Whose Is It?
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
The discoverers of the old wreck are 'presumed to he organ ising an expedition to examine it more closely. In the mean time, one of the men who found it, Donald Smith, said on Jan uary 5 that he had been in touch with an Admiralty expert in London hy radio-telephone.
The expert suggested that the vessel could have been a privateer, commissioned by the Knatchbull family, and could have been wrecked on the Aus tralian coast years before Cap tain Cook sighted the Continent.
The expert, Commander Haytor, expected to be able to tell Smith the name of the ship shortly.
The Royal Australian Navy is academically interested in the identity of the old ship—but that is as far as it goes at the moment. If it did turn out to be " Pandora”, the interest might be more than just academic; but it would be strictly RN business, not RAN.
The next move seems up to the discoverers, although it’s obvious that they can't peg out any absolute claim to it, either, Although it all happened before Captain Cook saw Australia , no doubt the ship still remains the property of that omnipotent person, the Receiver of Wrecks.