| The loss of the Australian cruiser
HMAS Sydney to the German raider HSK Kormoran is Australia's worst
naval disaster. Since her loss on the 19th of November 1941 the location
of the Sydney's wreck has been a mystery. Many researchers have defined
possible locations for the Sydney and Kormoran. However, none have
used the available evidence in a rigorous mathematical manner which
considered precision for each of the items of evidence used to obtain
the position. Few of them have considered all of the available evidence
objectively and without discarding some evidence that contradicts
their hypothesis. This project uses a least squares based approach
to solve for the probable location of both ships. The search area
is defined by using the associated area of confidence for each of
the solutions. The adjustment will be performed several times to accommodate
different sets of data where various options exist in the use of the
available information. The overall aim is not to define a final search
area, rather to develop a research method for determining such an
area. Picture of the HMAS Sydney by John
Allcot, Australian Consolidated Press and Estate of John Allcot,
Australian Women's Weekly, August 1940 in McCarthy (1996).
McCarthy, M. (1996). Sydney, U.R.L.
http://www.mm.wa.gov.au/Museum/march/shipwrecks/sydney/Sydney.html |
