This page holds my ever-fluctuating wish list of “known unknowns” for the Somerton Man historical mystery: that is, all the pieces of archival evidence that I know (or strongly suspect) exist and which might well be highly informative, but which I haven’t yet seen.
Crew lists
Ericbank
* 16 Sep 1948 – Incoming crew list – Sydney (arriving from Nauru) – [?]
* 20 Nov 1948 – Outgoing crew list – Sydney (departing for Honiara) – [?]
Annam
* 02 Oct 1948 – Incoming crew list – Port Adelaide (from New Zealand) – D3064
* 29 Oct 1948 – Outgoing crew list – [*] Melbourne (for Hobart) – [?]
* 01 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – [*] Hobart – P2005
* 07 Nov 1948 – Outgoing crew list – [*] Launceston – P2004
* 15 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – [*] Port Pirie – D3064
* 20 Nov 1948 – Outgoing crew list – Fremantle (for Genoa) – PP1/1
American Producer
* 18 Oct 1948 – Incoming crew list – Brisbane – BP120/1
* 29 Dec 1948 – Outgoing crew list – Sydney – [?]
Note: I’d particularly like to know if the American Producer’s Master “J. Dixon” left with the ship, because I have only the briefest of records for him.
City of Delhi
* 11 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – Fremantle (from Beira) – PP1/1
* 15 Jan 1949 (or thereabouts) – Outgoing crew list – Fremantle (for UK and Continent) – PP1/1
Lanarkshire
* 14 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – Fremantle (from Mauritius) – PP1/1
* 30 Dec 1948 – Outgoing crew list – Fremantle (for Liverpool) – PP1/1
Incharran
Note that the Incharran was a British-registered ship (or rather a Hong Kong-registered British ship) with a largely Chinese crew, hence there is a reasonable chance it would be required to register its crew movements between Australia and Hobart. If so, this may be precisely what we need, because I think – putting all the pieces together – that there’s a good chance the Somerton Man came across from Tasmania on the Incharran on the 29th November 1948.
* 18 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – [*] Port Pirie (from Risdon) – D3064
* 18 Nov 1948 – Outgoing crew list – [*] Port Pirie (for Risdon) – D3064
* 23 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – [*] Risdon (from Port Pirie) – P2005
* 24 Nov 1948 – Outgoing crew list – [*] Risdon (for Port Pirie) – P2004
* 29 Nov 1948 – Incoming crew list – [*] Port Pirie (from Risdon) – D3064
* 09 Dec 1948 – Outgoing crew list – [*] Port Adelaide (for Risdon) – D3064
Desertions and Discharges
If the Somerton Man was a merchant seaman working in Tasmania, and had to go on some kind of sick leave, then this would very probably have been recorded in a ledger. The one I’d particularly like to check for October – December 1948 is:-
* Tasmanian desertions for this period in P2562, VOLUME 1 at the NAA (held in Hobart).
Company Archives
Electrolytic Zinc Company at Risdon
If the Somerton Man was a wharfie or longshoreman (rather than a merchant seaman) working at the Electrolytic Zinc plant in Risdon, then there is a good chance that we might find his details among the company’s personnel files.
* NS3753 – The Hobart files on the Electrolytic Zinc Company (whose lead plant on Risdon might be involved here), in particular…
* NS3753/1/93 – The staff files for the Electrolytic Zinc Company in Risdon.
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Didn’t the chemist, doctor, dentist, professional’s children say that they had found the book on/around November 20th? Somehow, they connected it to the RAAF Air Pageant that was going on that day??? Perhaps we should be looking for information starting from that date?
Nick – Sorry, I don’t mean to confuse – I mean this in reference to your specific comment about SM coming in on the 29th. He might have been there earlier as well.
Incredible research going on here!
Misca: I don’t think what we’re doing here is genuinely incredible so much as “sensible but a bit late”. Given the long-standing (and actually very reasonable) suspicion that Somerton Man was a merchant seaman from overseas, it does seem a bit ‘lightweight’ to me that nobody has yet got round to cross-referencing all the crew lists going into and out of Port Adelaide (and its outports) from October 1948 to December 1948.
Misca: who really can say with any certainty that the Somerton Man had anything to do with the book while he was alive? 🙂
If he was alive when the Tamam Shud slip was pushed into his fob pocket, then yes Nick, I can say with some certainty that he did have something to do with the book.
Whoever did it.
I guess an SM wish list is a nice little short thread and therefore good enough for a bit of interesting news. I may just have accidentally seen a photo of Paul Lawson’s ‘original body’ alive and well. Apart from size and build, this chap who frequently signed his name Wilhelm, bears only a general likeness to, shall we say our Somerton man as he is usually depicted, since his Adelaide News debut in early December 1948. I had been looking for a certain chap named Wolf Cohen for a year or more without success until the very name came onto my radar alert just now whilst checking on the validity of the Mangnoson ID. Well for a start, this fellow was certainly, like our man Keith in the Riverland district in ’38, as a displaced itinerant from the Fatherland (a colder country), but by mid 1948 he’s with his wife and oddly spaced new family in suburban Adelaide.
– There’s just one more rather important piece of information to add, which is that friend Wilhelm has unfortunately found himself stuck in the cold old Adelaide mortuary, on the very first day of Adelaide’s golden summer or 1/12/1948 for short; he had been assigned the number 5332 which is interesting and I doubt whether he was placed next to Arch Travis or any one else we know of.
