Quoting from PS News Edition Number 538f. Updated Friday, 17 February 2017. http://www.psnews.com.au/aps/538/news/museum-to-research-war-wreck
Museum to research war wreck
The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and the National Research Centre of Archaeology Indonesia (ARKENAS) are to cooperate in a joint dive on the wreck of the Australian World War II vessel HMAS Perth next month.
The Perth, alongside the American cruiser, USS Houston, was sunk with 353 crew following a fierce sea battle against the Imperial Japanese Navy on the night of 28 February 1942 off the coast of Bantam Bay on the north-west tip of Java in Indonesia.
The research dive, involving marine archaeologists from both nations, will be the first detailed survey of the wreck since 2014.
It will provide important information on the extent of any removal of material from the vessel.
Dive to check on illegal salvage
Director of the ANMM, Kevin Sumption said the museum began working closely with its colleagues at ARKENAS in 2014 following reports of illegal salvaging at the site.
“In August 2015 both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to research and, where possible, protect the remains of sovereign warships lost in Indonesian waters,” Mr Sumption said.
“A physical dive on the site with both ANMM and ARKENAS archaeologists will be the only way to gain a clear picture of what remains of the Perth.”
He said it was expected that the results of the March dive would take some months to be analysed but information obtained would be used to confirm the condition of the wreck site, analyse the site’s stability and ongoing corrosion processes, verify if it had been interfered with and its historical and archaeological significance.
“This information will then be used to prepare, in consultation with ARKENAS, a Conservation Management Plan for the wreck site and a case for a declaration under the Republic of Indonesia’s Cultural Heritage Legislation,” Mr Sumption said.
Comments