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The Drowned Man
A chance encounter in a fish-’n’-chip shop set Brendan Murray on the trail of a mystery. Had a gay man been secretly murdered on HMAS Australia during the Second World War?
The veteran he spoke to was certain. ‘I knew about it,’ he said. ‘We all did.’
But was the story true? If so, who was the dead man? And why was it so hard to find out?
The Drowned Man is a search for the answer, almost stymied by cover-up and silence. In the end, it brings us to the lies that have shrouded our understanding of war, and especially of war at sea.
As one of the survivors poignantly says, ‘I want to pass it on to the next generation. What it was like. What it was really like.’
This is a work of kaleidoscopic intensity by a strong new Australian voice.
The veteran he spoke to was certain. ‘I knew about it,’ he said. ‘We all did.’
But was the story true? If so, who was the dead man? And why was it so hard to find out?
The Drowned Man is a search for the answer, almost stymied by cover-up and silence. In the end, it brings us to the lies that have shrouded our understanding of war, and especially of war at sea.
As one of the survivors poignantly says, ‘I want to pass it on to the next generation. What it was like. What it was really like.’
This is a work of kaleidoscopic intensity by a strong new Australian voice.
384 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2016
8 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 20, 2016
A thoroughly enjoyable read in the True Crime genre. Murray's book is meticulously researched and brings the experiences of Australian sailors in World War 2 to life. He sensitively examines the prejudice and discrimination suffered by gay men in the 1940s as he investigates a possible crime on board HMAS Australia. Murray pulls no punches in his descriptions of the horrors of war, but he also captures the love of the sea that led many sailors to the RAN in the first place. Beautifully written and a real page turner.
April 13, 2018
A chance encounter with a soldier who, like his grandfather, served in the navy on HMAS Australia sets Murray to uncover a 70 year old murder of a homosexual man who was thrown overboard and listed as missing at sea. Murray explores the historical events that led to such an event by bringing to life the experiences of sailors during their service in WWII and the prevailing views of homosexuality at the time. A great book that is a window into another time.
August 3, 2022
The true, but sometimes elegant & novel-like, story of the author's search for the truth about the man who was 'lost at sea' on the Australia in the second World War.
August 11, 2016
I enjoyed reading this book. Non fiction is not my usual genre, and so it made a nice change of pace for me. I felt the author was very knowledgable and well spoken, and it was obvious that a lot of effort and research had gone in to making each part of this book stick together.
I enjoyed how the narrative shifted from stating the factual research the author had done, to reenactments of past events, as told to the author by those who were there. I liked how easily I could feel the personalities of those depicted throughout the book, my favourite of which was Norm Tame, once the youngest man aboard HMAS Australia, now, an elderly man.
What struck me most whilst reading The Drowned Man, was how much the author, Brendan James Murray cared about what had happened. It was more than a book of facts and dates; it was a quest to find the truth and to bring it to light.
I think this book would interest a wide variety of people. From those who have an interest in the navy, local and Australian history buffs, crime enthusiasts and people of the gay community.
I hope the author continues to write more books such as this, and shall anticipate his next endeavour.
I enjoyed how the narrative shifted from stating the factual research the author had done, to reenactments of past events, as told to the author by those who were there. I liked how easily I could feel the personalities of those depicted throughout the book, my favourite of which was Norm Tame, once the youngest man aboard HMAS Australia, now, an elderly man.
What struck me most whilst reading The Drowned Man, was how much the author, Brendan James Murray cared about what had happened. It was more than a book of facts and dates; it was a quest to find the truth and to bring it to light.
I think this book would interest a wide variety of people. From those who have an interest in the navy, local and Australian history buffs, crime enthusiasts and people of the gay community.
I hope the author continues to write more books such as this, and shall anticipate his next endeavour.
August 2, 2016
I love that this book is almost written as though it was a novel. It is a refreshing approach to non fiction writing. I usually find books like this a little dry and academic in nature, but this was an intriguing read that kept me interested from page one til the last word. It is appealing to see a story about the war that focuses on something more domestic and personal. Definitely better than I was expecting and the writing style was very engaging.