Back on thread at last: The dead man’s Sydney file consists only of two applications for Alien Registration from 1939 & ’48 respectively which include comparable photos but with not so comparable handwriting. The applicant has signed his original Loxton form B Cohen and the later one W W Cohen; his incoming passenger listing being Mr. William Cohen, though he seems to prefer the Christian name Bill (my take) or Wilhelm. My wish is for someone with better search facilities to pull up the as yet unread Adelaide file which might clear up certain aspects of the man’s death and to see if there are any newspaper death notice or funeral inserts. It appears that a Wolff Wilhelm Cohen was interred in the old general section of West Terrace Cemetery with no date given and I’m wary that this may relate to a person of that name from the early ’20s. There appear to be some very serious implications to this case now that might necessitate it being considered as almost certainly neither murder or even suicide in the normal sense. I don’t have to outline what they are and if this be the case than it is doubtful if any further progress can be made, other than the delightful creation of an even more intriguing and infamous spy versus spy mystery that might never be solved…Wolff Wilhelm Cohen’s family records on Geni are extensive and appear to be correct apart from his strangely supposed death year 1943 so if you are a German speaker you’ll find them both interesting and heart wrenching.
Thanks to the kindness of our Latter Day Brethren we can more or less confirm that West Terrace Cemetery has had our departed brother in its bosom of love and eternal rest since he crossed to wherever those of his pursuasion long to go on the said date of 1st December, 1948 (Gregorian not Hebrew). Now will some other kind souled researcher of any pursuasion attempt to dig up what remains of his mortal life’s record, to assess his place of merit in our own caring hearts. Don’t forget Marion and Kinder, Ian and Robert who were at the time apparently domiciled with the Jewish Welfare Association’s Glenside centre…Take note the apparently wrong spelling of the spouses name Maryone? on Bill’s Alien Registration form and that the boys appear to be three months apart which could prove tricky.
I wish we could get shut of the melodramatic implications attached to non existent international spy rings, which were found not to be; or the ever popular ideas re grand theft auto conspiracies, which were merely organic sideshow events of their times. I’m quite happy to push my long held views of simple homegrown security in house, clean up exercises to appease the SOP orders handed down from upstairs, brave new world visionaries. My main man for the job with the code name Hereward and sidekick Augo were known to be both ruthless and totally unrelenting in their quest for recognition from our intel partners. A simple command from the AG’s offsider and go ahead from their locally based Head Honcho Reid, then Adelaide get ready for a nifty little demonstration operation named Taman Shud. No big dramas involved, only a single unfortunate no name casualty, very simple clean up with local support and a job well done by all accounts. Australia thus becomes a respected player with a team of capable field hands, tough no nonsense, talented homespun heroes for all occasions.
Nick: I wish, just for a change,you would consider directing your tbt responses to bozo’s alter ego folk by their various ndps. They do appear to be generally ameniable to polite converstion and don’t seem to have any hostile notions. Just a thought.
re: Wolff ‘Bill’ Cohen, ‘The Third Man’ at West Terrace morgue, if we include Gordon’s Tibor Kuldor, who in reality was just another ‘Johnny come lately’, next to the likes of our ‘Bill’ and SM; both being 1st December lads priority wise. Those who are interested will no doubt be pleased that some progress is being made, albeit at a somewhat pedestrian pace. For instance we now know that Bill’s wife Marge was born in ’18 as a Lawson (interesting) in the Inner Adelaide suburbs to a non conformist family of six kids all locally sired by Stanley Arthur and a mum who does not appear to be with us by the mid forties. Apart from the couple’s two Lads Ian and Robert, the first born, a daughter had died in 1944 as a babe, which is sadly reported in trove records. Now we’ve been able to find similar notices for Wolff’s own demise, two of which were from 2nd December, the day after, then a third death entry for 9th instant which seems a bit odd. Can’t find any plans for a funeral, although that appears to have taken place at West Terrace around ten long hot days after the time of expiration, which is also odd. No cause of death was noted in the ads at all and as stated previously the family in Germany does not appear to have been notified until 1952; then supplied with a date five years out, which we have now corrected. It’d be nice to know what a healthy, happy young family man succumbed to, only a short time after having his new Alien Registration permit approved.
@JS: Have a recollection we looked up Wolf on the Cemeteries SA site and found him at West Tce. Regarding the 1943 in his geni – possibly an eager relative seeing an 8 as a 3 on a faded document?
As a slight side, I assumed the ‘other body’ was just people reading too much into the mundane. The notes from Lawson say ‘…re disposal of original body’. To me, this qualifies the body as distinct from the bust he’s made – that is, it’s equivalent ‘….re disposal of (actual) body’. I don’t really subscribe to the idea that the sentence in anyway suggests another body was there…..
Milongal: It’s not all that simple to me; in as much as Wolff’s hometown family memorial plaque states 31/12/43 Australie as his only known death details. As for family, I think his immediate kin were haulocaust victims, with a sibling or two finding sanctuary in the USA, Uraguay and possibly Holland. I’m now thinking that the Aurich Cohens may have been considered communists at the time of their incarceration in the Netherlands and I have a feeling that his in-laws in Australia may have had strong leftist socialist views also. Old Stan Lawson, the father-in-law was a strong non conformist alderman on his local Mitcham Labour run Council during the depression years and a champion of the Adelaide unemployed, as was his like minded associate, James Luke Cavenagh (of Rubaiyat code translation fame) in the adjoining Hindmarsh Council. For instance, it does seem strange that we don’t even know where Wolff was when he passed (or how) and there is not a word in the three death notices about his origins, blood relatives or background. Something is wrong about the whole set up to my way of thinking; just all far too neat and cosy! know what I mean?…
Had Sapol had some inclination that SM and the code were connected to national intelligence, surely their so called Special Branch would have been briefed through its senior man at the time, Ray Whitrod. It might then have been left to him to decide whether to pass any relevant details on to the newly formed A.S.I.O. who then might have defered to the military code breakers for decipherment. It seems that Det. Sgt. Leane did nothing of the sort, but instead elected to seek assistance directly through the local, soon to be redundant ex navy whiz Eric Nave and his Melbourne based former employers, Naval Intelligence. It seems quite likely to me that by not going through channels, our general crime team missed their mark altogether, as by going it alone, they were never likely to be given a truthful translation of the results. The cracking should not have caused too many problems to the experts, whether acrostic or any other typical codex form; so that by receiving a negative response, such as it was, suggests top secret, need to know information of a national security type, far above that deemed necessary to solve a mere Adelaide police investigation. The only thing I can realistically think of is that the code may have been a names list of agents or informants being used by an agency such as A.S.I.O. or else those on the other side seeking to counter them. Any intelligence of a lesser category was more likely to have been deliberately transmitted back to the source in plain, as if were not of any real importance…I wonder where Len Brown got hold of the spare W & T Rubaiyat to send off with code page copy, when only a week earlier, all he could find similar was a Collins first edition; perhaps it was the missing one that Les Wytekin went to the Adelaide newspapers with on 19th July.
