- Author
- Letter Writer
- Subjects
- Letter to the Editor
- Tags
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- RAN Ships
- HMAS Moresby I
- Publication
- September 2019 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
As this edition of the Review contains an in-depth article on Cape York and Somerset it is opportune to include this discussion point. An example of one of the many research queries we receive.
Dear Naval Historical Society
My name is Peter Rosenfeld. I recently had the good fortune to visit the site of the settlement of Somerset (of Frank Jardine) on Cape York. While there, close to the concrete steps that lead from the beach towards where the home once stood, I found the brass circle (photograph included). It was neatly embedded in a large stone on the high tide line of the beach. It has a diameter of about 10 cm. The date and the word ‘Moresby’ were intriguing. To my understanding, neither fit the story of Frank Jardine and Somerset. On arriving home in Brisbane I asked a good friend who suggested I contact you, that somebody in the Naval Historical Society might be able to explain the significance of the circle? I would be most grateful if the mystery could be solved.
Dear Peter,
The object you photographed is a survey mark which indicates a specifically measured point. HMAS Moresby was a Royal Australian Navy hydrographic ship which in 1937 was surveying, amongst other areas, thhsoe Gulf of Carpentaria. The survey mark would have been placed by Moresby’s surveyors as part of this operation. It was made of brass as this would not affect any magnetic compasses used in the survey.
Yours, John Smith, Senior Researcher