August 2, 2017
Investigative journalism at its best. All before remarks tell of this amazingly written book. Excellent par excellence.
October 1, 2016
A great read.
September 25, 2017
This masterpiece of journalistic research takes the reader behind the scenes on board the iconic HMAS Australia (II) during World War 2.
Although I enjoyed the book, I found its in-cohesive structure irritating at times. I also felt some disappointment that Murray seemed to view his much-loved grandfather, a product of the social conditioning of his time, through the wrong lens and consequently judge the old sailor too harshly.
However, I put both of those small negatives aside and read the book with a great deal of interest and deep respect for the author’s tenacious determination to unearth, not only the secret of the drowned man, but also the narratives of the other young men who served on ‘The Aussie’ (as HMAS Australia was affectionately called).
There is much in the book to touch the heart of the reader but the event that affected me most deeply was the treatment of the dead Japanese kamikaze pilot after he had crashed his plane into The Aussie, severely damaging the ship and causing a horrific inferno in which 30 sailors died. The body of each dead Australian was sewn tightly inside a white sail. So too was the charred body of the kamikaze pilot and he was given the same dignified sea burial.
It was fascinating to learn about the lives of some of the men who served on the ship and gratifying to know their stories have now been passed on for the next generation to know ‘what it was really like’.
Although I enjoyed the book, I found its in-cohesive structure irritating at times. I also felt some disappointment that Murray seemed to view his much-loved grandfather, a product of the social conditioning of his time, through the wrong lens and consequently judge the old sailor too harshly.
However, I put both of those small negatives aside and read the book with a great deal of interest and deep respect for the author’s tenacious determination to unearth, not only the secret of the drowned man, but also the narratives of the other young men who served on ‘The Aussie’ (as HMAS Australia was affectionately called).
There is much in the book to touch the heart of the reader but the event that affected me most deeply was the treatment of the dead Japanese kamikaze pilot after he had crashed his plane into The Aussie, severely damaging the ship and causing a horrific inferno in which 30 sailors died. The body of each dead Australian was sewn tightly inside a white sail. So too was the charred body of the kamikaze pilot and he was given the same dignified sea burial.
It was fascinating to learn about the lives of some of the men who served on the ship and gratifying to know their stories have now been passed on for the next generation to know ‘what it was really like’.
September 2, 2022
What an excellent read. I really enjoyed hearing the personal stories of Australian sailors in the South Pacific and the Brutality they suffered and inflicted on others. The author did an amazing job of brining this to life and weaving multiple stories throw the book.
January 13, 2021
Was quite a compelling book especially since it mentioned my mums cousin Lieutenant Commandee Harrie Gerrett.
March 3, 2022
A really compelling exploration of the navy’s life at sea and a really personable depiction of what the sailors lives were like, very insightful around the kamikaze stages especially, very vivid
November 24, 2021
A chance meeting in a fish and chip shop with a veteran sailor of the WWII battle cruiser HMAS Australia was the catalyst that eventually led to this extensively, even exhaustively, researched story. Brendan James Murray encounters an elderly man who proudly tells a brief story about a gay sailor who was thrown overboard because of his shipmates’ disapproval of his sexuality. Obviously disturbed by such a story and the boastful way it was told, Murray is even more drawn to it because his own grandfather had briefly served on the same ship.
So he asks him about it, and his grandfather adds a little more hearsay, and then his research and interviews begin, and mysteries begin to build up on themselves, and the truth goes far deeper and is much more complicated than what Murray seemed to first envision. The hate crime that was the impetus for his research was part of a much larger cultural problem of the time, and as Murray excellently connects the incident to present-day social conflicts, it’s not so far from crimes still taking place today. Like Faulkner said, the past is never dead, it isn’t even past. Horrifying as that may be, and all the more reason to understand what came before and how we can learn from and progress away from it.
