcherbakov’ – but that might just be poor translation). A semi-educated guess would put Sherbakov on the Volga River, somwhere near what is now called Rybinsk (in fact 15 seconds research tells me (according to Wikipedia) between 1946 and 1957 Rybinsk was called Shcherbakov).
So what if there was some reference being made to the location Sherbakov, and somehow in the Russia->Australian Embassy->Australia whispers, there was confusion because someone assumed it was a surname? It’s about 300km from Moscow, so not really sure I can work out any relevance to it, other than perhaps someone from the delegation was travelling from or through there?
Either way, the NAA site is confusing about Sherbakov…..to the point where I’m not convinced a Sherbakov ever intended to travel to the conference.
+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
NB: For anyone looking to verify, I’m amused by page 60. I couldn’t work out what it was in response to, but it sounds like someone has asked for delegates to be directed to primarily stay in hotels they have a stake in. A brief extract below:
“…circulate your letter to my colleagues…..and suggest that they do their best for the various Hotels mentioned by you”
I was particularly amused by the signoff (which I assume I’m interpreting correctly):
“..,you no doubt are fuly aware of the extreme shortage of supplies of Scotch whisky in Australia today”
@GC: I’m comfortable with the idea that some of the delegation may have been left behind (e.g. Tatyana Borgatryova – although now I’m scrambling to find whether I can find her listed in the Visa grabts). Sherbakov to me seems odd, because he’s only ever mentioned by surname (I haven’t found who first decided/assumed/found/declared that it was Vassilli Sherbakov). There were a number of diplomatic Sherbakov’s arround the place, so why Vasili/Vasily/…?
I guess it was more of a “What if?” based on the confusion surrounding whether he would attend, and subsequently whether he had. Of course, I can only come up with fairly flaky explanations as to why Qantas was convinced Sherbakov had arrived (and I think someone claimed there were records some days later of a Sherbakov leaving). That said, it bothers me that we’re taking Qantas’ word for who was on the plane – didn’t Customs and Immigration process them when they landed? Even with diplomatic documents there’s certain Bona Fides and checks that would be needed – and while some of them can be done offline without people present, I would’ve thought some of them require formal identification (even if you can’t really deny entry without causing a scene, you can at least gather some basic intel on the basis of “it’s the process to enter the country”).
So I’ll get back to you on my concrete thoughts on Borgatyrova (once I’ve had some) – Basically I think it’s plausible she remained in Aus. I could even imagine that one missing passenger might even prompt confusion and speculation to the point where an imaginary passenger is added to the list.
I sort of sense in the NAA file (reference 197331) the orgnaising committee were a bit overwhelmed and rushed. They’d instructed attendees to minimise the size of their travelling parties, and it feels the Russians held off as long as possible declaring who was attending, and then pressured the Embassy to fast track visas, despite constantly changing the specifics – and managed to come up with a larger travelling party than any of the others.
Incidentally, JS if you’re reading – The US contingent had a Franklin W Wolf as some big-wig (possibly the guy organising from their end, although he’s only listed as an Adviser). I assume this has nothing to do with your Wolf?
@GC: Borgatyreva is pictured arriving with Novikov -Go to trove, Courier Mail (Brisbane) 2/12/1948 Page 5 (or search trove for “Candid Camera Lapstone”).
Something I missed in an earlier post (not entirely relevant, but perhaps interesting for some)….
Russion names tend to be patronymic and genedered – and quite complex.
Generally (particualarly as a middle name) the suffixes -ovic or -ovna indicate ‘son of’ or ‘daughter of’ respectivly.
Equally, a surname derived originally from a firstname would be formed with ‘-ov/ev/in’ or ‘-ova/eva/ina’.
So Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov is
Pavel, son of Ivan of he Fedosim family (I actually have a suspicion Fedosim itself derives from Fedor – but not really sure how Fedorov differs from Fedosimov – and it’s a suspicion with not bound in fact).
This means that my earlier Viktor Vasilievich Shcherbakov is likely son of (a) Vasilli Shcherbakov (not that that in itself means anything.
For anyone interested, I also found a reference to a venona-related sherb:
Shcherbakov, Soviet seaman deserter, (NGRU line) [source Venona]