John sanders: ASIO had not yet been formed when the Rubaiyat code was found (and Australia had no equivalent of ASIO prior to ASIO), so I’m not sure your timeline here makes sense. 🙁
Nick: Asio was formed from memory in March 1949 and been semi operational for all intents and purposes since October the previous year, six weeks prior to SM. The Rubaiyat came to the notice of police about 19th July ’49 to the best of my limited knowledge. Australia did have other means to protect it’s national security needs and had been so equiped since it became an independent Commonwealth at the end of Queen Vicki’s reign. You also might like to give some thought to the possibilty that Asio’s establishment and SM’s demise, within a short interval were quite likely connected, as I have hinted in my related post.
John Sanders: ASIO was a political paper exercise at that point, hiring actual people came after SM.
Nick: So you’re prepared to stick by your insistance that absolutely nothing at all had taken place at an operational level by 19th July of 1949. You see, we are not necessarily referring to SM’s departure date of 30th November ’48; we are discussing a later date, why?; well for one, the man himself and his relationship to our unseen copy of a W & T Rubaiyat are not proven fact. I guess I am more familiar with other also undocumented claims that a bunch of keen job applicants attended a semi official event at Adelaide in mid November at behest of the soon to be head of a new national Intelligence instrument, as yet un-named. Time was of the essence due to pressure from Australia’s allies to root out the problem of n security leaks and big Bob Wake was to ensure that ‘the show’ got moving right then and there with his designated assignment, name or no name. I think we may find that A.S.I.O. as an official name entity was not submitted for Gazetting until long after the organization’s establishment in March, if that makes any sense.
John sanders: if you want to construct your own (or perhaps reuse someone else’s) conspiracy theory that the Rubaiyat code must have been added (by an ASIO hand) to the Rubaiyat several months later than SM’s death, then that’s your prerogative. All I can say is that much as I mildly distrust some aspects of the Ronald Francis story, those specific distrusts do not scale up into making him the International Man Of Mystery that would be necessary for that kind of scenario to be practical. 😉
Nick: Not a conspiracy theory at all, merely another well hashed possible case scenario, without which we would have nothing further to discuss; what a bummer that would be. As for Ronald Francis, you brought his name up not I…..
John sanders: unless Ronald Francis conspired with the newly-formed ASIO to add mysterious writing to the (otherwise somewhat unremarkable?) Rubaiyat, your scenario doesn’t really work. And that’s why it is a conspiracy theory.
Nick: For the record, we are as yet still missing a few pieces of the jig saw, namely one W & T Fitzgerald 1st edition Rubaiyat, one Roots Hillman Minx vehicle of unknown year or configuration (presumably with glove compartment), one as yet unidentified Glenelg based business man with the given alias Mr. Francis (later Ronald) and his connection, with others, if any, to ” a mysterious death on Somerton Beach”. There’s certainly no harm in attempting to piece that to-gether as a reasonable basis for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but… Though there are perhaps still a few of us that are also looking at non specific wide ranging alternative possibilities that are as yet still fairly underdeveloped. We just go where the proposed thread takes us with no commitment to any hard and fast opinions or ideas. You would find it difficult to insinuate a conspiracy theory based on that concept I’d contend, but then again I’m not prepared to argue for the sake of pride so Chu Hoi and peace be with you too.
It does seem that our newfound deceased (1/12/48) pal Wolff Cohen, may not have been the stateless refugee that he claimed to be upon his arrival in Adelaide on 25/10/38. A more thorough perusal of the Orontes passenger log suggests that he was probably travelling in company with Loxton residents Hermann & Carla Hoffman, indicated by his having nominated the same postal address to Customs. As for the aforesaid, he appears to have been a resident, returning home; a butcher shop proprietor of undetermined age of German origin, as were most fellow Loxtonians of the time. Shortly before Wolff’s sad departure, Hermann was prosecuted for a breach of National Security Regs., although he had earlier been granted a freehold allotment of Crown Land…..Apart from still remaining in the dark about the cause of death and why the papers announced his demise on two occasions seven days apart, nothing overly suspicious stands out. Although we may consider the possibility that his tall and athletic frame could ‘accidently’ have been substituted in certain areas of body processing such as fingerprinting or even descriptive press releases with our SM, presumably by a none too sharp officer of the S.A. mounted police constabulary (horses arse).
Wolff Cohen’s death certificate indicates that he died suddenly in Adelaide on 1st. December, 1948 from a previously undiagnosed multiple cancerous melannoma. He had been working as a butcher in Loxton for Herman Hoffman then in his own shop at 140 Fullerton Rd. Glenside S.A. until his demise. His wife Marge remarried and his two surviving children who are still in the area are not able to shed further light on their father’s life in Australia.