Near the book’s conclusion, Murray writes, “The real measure of what was lost in the bloody years of the Second World war lies not in tales of destruction but in the lives of those who survived.” Over and over the narrative tells the stories of those who don’t make it outlive, including in many of the brutal kamikaze attacks on the Australia. These passages are pretty devastating. But strangely, even more heartbreaking really are those who lived, some for a very long time, and have to reflect on what they saw, did, and what was done to them. The greatest strength of the book is in the author’s very emotional connections to and understanding of the men he interviews, how he gets them to open up and tell their sides of the stories, to whatever extent they’re willing. And as he eloquently explains by likening these nebulous wartime experiences to Tim O’Brien’s explanation of the shifting nature of truth in The Things They Carried, memory is faulty and the truth is usually somewhere in between the many versions of a story that get told.
Murray’s literary knowledge is put to good use in the references he connects to the story he’s telling, and his writing is polished and journalistic, making an overall quite good work of narrative nonfiction. But for me (this is a personal criticism that I think wouldn’t matter to others with different interests) the chapters that focused heavily on the ship and sailors during battles didn’t grab me. I like military history, especially of the Second World War, but I found myself bored. Murray clearly cares a lot about what the sailors went through and in presenting that for a fuller picture of their experience and I appreciate that because as I mentioned, this book ends up being about so much more than the mysterious murder(s) that brought it into being. I loved his writing about the people and the culture of the time and the connection between past and present, the difficulty of memory in wartime, and the social issues surrounding sexuality, but I did end up skimming some of those. As I said – personal criticism, it would make great reading for others with the right interests.
So he asks him about it, and his grandfather adds a little more hearsay, and then his research and interviews begin, and mysteries begin to build up on themselves, and the truth goes far deeper and is much more complicated than what Murray seemed to first envision. The hate crime that was the impetus for his research was part of a much larger cultural problem of the time, and as Murray excellently connects the incident to present-day social conflicts, it’s not so far from crimes still taking place today. Like Faulkner said, the past is never dead, it isn’t even past. Horrifying as that may be, and all the more reason to understand what came before and how we can learn from and progress away from it.
Near the book’s conclusion, Murray writes, “The real measure of what was lost in the bloody years of the Second World war lies not in tales of destruction but in the lives of those who survived.” Over and over the narrative tells the stories of those who don’t make it outlive, including in many of the brutal kamikaze attacks on the Australia. These passages are pretty devastating. But strangely, even more heartbreaking really are those who lived, some for a very long time, and have to reflect on what they saw, did, and what was done to them. The greatest strength of the book is in the author’s very emotional connections to and understanding of the men he interviews, how he gets them to open up and tell their sides of the stories, to whatever extent they’re willing. And as he eloquently explains by likening these nebulous wartime experiences to Tim O’Brien’s explanation of the shifting nature of truth in The Things They Carried, memory is faulty and the truth is usually somewhere in between the many versions of a story that get told.
Murray’s literary knowledge is put to good use in the references he connects to the story he’s telling, and his writing is polished and journalistic, making an overall quite good work of narrative nonfiction. But for me (this is a personal criticism that I think wouldn’t matter to others with different interests) the chapters that focused heavily on the ship and sailors during battles didn’t grab me. I like military history, especially of the Second World War, but I found myself bored. Murray clearly cares a lot about what the sailors went through and in presenting that for a fuller picture of their experience and I appreciate that because as I mentioned, this book ends up being about so much more than the mysterious murder(s) that brought it into being. I loved his writing about the people and the culture of the time and the connection between past and present, the difficulty of memory in wartime, and the social issues surrounding sexuality, but I did end up skimming some of those. As I said – personal criticism, it would make great reading for others with the right interests.
August 1, 2016
I thought this was a fantastic book. It painted a compelling picture of a warship at war and provided a fascinating insight into the lives of the individuals on board. Despite the events of 'The Drowned Man' occuring over 70 years ago, I felt I could connect with those who served, in a way that I really wasn't expecting. I particularly liked the recognition of servicemen as people, rather than simply the two dimensional heroes they are often portrayed as. This book is easy to read but hard to put down; I would highly recommend it to any Australian.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews