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Missing Sub AE1

Past searches for the missing sub have never borne fruit until last month, when a new effort was mounted by the RAN with vessels HMAS Benalla and HMAS Shepparto. Now in 2007, nearly 93 years after the AE1 disappeared, the Australian Navy believes it has found an object on the seabed which is almost certainly the AE1. A remotely-operated underwater vehicle will be deployed to confirm the find, thousands of miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

Australian Veterans Affairs Minister Bruce Billson has said he is "cautiously optimistic" an object detected by the Benalla on the sea floor is indeed the long sought-for wreckage of AE1.The AE1 was Australia’s first submarine and one of two built in Barrow for the Australians. It entered service on February 28, 1914. At the outbreak of the First World War, the AE1 was sent, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, RN, along with her sister AE2 to capture German New Guinea.

Both boats took part in the operations leading to the occupation of the German territory, including the surrender of Rabaul on September 13, 1914. At 7am after the surrender she departed Blanche Bay, Rabaul, to patrol off Cape Gazelle with HMAS Parramatta, a River class torpedo boat destroyer. They split up during their patrols and contact with the sub was lost. No trace of her was ever found.

If the AE1 has been found, the discovery is an important part of Australian - and Barrovian - maritime history. Both E-Boats built for the Australians proved unlucky, with AE2 being sunk in the Sea of Marmara in the Dardonelles on April 25, 1915. At BAE, Tony Salter-Ellis, a technical publications editor and historian for the shipyard, said if true it would be only the latest of many wrecks of Barrow boats which have been discovered around the world. He said: "There are a significant number, some of which have only been found recently. "Mr Salter-Ellis said one reason more boats were being found was the growth of hobby diving.

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