Bumpkin: Let us not forget that those unshackled ‘crow eaters’ go to the polls tomorrow and with His blessing the Godless socialists will be ousted, then D.A.’s cream team can make a move on West Terrace first thing Monday morning with the escavation crew, preporatory to resurrecting the old fellow from his 69.375 year slumber. Great for you; perhaps but not so for all of us of the true detective genre.
“All done then, are we?”…and we’ll may that question be put; for there is no doubting that many have already responded in the affirmativeas evidenced by their own silent departures from the scene. I’m personally not contemplating cutting and running just yet, so long as there are still new leads coming in. The biggest problem of late seems to be in the mistaken belief by some, that by constantly bringing up the tired old accusory allegations of police ineptness and other like charges of professional misconduct, is in some way going to excuse their own similar failings. Fortunately the blame game doesn’t seem to have been a negative contributing factor in our own diminishing contributions of late, though from my standpoint arguing with oneself would not gain much for my ego. As much as I miss the interaction, I can’t blame anyone if the whole discussion comes to a conclusion; the problem being, to whom shall I report to in the event of a breakthrough.
Bumpkin: Looks like you’re on a winner; so its out with the shovels, tooth pullers and Jefferson T shirts, West Terrace Cem. sparrow fart (sunrise) monday morn. to the tune of zippidy doo dah, zippidy aye, my oh my what a wonderful day. The waiting is over and the extraction looks like it can go ahead; just be wary of the old ‘wish’ saying ok.
Dear John (No pun intended); As usual, I have no idea what you’re posting about. If there is a “breakthrough” please report to Nick Pelling c/o ciphermysteries.com. I check-in when I can.
Bumpkin, as you would aware the South Australian Labor government has been kicked out. The incoming Liberals previously said they would support the exhumation of SM.
Bumpkin: W-O-W! What a bummer, thought you and your uplifting Virginia genealogy brethren would be over the moon with glee…How’s the frost out your way. Cheers as always, Your john.
BD; Thank you for this information. This is (potentially) great news. As with most political promises, we shall see. Keep us posted.
I’m not sure Steve Marshall knows he’s a Liberal Premier…..On the rare occasion he managed to string a full sentence together it seemed to include phrases like ‘SA would be better under a Labor government’ (my Adelaide spies tell me that Labor even used this in their campaign….)
What about the Marshall Plan, and Heaven forbid those secretive, most desirable Marshall Files; they’d surely have to make up for Steve’s occasional faux pas and accompanying West End dribble. Most likely he’ll be out there at W.T.C. helping our pals Derek and Bumpkin search for old SM’s little piece of Paradise on earth, then call in the pick & shovel team for the big uplifting.
Ah the West End dribble…..not even South Australian anymore. He could at least have a Coopers dribble (pretty sure they pump some dollars into the Libs)
Hot Dusty Pinnaroo S E; that’s where our old mate got his. The boss and I got some there too but we don’t like to talk about it. Let’s not forget; someone from Derek’s team might care to remind Steve about his party’s pre-election commitment on SM, perhaps with a little added something from his old fighting fund to cover incidentals. That or a fifty year wait until the old West Terrace Cemetery is cleared to make way for a new inter-galaxy space station; anyway, the Isham family trust would surely kick in should the DNA issue be resolved in their favour ie. not one of us; try the Jeffersons on t’other side of the fence.
Interested in your opinion on my post ; I found Jestyn’s phone number written clearly on the back page in the first photo published:
https://randomfh.blogspot.com/2018/10/finding-jestyns-phone-number-rubaiyat.html
Hey Matt,
I read your blog, and there was a lot to like about it (especially around the pictures of the Rubaiyat), and your research around the Rubaiyat seems pretty thorough. I can’t really see anything other than some extra smudging in the original Pic. At first, I thought “Holy Moley, he’s right, the newer pictures appear to have paper covering something”, however having a closer look, a few things really stand out.
1) The quality of the pictures is vastly different. I think this is mainly down to the newspaper’s quality, but you can see blurriness in the ‘P’ which is a lot sharper in the 2nd pic. Aside from blurriness, the older picture’s letters seem thicker and shorter, but not sure whether that might just be the result of some publishing technique
2) The main bot that originally looked like there might be paper there is the near horizontal (slightly upward of we go from Left to Right) line, but if you look carefully, that’s already on the Newspaper one too.
3) If the Code was transcribed onto some other medium, then surely all bets are off as to what was on the rest of the page?
4) Sort of tying 1 and 3 together, it’s possible that multiple copies of the code were made over time – possibly not all directly copied off the old one, but becoming copies of copies (this is pure speculation)
Interestingly another site seems to think the number is in a similar location (just a little more to the right, I think)
Certainly the presence of “Jess” there would be quite interesting too – athough, as I say, I’m struggling to make anything too much out of the marks on that one. But others have pointed out to me that just because I can’t see it, dain’t mean it ain’t there…
SUPER clear. And all.
Did it occur to anybody, that based most appreciatively on Matt’s sequential order of press releases, it is not improbable that our little W&T was handed over in bits and pieces, rather than whole, which would answer a number of key points not covered previously. In particular I would point out the AN photo of the Rubaiyat front cover on Tuesday, 24th July, accompanied by a police request for information on the book’s whereabouts. From this it seems to imply that, to that date, police may only have taken posession of the book’s flimsy cover (front and back) and that they needed the rest. This would thereaby resolve our mystery duel book conundrum, where Ron Francis and Les Wytcom (sic) are both contributors. Les for the coded cover and Ron for the TS tear hole perhaps. PS: Almost eight months had passed, not six.
