Spurling - The mystery of AE1: Australias lost submarine and crew

Baker, Cyril,

Barton, Sidney,

Batt, Harold,

Besant, Thomas Fleming,

Biddlecombe, Thomas Wyburn,

Biles, Professor

Blake, Ernest Fleming

Brandt, F., Captain

Bray, John James, Stoker

Bridgman, Francis Charles

Cavaye, Frederick Langton

Chambers, Bertram Mordaunt

Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer

Clarkson, William

Cook, Joseph, Sir

Corbould, Gordon Clarence,

Cousteau, Jacques

Creswell, William Rooke

Dance, George

Darley, Frederick Campbell

Deakin, Alfred

Dennis, Frederick

Dickie, George Forbes

Doyle, Alec Broughton

Drinkwater, Thomas

Elwell, Charles Bingham.

Fanshawe, Arthur

Feakes, Henry

Fenton, James Edward,

Fettes, James Alexander

Fisher, Andrew

Fisher, Henry

Foster, John Douglas,

Gibbs, A.A.

Gilbert, Stephen John

Glossop, John Collins Taswell

Gough, Henry Joseph

Greaves, Hubert Laurence Maynard,

Groves, William James

Guilbert, Thomas Martin

Guild, James

Guy, William Elliot

Gwynne, Ernest Alfred,

Haggard, Geoffrey Arthur Gordon,

Hamilton, J,

Hamilton-Kenny, Frederick, Dr

Haworth-Booth, Francis Fitzgerald

Hellyer, John

Henderson, Reginald Guy Hannam,

Herbert, Douglas Phillip

Hill, Cyril John Percival

Hoare, Joseph G.W

Hodge, Henry,

Hodgkin, George,

Hodgson, Aubrey Wilfred Donald,

Holt, Richard Baines

Howe, Robert

Hughes, William

Hughes-Onslow, Henry

Jarman, Jack

Keys, Commodore

King-Hall, George Fowler

Kinder, Henry James Elly

Knaggs, Albert Edward,

Lewin, Charles La Primaudaye

Lowe, Thomas Frederick,

MacGregor, Gregor

McDougall, Alan

McGregor, Joseph

McPhillamy Family

McWilliam, Henry, Hastings

Mahan, Alfred Thayer

Manistry, Henry Wilfred Eldon

Marsland, John Albert,

Matthews, James,

Meek, John William

Messenger, John Cameron,

Millen, Edward,

Mitchell, Reuben Joseph Edwin,

Moffatt, Robert David,

Moloney, John Joseph,

Moore, Charles Lewis

Morris, Stanley,

Mountbatten, Louis Alexander,

Ozanne, Alfred Thomas Montgomery Madden,

Paterson, Halliday Gunning,

Patey, George Edwin

Pearce, George Foster

Pockley, Brian Colden Antill

Poore, Richard

Radcliffe, Stephen Herbert

Rae, Arthur

Reardon, John

Reid, George, Sir

Richardson, Peter

Reuschel, Wilheim Gustav Edwin

Rose, Eli

Sakuma

Scarlett, Hugh, Major

Scarlett, Leopold Florence

Seabrook, John William,

Seymour, Edward Hobart,

Silver, Mortimer LEstrange

Skillen, Daniel

Smail, Robert

Stoker, Henry Hugh Gordon Dacre

Street, Henry William

Stretch, Harry

Suckling, Charles George

Sullivan, Timothy

Thomas, James Benjamin

Tickell, Frederick W.

Tonks, James

Tribe, William

Tyron, George,

Varcoe, Charles

Von Spee, Maximilian

Von Tirpitz, Alfred

Waddilove, William Alfred

Walker, John, Edward

Wallabies

Warren, William Henry Farrington

Wheat, John Harrison

Williams, Michael

Williams, William George Vincent

Wilson, Arthur

Wilson, Joseph William

Wilson, Percy

Wirian People

Woodland, Frederick William

Wright, Charles

2014 Kathryn Spurling.

Missing Pages Books

www.kathrynspurling.com

All rights reserved.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism, review, or as otherwise permitted under the copyright act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.

Print Coordination: Andrew Lindsay
Graphic Design: Steve Bowgen
Typesetting and layout: Linda Lyle
Editor: Liz Van Der Hor
Cover painting by Margaret Hadfield (Zorgdrager)

Proudly printed and bound in Australia
using Impress Satin by
CanPrint Communications Pty Ltd,
16 Nyrang Street, Fyshwick 2609.

ISBN 9781925280081 (eBook)

Digital edition distributed by
Port Campbell Press
www.portcampbellpress.com.au
Conversion by

This book is dedicated to the crew of AE1 and those they left behind.

It is also dedicated to the brave men and women who have served, and continue to serve, on Royal Australian Navy submarines among them Lieutenant Commander Ashley Nigel Cameron SPURLING, ex-RAN Collins Class MEO, and Lieutenant Emily Light SPURLING (nee Moss), ex-RAN Collins Class WEEO.

Our loss was great.

Commonwealth of Australia Navy:
a nondescript force of inadequately trained
naval volunteers absolutely ineffective in war.

Your true-born sailor loves the sea for itself.
He may grumble at its hardships and disabilities
but is still irresistibly drawn to it.

It is difficult to understand how the submarine
would play any effective part.

Through a long list of mechanical difficulties
and mishaps overcome by hook and crook,
the miles were pushed astern.

Little we thought, when laughing and joking
with the crew just before she left, that it was
the last time that we were going to see them.

Little did we think when we parted with him
we would never see him home again
The thought is terrible.

Entombed But Not Forgotten.

The poignant words Known unto God appear on many anonymous war grave headstones and, most fittingly, on the ocean surface in Margaret Hadfields striking painting for the cover of this book. Scattered also are 35 Flanders poppies one for each crew member of Australias first submarine AE1 , lost in mysterious circumstances on 14 September 1914. Apart from the families who mourned them, these men were known unto God but seemingly forgotten by the wider community.

The families mourned in isolation 34 families scattered over Australia and Britain, and one in New Zealand. After the few newspaper reports in September 1914 the story of this tragedy was ignored by the Australian public. The following year the carnage on the battlefields of Europe completely overshadowed the loss of 35 men in a submarine off a relatively unknown New Guinea island.

But there was one other family which did remember the family of the Royal Australian Navy, particularly the RAN submariners. A young naval officer, John Foster (later Commander), heard about AE1 while serving in New Guinea. For the rest of his life he worked to bring the story of this mystery boat and her crew to the attention of the wider Australian community. He eventually established AE1 Incorporated, dedicated to finding AE1 and to commemorate her crew.

Following in John Fosters footsteps Dr Kathryn Spurling has worked towards this goal, firstly as a committee member of AE1 Incorporated, and now in the writing of this wonderful book. Kathryn has painstakingly searched through official records, accounts and diaries to chronicle the history of Australias first submarine. And while she has presented historical and political facts and technical detail to better explain the conditions and constraints the crew worked under Kathryn has woven into her account the poignant, human stories of the men and their families. With personal naval experience and historical research skills Kathryn has been able to shed light on the mystery of AE1s disappearance and to address the unanswered questions that plagued the minds of family members left bereft./p>