The solution to a 66-year-old mystery regarding the identity of a body presumed to be that of a sailor who perished in the greatest ever loss of life on an Australian warship may have a Maltese connection.
As reported in The Malta Independent on 8 August, Australian naval authorities have carried out DNA tests on relatives of three officers who went down with HMAS Sydney on 19 November 1941. Next in line are relatives of 13 other victims, one of whom was Salvatore Zammit, the vessel’s canteen manager. This newspaper was contacted by Mr Zammit’s son, Joseph Zammit, who is now almost 82 and works voluntarily for Marsaxlokk local council. Not only does Mr Zammit remember his father working for the Royal Australian Navy, but he actually served on board the HMAS Sydney alongside him.
It all started in 1916, when Salvatore Zammit, from Zejtun, arrived in Sydney and started working as a canteen assistant. His boss was a Maltese man, Joseph Zammit, who went “down under” in 1897 and started off in the Sydney dockyard. Due to his enterprising nature, he quickly became a canteen manager. In those days, canteens on board ships were managed by individual contractors. In 1916, he employed Salvatore Zammit, who was known by the Aussies as “Sam”, and eventually became his father-in-law.
The newly-wed couple settled in Malta and had three children, two boys and a girl, the oldest being Joseph, while Salvatore also became a canteen manager. By 1935, his wife had grown tired of her husband’s long absences at sea and asked him to quit his job. He promised that he would.
However, on her maiden voyage from Portsmouth, the HMAS Sydney was held up in Alexandria and for six months played an active role with the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinian Crisis. After this incident, the Zammits decided to move to Sydney.
On 27 March 1941, 15-year-old Joseph left school and, joining his father on board the HMAS Sydney, for a few months he led an adventurous sea life that took him to Singapore, Noumea, Auckland and Suva.
At the end of September 1941, the HMAS Sydney set sail for Freemantle on a routine mission of escorting a troopship to Sunda Strait. However, the ship sailed without Joseph, who had narrowly missed it, to the great annoyance of his father, who had to run the canteen one worker short. It was, however, a stroke of luck for Joseph, as the ship went down on 19 November.
In fact, the Sydney was attacked by the German raider the Kormoran, disguised as a Dutch merchant ship. Both ships sank in the ensuing battle, however all 645 hands on board the Sydney were lost, while 320 sailors from the Kormoran survived.
“On 26 November,” recounted a visibly emotional Joseph, “a telegram boy pulled up at our house and mother told us in Maltese: ‘I think Father’s home’. However, the telegram boy, who did not know Maltese, realised from the tone of her voice that she was not aware of news to come and he said to her: ‘Sorry Ma’am, I’m afraid its bad news.’
My mother took the telegram and asked me to read out. It said: ‘Navy Office regrets to inform you that your husband Canteen Manager Salvatore Zammit is missing believed killed through enemy action’.”
After the war, Joseph was decorated with three medals and went back to grammar school.
All that remains of the HMAS Sydney are a Carley float life raft, damaged by gunfire, that was discovered at sea several days after the sinking, and another Carley float, containing the body of a white adult male, that was found in early February 1942 off Christmas Island, about 2,500 km from the scene of the battle.
In October 2006, an Australian Navy-led expedition exhumed the sailor’s remains from an unmarked grave.
Mr Zammit told this newspaper that he is at the authorities’ disposal for DNA tests and is certain that the remains are, in fact, those of his father. He is currently in contact with the Australian High Commission in a bid to either solve the mystery or lay a ghost.