This is an archive photo of SS Macumba, a merchant ship that was sunk by a Japanese air attack during WWII. Australian scientists have discovered a World War II shipwreck off the coast of the Northern Territory (NT), solving one of the country's oldest maritime mysteries. (Xinhua/Australian War Memorial)
Australian scientists have discovered a World War II shipwreck off the coast of the Northern Territory (NT), solving one of the country's oldest maritime mysteries.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on Thursday announced it had found the wreck of the SS Macumba 74 years after it was sunk.
The ship was attacked by low-flying Japanese aircraft on Aug. 6, 1943 while carrying supplies from Brisbane to the NT capital of Darwin. Three people were killed in the attack.
Researchers on-board the Investigator discovered the ship on Wednesday morning using multibeam sonar systems. They said the wreck appears to be upright and in good condition.
Hugh Barker, the CSIRO's Marine National Facility manager on Investigator, said that the team was pleased it was able to solve the mystery of Macumba's resting place.
"The search was important to everyone on board this voyage and a lot of eyes were either glued to monitors or scanning the horizon for the signs of marine life that often point to features underwater," Barker said in a CSIRO media release on Thursday.
"We discovered the wreck in the middle of the night after about 10 hours of searching, which was lucky as we only had a couple more hours available for the search."
"It was also really lucky that we had an excellent team on the sonar who noticed some unusual features on the seafloor near the edge of our search area and asked for the ship to do an extra wide turn outside the search area. That's when we found it."
After finding the vessel, the CSIRO dropped a camera to a depth of 40 meters to map the site.
They found that the ship had become an artificial reef, providing a home to a range of marine life.
"Our drop camera even got a close-up photo of an inquisitive reef shark that seemed to be guarding the site," Barker said.
"It was a special night for all on board and we are so pleased to find the final resting place of Macumba."
