A maritime mystery that has endured for decades has finally been solved after a long-lost ship’s wreckage was found off Australia’s east coast.
MV Noongah had 26 crew members on board when it departed from Newcastle in NSW for Townsville in Queensland‘s north with its cargo of steel on August 23, 1969.
The tragedy was described as ‘one of the nation’s worst post-war maritime disasters’ when the ship vanished without a trace 55 years ago.
The 71-metre coastal freighter got into trouble two days into its voyage when a heavy storm hit, causing the ship to go down.
Miraculously, five crew members survived the ordeal, but only one body was ever found of the remaining 21 missing men.
In a joint project between the CSIRO, Heritage NSW and The Sydney Project, crews have found the wreckage off the NSW mid north coast, 9 News reported.
Everyday Aussies also assisted in the search.
‘Several members of the public also contributed to the project, including by pinpointing and reporting the location of the suspected shipwreck off the NSW coast,’ a CSIRO spokesperson said.
MV Noongah (pictured) departed from Newcastle for Townsville with its cargo of steel on August 23, 1969 but went missing two days into the voyage
Teams came together to pinpoint where the shipwreck was located and found that it was mostly intact and sitting upright (pictured)
The teams obtained seafloor mapping data and video footage which showed the MV Noongah not only upright but also mostly intact.
CSIRO voyage manager Margot Hind said the shipwreck is ‘sitting’ 170 metres below the ocean off the coast of South West Rocks.
‘[And it] is approximately 71 metres long, with the vessel dimensions, profile and configuration matching MV Noongah,’ she said.
CSIRO group leader Matthew Kimber said shipwreck discoveries are significant.
‘This tragedy is still very much in the memory of many in the community and we offer our condolences to families and descendants of the crew who were lost,’ he said.
‘Our thoughts are also with the surviving crew members from MV Noongah, and we hope that knowing the resting place of the vessel brings some closure for all.’
Now that the 55 year mystery has been solved, it has given comfort to survivors and descendants of the missing crew members (pictured the wreckage of MV Noongah)
Brendan McCormack lost his father in the tragedy,
He last saw his dad on the day the MV Noongah left Newcastle.
‘I knew I’d never see my father, we all knew that we’d never see our family members again and we accepted that … so it is great they’ve been able to find the ship,’ Mr McCormack told ABC News.
‘You know they are close by the ship, and their souls are close by the ship somewhere.’
The captain aboard MV Noongah was Victorian father-of-two and husband Leo Botsman.
Widow Pamela last saw her husband when she dropped him off at Essendon airport a month before the tragedy.
‘He was very talkative and forthright and he loved the sea and the sea was his life,’ she recalled.
Family members and descendants of the crew from MV Noongah are able to contact CSIRO to get further details about the discovery and the maritime investigation.