Tuesday 26th July actually, and the book was said to have been delivered Friday evening which gives us 22nd, the date we are most familiar with. According to the weekend and Monday papers, it appears police were content to subject gathered material to scientific analysis for proof of linkage. By the Tuesday they were actively seeking another W&T copy from the public, supplemented by Len Brown’s earlier discovery of a Collins (Aust.) with the same TS font setting, followed up with bookshop inquiries in July, with negative results. I get the distinct hint of smoke and mirrors at SAPOL but can’t quite pin it down, so I’ll leave that for Matt and Flash to work out.
Nick: Perhaps I’m being a little unkind directing the smoke and mirrors towards SAPOL. On, or prior to 21st instant, Matt apparently made an introductory contact with Gordon, though we were not made privy to any specifics. A cordial reply concerning photo aspects are commented upon confirming some other need-to-know dialogue between the pair. This was then followed up by Gordon’s post on the standard Len Brown tiny writing speel, made to Matt’s own site on 24th. We were then offered opportunity to make comment at the same site, on that date without advance notice to my knowledge. Of course I’m not to know whether the same deal was done with Peteb, or if you might not have had your own private tete a tete with the man, which I doubt. If such didn’t take place, it could be considered a little odd to some…I’m still in the process of deliberating on the phone number exposure and cover-up, it’s just to much for my addled old noggin to digest at the present.
John Sanders: there’s surely a small chance that what Matt is looking at is microwriting /steganography, but it’s hard to get excited when faked moon landings look more probable. :-/
Nick: Strange as it may seem, our kids are of the firm belief that Neil and Buzz called in to the Lunar PX on their return from Mars in ’69. As far as they’re aware, the Ruskies only made it to the Khazakstan launch site, and their unloved brothers from across the northern border, as far as Cambodia where they remain, alone and unloved to this very day.
Regarding USS CA25 (Salt Lake City) & USS CA 35 (Ind’s) and despite having glimpsed only a limited sneek preview of the very latest, extensively resurched BS Battle of the letter Q, I’ll submit with every confidence that any alleged connection with HMAS Doleraine is dead in the water, unless one of the three vessels strayed wildly off course. My summation is derived from some modest knowledge of 1944 US/Aust joint naval operations in the Pacific (big pond), which by that time in question, had the enormous US naval thrust inevitably towards the Philippines, pushing in a Nth Westerly course from the Nth East (Gilberts) to Nth. West (Marianas) via the Marshall and Caroline Island groups; way way above the now strategically by-passed New Guinea where the Australian crewed tub was doing it’s best to hold off the diminishing yellow peril, in much calmer waters. I really don’t like to keep bad mouthing BS/TBT made to measure headlines time and again, but the very know-it-all style presents as being an offering to a bunch of first rate cretins.
BS: If you people can put Doleraine off Manus in late September (ten day window), you’ve got a chance with CA35 (USS Indianapolis), but I doubt very much whether you’ll manage to have a coastwatcher in place, the island having been inundated by USN Seabees after it’s taking in March ’44. Research suggests Lt. Thompson in charge during that tiny window, but I doubt that the corvette was operating in the Admiralty area at the time.
Flash: Here’s an interesting little snippet that might serve to advance your latest pretty picture scenario for HMAS Doleraine. My thoroughly researched man, was the Harbour Master at Madang in ’44, which that proud little (Bathurst class) mine sweeper must certainly have visited around the time you’d be interested in. He eventually came home and spent the rest of the war as a commandant at a well known S.A. internment camp. Wally spent his formative years in Partridge Street and the rest of his days at 8 Pier Street, which of course would be a mere coincidence.
Flash: It is fact that this city businessnan, later to become Lord Mayor of Adelaide, was known to have carried with him during the war years, a little pocket edition of Hebrew psalms, according to his daughter. I’m repeating myself of course, but it’s sort of interesting that Wally was not raised in the Jewish faith and was said to know those tricky Glenelg tides better than any other local.
BS: So now that you have cleverly re-assigned those old CA aircraft designates to US fleet ships, what are we to do about the problem of commies on the workshop floor. Surely Fedosimov did not get a clandestine commission on either the latter day USS Salt Lake City or the ill-fated USS Indianapolis. All I can come up with is that Theo Rosevelt was a red, as Patton had figured from the get go, and that Australia was in line to be gifted to the victorious marxist allies. Could our Somerton man have given up his life for us little Aussie battlers after all.
Whilst also not seemingly remotely connected to Somerton Man, historical accuracy is nonetheless a key ingredient when considering the reliability of sources for any related intelligence. In the latest BS blurb, which endeavours to highlight a Ps & Qs relationship to the 1944 Pacific Naval campaign, USS Indianapolis is mentioned in the three ship spy saga (SSS). After giving us the bare tantalising facts, our site master, had do go that further yard and give his questionable enthusiast base, a history lesson…..Corrected text: Following repairs for serious hull and shaft damage at the Mare Island Naval dockyard, USS Indianapolis, took on a secret assignment to deliver………etc. to Tinian Island, from Hunters Point, San Francisco, via Hawaii, which was reached in record time etc….BS: Your port of departure, San Diego is at least five hundred miles from Mare Island, so I’m sure your follower will appreciate the well intended historical correction. As a further small point of interest, the heavy cruiser was sunk on its way from Guam to Leyte in the Philippines on 30/7/45, two weeks (11 days ex Hawaii) after setting out on it’s last mission.
BS: Doleraine and Vandetta, along with S/Lt.G.A.B would certainly have worked closely with the big allied escort to Western New Guinea (Hollandia) in May ‘44. They both hung around for a bit on surveillance and undertaking some fire missions on Noemfoor, Biak and perhaps also over at Moratai.
BS: USN cruisers Phoenix, Nashville and Boise along with HMAS Australia and HMS Shropshire constituted the main battle fleet for the Holandia operation, so none of your others ie. Chicago, Salt Lake City or Indianapolis get a guernsey. We can see where your headed on this one; leaked operational intel to our plotting Soviet allies, then a year on, culmininating in the uneccessary Borneo campain of May ’45. Hey this is rather heavy stuff if it relatesbto some circus clown with unstriped brown duds dead on a beach;, but we can play the game, just for the thrills… PS. Must not forget that there was more than one GAR (sic) in the vicinity, potentially at play here.
BS: Two task force groups of the US 7th Fleet, 74 and 76 charged with aiding the Holandia/Aitape and the Admiralty Group seaborn landing operations, involving three hundred ships, all getting in each other’s way during the period February to August ’44. Apart from the cruisers mentioned, not too many Australian sardine cans amongst that lot apart from your Doleraine and Vendetta with 74, then the destroyer Arunta that took part in both ops. All the fussin and a fightin had died by the time your CA 35 called in on Manus in Octobrr on her way home late in the year, and the second pick CA 25 was never in that operational theatre. Looks like you’ll have to either take on bunkerage to build up another head of steam or alternatively order your Honourable East Indiaman to prepare for skuttling as a face saving measure. PS. Your other dead marine would of course be old Chicago CA 29 which was lost in the Solomons in early ’43, well before your allotted target year of 1944.
BS: Moratai operations during September 1944, under command of Rear Admiral Daniel Barby, 7th Fleet US Navy based in Brisbane and known refered to locally as Macs Navy. At that time your misnamed or misplaced USN 3rd Fleet was operating well north towards the Philippines Sea and had no involvement in the equatorial Dutch East Indies landings…Try to get a hold of whoever is doing your naval research and give them a good old King Neptune dunking.
BS: Things are now starting to get really complicated, for our short sighted Surgeon Leutenant Robson. You’ll be knowing of course that Vendetta and little Doleraine were working in the Moratai are around May ‘44. Problem being Doc Robson didn’t get his posting tothe destroyer until 8th October when Vendetta was in Brisbane. It could’ve worked out OK, when Vendetta sailed under a new command on 14th instant, heading nirth again. She returned to New Britain for a sortie, before heading back to Moratai in December with a pair of littl’ns Barcoo and Swan (from memry), but of course by then, our Doleraine seems to have been in far distant waters? (that’s life atsea). So if Mr. Robson was doing tiny writing in his ‘41 Rubaiyat, he must have had help with the details. Couldn’t have been Gaston Thomson, he was back in Sydney, getting his ship fixed and the only other nominee for a Moratai clandestine contact thatcomes to mind would be Norm Carr, third officer aboard SS Kanimbla (Adelaide), who was Prosper Thomson’s brother in law out of Largs Bay. As you can see, this is getting to be a real can of worms and it’s all Clive’s fault what’s more.
@JS: Surely you’ve seen that there’s a writeup of Wally on “The Adelaide Jewish Museum” site, where it says his ancestors were Jewish, and talks about him getting married in a Synagogue. Granted, none of that means he was Jewish, but it’s easy to see how/why he might have an interest in Jewish psalms…
Milongal: My comment regarding Wally’s little book of Hebrew Psalms was a tongue in cheek suggestion that the volume may just have been something else entirely. I have discussed Wally Bridgstone several times before, mainly about him being a fair candidate for Det. Sgt. Leane’s city businessman proposition, also such as, whilst an army major in ‘45, he was put in charge of Italian inturnee work parties in Sth. Australian wine country.
Snafu: It’s not so much that we natives are getting restless sweetmeat, and nothing too much to do with historical trolling which BS is merely collecting and collating from more generally reliable sources than their own. What really stirs up our old canibal lust for longipiggi, is when after all is said and done, a certain pair of ‘weirdefugarwees‘ can’t even copy down, Action Sitreps from the facts related to them on this trusted site. Tell you what stewpot, I can continue to feed you the offal without having to compromise the BS site. Just confirm that your old contact details are still valid and we’ll be in touch once more….Sample: USS Pensacola (aka Pepsi & Grey Ghost) The old 7th Fleet work horse heavy cruiser served in both equatorial and the northern Pacific Theatres throughout Wiki Wiki 2. She carried the designate CA 24 which, also may have been that given to Wally ‘Tom’ Keane’s beloved Ansett Pioneer Flxible Buses, aluminium components of which were fabricated by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation. If correct, that would be a little to the north of mere coincidence, what?..
BS: Have not heard back from Jasper, but something has come up that you might like to take in ballast . Strange as it may seem, the US Navy didn’t give us a CA 23 cruiser to work with, so looks like you’ll have to be content with your old, earlier touted super sonic fighter of that designation from COMAIR. Actually CA 24 as in USS Pensicola and your CA 24 flyer from COMAIR P1052/P1081 were both goers in their day, so once again your lucky to have a choice. So we seem to have your letter Q micro detail sort of worked out for X CAX (over) and lucky. As for the second Q set of X 232 X which I take it, refers to HMAS Doleraine or J 232 as she was numbered. Obviously the X’s fit some need to know secrecy call sign, perhaps for the Feldt ‘Ferdinand’ Coast Watchers, before they were shut down in mid ’43. OK we’re all up to speed I think and hope you can now better consider the available options. PS: CA 24 on the buses looks like it was an Ansair/Comair contract number according to the club people, who said they would certainly get back to me.
Nick: The reason I’m following the Shipping News on BS with feigned interest, is that I also have a stake in one of their players, the maligned Doctor (S/Lt.) G. A. Robson, husband of the snake charming Hendrickson lass. My own interest in the man are much less enthralling or clandestine in context, but by the same token, does relate to his possible complicit connection to our little W&T volume of ROK. I don’t suppose there’ll be much chance for information sharing with the BS SWAPO team on the man’s suspicious shipboard doings, but I’m willing to pass on what I know, of dull post war things, which It seems, I already have.
