AE2 story: 1998–The present
HMAS AE2 (AE2) remained undiscovered for 83 years. During that period, it is claimed that its ‘daring feats and its influence on the course of the Gallipoli invasion … [were] largely forgotten’. (Brenchley F & E 2003, Stoker's Submarine p 1)
Rediscovery: 1998
The submerged AE2 was rediscovered by Mr Selçuk Kolay OAM, the then director of the Rahmi M Koç Museum in Istanbul. In 1994, Kolay had been approached by the Australian ambassador to Turkey with a request to conduct research into AE2. It took Kolay three and a half years of intensive search to locate and dive the wreck of AE2. He recalls that his work ‘… covered extensive archive studies, the acoustic and magnetic scanning of the related area which stretched over 35 square miles, interviews with the local trawlermen, interviews with the living relatives of Captain Stoker and his crew, studies in varying museums in different countries, doing some heavy detective work, fighting heavy seas and dangerous technical deep sea divings’ (Hurmuz Basarin V & H 2008, Beneath the Dardanelles).
Mark Spencer and Selçuk Kolay, 1998.
Photo courtesy of Mark Spencer
In June 1998, Kolay and his crew finally located the wreck of AE2. By July he had secured a line to the wreck and dived with a cameraman to take pictures. AE2 lay upright in the mud on the floor of the Sea of Marmara, its hatch ajar. One blade of the starboard propeller protruded above the mud. In its side were a number of irregularly shaped holes, probably caused by the attack of the Sultan Hissar (Sultanhisar). The painted AE2 on the side of the submarine had faded and disappeared, it was coated with old fishing nets and was heavily encrusted with barnacles and marine life. An Australian dive team led by Mark Spencer visited Turkey in October 1998 and confirmed the AE2’s identity.
Australian and Turkish cooperation
The AE2 Commemorative Foundation Ltd was founded by the Submarine Institute of Australia (SIA) in 2006 to implement its Project AE2 strategy. From 2007 to the present, the AE2CF has conducted a number of expeditions and workshops in Turkey that have involved diving, photography, surveys, the development of a Maritime Archaeological Assessment (MAA) and discussion about how best to preserve the remains of the HMAS AE2.
An ABC TV news report in 2007 includes pictures of the wreck of AE2, information about its discovery and subsequent diving expeditions and interviews. You can view the movie in format by clicking on the following image.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Report 21 September 2007
Various parties have recorded aspects of expeditions in 1998 and 2007.
A detailed description of the activities involved in 2007 between the AE2CF and the Turkish Institute of Nautical Archaeology (TINA) can be accessed through Project AE2: Expedition Turkey 2007
In 1997, Selçuk Kolay was sure he had found the boat. The next year, in 1998, an expedition led by Tim Smith and Mark Spencer (Project AE2) joined the hunt with Selçuk and located AE2.
In 2008, an MAA Expedition was organised by the AE2CF.
A planning workshop between the AE2CF and TINA was held in 2008. The workshop discussed, among other things, issues relating to the preservation and protection of AE2.