Flashman: I couldn’t help but also chuckle at your shrewdly misspelt version of Komic Keane’s ‘Jest-in-pun’ funny book title. Puts me in mind of my own silly version of Alf Boxall’s deliberately misspelled, though decidedly on-queue song title for his secret little ‘45 lady love. T’was based on that old 40s standard, ‘Jestyn time’ (I met you) ‘Jest in time’ (sic), which I feel is every bit as unpunny as yawn.
BS: Seems that I’m forever going to be the bearer of bad news, though this time, it’s only to do with historical shipping news from the Pensicola fleet sailing schedules. Tell you what I’ll do; I’ll lay off passing on judgemental inaccuracies of your in depth research and allow you time for re capitulation and to table corrections. While you’re at it, get back to S/Lt. Robson and also check on his attendant dates of service with ‘HMAS’ Assault, because I think you’ll find him on station in Port Moresby, one thousand four hundred sea miles to the north on Sunday, 7th March, 1943..Going at a pace allright; one pace avance and deux en arriere….
BS: Belay my last. On closer scrutiny of the Deloraine log and comparing it with your report on that record, the tell tail word ‘arrival’ is found on your’n but not t’other, thence the confusion. Of course our tub was sitting off Morton Is. to await the Pensicola Fleet’s departure from Brisbane Port, prior to it’s Northing course. It might be possible for you to plot Deloraine’s own subsequent patrol through your excellent source material.
I would beg to differ quite vehemently with Nick’s own hypothethis that the TS slip is inextricably connected to Somerton Man’s business dealings. In fact that whole supposition seems rather senseless, unless of course we can believe, after all due considerstions, that the chap secreted it in his own fob pocket for some purpose connected with auto sale proof of ownership…My opinion has always maintained that neither the slip nor RoK whence it came had too much to do with the poor fellow, leastways to do with the manner of his death. Both related items were thus likely brought in to play later, purely to prevent an unwanted finding on causal grounds. Yes I could say that SM had probably possessed the book and that it was most likely connected to him by R.L. Leane when he came onto the case, his thinking only to use it as an uncomplicated suicide case closing tool, if need be, surely developed from there. The detective seems to have erred in not cutting the TS slip from the page, which an intending suicidee would almost certainly have done and this mistake was compounded by his then trimming it before the planting. I’m betting that the cops, in all probabilty saw a need to alter their simple plan for connecting things up between their two pieces and the body quite early,. Something unforseen then seems to have transpired which necessitated a change to the initial plan. Perhaps it was as simple as Bob Cowans unexpected no poison finding which then effectively brought a pissed off J.B. Cleland and cohort Sir Cedric Stanton Hicks in, as co conspirators into a by now, essentially out of control Sapol investigation. As to who came up with the TS slip in the fob ploy and the ‘million’ to one Ron Francis cleverly conceived ROK in the glovebox sideshow, we can speculate until the cows come home. That is unless Len Brown, every body’s favourite detective, comes out on his centenary next month and let’s us in on the seventy year old secret.
@JS I think you give Leane too much credit. You really think the same chap who described the likely cause of death as “…that poison what them nigger’s use on arrows…” is likely to know what Tamam Shud meant, let alone have come up with a plan to plant evidence suggesting suicide? If it were he, then there’s some greater puppeteer at work here….(Not to mention he didn’t hit the case until a couple of weeks after the event – so i=the RoK being found is problematic timewise).
Aside from all that, I kind of have a problem that (as with many other theories( we simultaneously need to believe in someone being reasonably competent, yet very sloppy all at the same time. If you plant the TS, there’s no need for the RoK to end up anywhere but a furnace or bin. Chucking it into a car within a mile of the crime scene (especially when you had no reason to have the RoK anywhere near the crime scene) seems so silly you’d have to deliberately be stupid, don’t you think? Hell, why not chuck it in the sea – if it washes up you can still implicate SM as having ditched it there…
(Of course, there is the possibility that the RoK in the car was a hoax by the finder that the police took and ran with, out of control – and had nothing whatsoever to do with SM….which I think I’ve suggested before)
Milongal: Actually Det. Keane, in his apparently knowing something about curare, gives him a little more credit, even though he misplaced it’s origin. And talking about what the locals put on their spears, we must not forget, almost in the same breath, he claimed that he happened to be a reader of Omar Khayyam. He also included himself as being of an intellectual class of people; so it could be considered quite likely that, despite denial, he knew very well what the slip’s message infered.
Gordon: USS New Orleans….‘and on 7th March, she left Sydney for Puget Sound, steaming backwards for the whole Journey‘ WP.
BS: …and yet here we have him 21187 ‘boy seaman’, Robert Frederick Lindsay Bridgland, bn. 1920, piped aboard to start his twelve in ’36 and dishonorable ‘D’ (Run) in August ’37, never to be heard from again, which is hard to figure….Oh yes, here’s a youthfull male, same name & packdrill arraigned in Melbourne ’39 on motor cycle and carparts theft/conversion brief…Yet again in 1969 in Qld. caught for taxable income understatement as carpenter…Wife Norma ‘open the widow’ nee Winrow…Dad Reginald & mum Dot from Hawthorn Vic….Seems trove is now getting some newish entries on board at last, which might extend our life some.
Top of my SM wish list, is that the new SA-AG makes good with the West Terrace uplift agenda and soon. Could it be, that Vickie’s consulted with her predecessor and been told what the problem is, ie. that things are perhaps not quite as they should be in the hallowed ground department. Being stalled in a waiting mode, dependent upon a certain finding below deck, before taking the next step, is vexing. I’m sure others are in a similar position and so one hopes that the movers and shakers amongst them, are maintaining the initiative by moving and shaking away without let-up.
Gordon: It seems that your Pensicola, New Orleans, along with Mac’s Navy is now dead in the water after all that interesting WW2 South Pacific dialogue re letter ‘Q’. At one stage you were interested in other Yank vessels that might have met up with the Aussie tin cans HMAS’s Deloraine and Surgeon Lieutenant Robson’s Vendetta. For the record, the two arguably, most active ‘Septics’ were the heavy cruisers CN46 and 47, USS’s 46 and 47, Pheonix and Boise, both of whom were all over the pacific theatre, but likely not really significant in terms of SM related code identifications eg. the letters ‘Q’ and No.‘70‘ sets which is unfortunate. After the war both were sold off to Argentina and aforesaid Phoenix had the sad misfortune of being the only vessel to date, of being sunk at sea in hostile action by a nuclear powered sub. Of course by then she had been renamed General Belgrano and unlike her original fabled name decreed, she was not destined to rise from her own ashes….Being an avid naval historean, I just thought you’d be interested. Cheers.
Hi John
I’ve been researching the tree of Robert Frederick Lindsay Bridgland for some years he is my grandfather, though we didn’t know him he was shot and killed in the 70’s I believe. I’m looking for his prison records I see you know some information.
My Grandmother told my father he had been in prison but didnt know what for he has been curious all his life.
Also I see you have knowledge on the ship USS New Orleans that docked in Sydney December 1942 for repairs after being torpedoed, I’m looking for particular Crew member that could further my family tree, I’m hoping you can help.
Kerryn,
your are looking for William Boyde a seamen 1 st class on the U.S.S. New Orleans. See: Truth (Sydney) 28th October 1948 page 45.
Given the circumstances the US authorities will probably help you with your inquiries.
Kerryn / Byron:
* https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169356511 (Sydney Truth)
* https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248018856 (Sydney Daily Telegraph)
Anyone Keane for a stroll down memory lane, I’d highly recommend Peteb’s repeat performance of his 1921 SNORE BOARD, only difference being in the signaturised header that some may see as closely resembling cursive script of Jessica Thomson. It seems that Bozo’s only change with the times has been to rename Somerton Man to ‘The Somerton Man’ or TSM, as opposed to our time tested SM; this being to conform with other sites of which he is trying his best to be re-aquainted and to emulate accordingly.
Oops posted in the wrong place!
http://ciphermysteries.com/juan-roget-bibliography#comment-470252
Perhaps it can be corrected by admin.
Is there a newspaper source which shows internees at Hay and Tatura were gifted Globite suitcases the same as Carl’s?
David Morgan: prevailing wartime shortages would indicate no but, on the other hand I think shipboard internees from the Continent, UK and ‘Persia’ by sea were according to press release pics of the day, some were seen to be kitted out with small suitcases of a similar appearance. By the way, in that the ‘Keane’ suitcase belonged to Carl as you infer, is certainly not based on fact so cannot be taken as such..leastways not just yet.
In an attempt to explain why nobody recognised Carl:
Carl went to war as Roy. So Roy was now engineer Carl and exempt from enlistment. Criminal Joe Gavey had an idea that as there was confusion in the war admin – that MIA Roy could die in a POW camp and get a payout and collect his life cover. Roy (as Carl) now had his own life insurance payout (via Ruby) and could live in Domain road with a flashy roadster. But Roy could still carry on with Ruby and have a child Brenda. Brenda was told her dad was Roy – yet supposedly he was already dead. Carl was suddenly bad at cards with Dorothy’s pals because he wasn’t the card-playing genius Carl. He was also getting angry at having to pretend and hide away going to bed at 7pm to avoid contact with his old pals who would recognise him as Roy. It was making him angry with Dorothy. She said he had no friends. He wanted out of living his life as a friendless fake Carl in September 1946.
Real Carl messes up the plot by returning from war with Beri Beri. So they stash him away in some hospital-type setting in Adelaide. But he dies. So now they can’t have a death they can’t explain. So they make him an anonymous John Doe and put him on the Somerton beach.
Nobody recognised Carl because he was in a hospital in Adelaide while Roy was pretending to be Carl in Melbourne.
Perhaps Gavey had pulled off similar scams with other servicemen collecting their life cover via a constructed admin error.
Why would they all do it? Fear of Joe Gavey. In one court case, a criminal pretended to be Gavey because he knew it created fear in people.
Would anyone in the group have saved a pic/photo of the page from a diary (similar to Lawson’s) that had hand written on a slight uphill slope at the top of the page “this goes higher than us”? It was available in the early times of SM study.
It’d be great if the top of page pic as well as the whole page pic could be bunged into Imgur and mentioned here.
Thanks (fingers crossed)
Alan H..I recall that the popular oft altered “higher than the SA police” quote was first aired by Kathleen on the 60 Minutes ‘sit com’ back in 2014 from memory. You might pick up your pic on one of the related CM threads from that time…While you’re here what’s the deal with Joan Louise Ogilvie; can’t see anything nefarious but seems you’ve got the key to the door on something tied in with SM studies.
John S:- The ID Card is 100% linked to SM and the face thereon is living today.
He is the one person placed perfectly to explain all, but is unapproachable/untouchable. He was “the boots on the ground”, and possibly the onlooking overcoat on the wall.
McIntyres housed a guest during this period.
I had definitely seen the phrase I mentioned written at the top of a diary type page but I now can’t find it. I think it may have been a visible page on Mr Lawson’s diary that is no longer visible.
The husband of Joan Ogilvie is not exempt from reviewing as Dr Barbour did some of his best work in the UK.