Monday 30 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: PAVEL IVANOVICH FEDOSIMOV NEW INFORMATION.



PAVEL FEDOSIMOV



This new information is from the work of Clive, it has involved a great deal of research and effort for which he is congratulated and thanked.

We have already published accounts of how the same name turns up at the IAEA meetings through until the early 1960s as an advisor on Nuclear Energy matters. However, no photographs have been found to prove that it is the same man.

A note for followers, we have Fedosimov's date of birth as being 1904.

THE LATEST

In this latest information set we have found that another similar name exists, FEDOSOV who was also a Russian Diplomat at the relative times.

Searches have found that there was no record of Vera, Pavel's wife, until after 1948.

1949, P. Fdosimov is documented as a second secretary for the USSR at the UN in September 1949, no records other than that and no photographs found. Unusual that a man with Fedosimov's known involvement with espionage against the US would have been allowed back into the coop. Whether that was because of the protective attitude of the US towards the top-secret nature of Venona is, of course, a possible contributing factor.

We do have a photograph of the Russian Representative to the UN in September 1949, Andrey Vyshinsky, this was a man of great influence within the Communist Party at the time and led Stalin's Purges:


Read more on Vishinsky here. And here's a link to the UN photo archives... You can register for access to the archives and get High-Resolution images, they also have a film archive but the procedures are a little more complex.

1956, P. Fedosimov is recorded as being a 1st Secretary at the USSR Embassy in Tripoli. Tenure appears to be March to August 1956. No photographs nor other records found.

1957, P.Fedosimov is recorded as the 1st Secretary at the USSR Embassy in Mexico, with the commencement date of April 1957. On this occasion, the man is accompanied by Vera, his wife. Once again no photographs nor other records found.

Without photographic evidence we cannot, therefore, confirm that this is the same man, he is for the most part 'invisible' and that is possibly deliberately so.

The information above came from the CIA archives and is readily available, google:
"Checklist of Soviet Officials Abroad"

We have more to publish on Fedosimov in the coming week.
Share:

Thursday 26 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT FREDERICK BIRD WAKE




A private moment for Bob Wake and family, his good lady wife and two sons, one of whom was Val Wake, an author but more on Val in a later post.

In August 2016, in this blog, here, you can read how Bob Wake had been amongst the founding Directors of the newly formed ASIO. In more recent times more has been written about the man by others on the Cipher Mysteries blog. Whilst I found that information interesting, in my view and with great respect, so much more could have been included that would have provided a fuller and more accurate description of this man and his contributions to the War effort, specifically the field of intelligence.

But how does the Colonel link to the Somerton Man case?

THE NACKEROOS

In March 1942, it was Bob Wake in his role as deputy DMI, who made a tour of the top end and produced a report that shook more than the odd politician. That report, which today would have been regarded as racist in the extreme, made a number of recommendations amongst which was the formation of a rapid deployment force which went on to become the North Australia Observer Unit, The Nackeroos. Pete Bowes in his blog has often covered aspects of this unit's history as it pertains to Alf Boxall. That's one albeit tenuous link.

But it is this next link that should arouse more interest on followers of the SM case. Around about the same time as his top end trip, Bob was involved in the arrest and internment of one Dr. Arthur John 'Jappy' Ross, and the place of his internment? Loveday, South Australia.







MARJORIE NORVAL: 

THE GIRL A RAILWAY STATION SWALLOWED


A good title for a book as indeed it was, you can find out more about the book and the author here on the Facebook page. It deals with the 1938 disappearance of a public servant, the social secretary to the wife of the then Premier of Queensland.

A relatively recent and informative article in the Courier Mail is online, if I link to it it will ask you to subscribe, better to google it using the search term: Marjorie Norval book.

There isn't time nor space for me to write the full account which is more than adequately covered by Ken Blanch within his book. What I will say is that the case of Marjorie Norval is one that contains political and military intrique at the highest levels of the then Queensland and Federal Governments.
Within its pages, you will read of how one witness to the disappearance of Marjorie Norval was arrested and interned right at the time when he was needed to give evidence in the case. The man who ordered the internment was Lieutenant Colonel Bob Wake.

Well planned and executed was it a conspiracy? A cover-up? Who knows but Marjorie's body has not been found to this day.

What intrigued me most were the mechanisms, the apparent use of the political, legal and military apparatus which swung into action following Marjorie's disappearance and the later suicide of a senior Government Minister associated with the case.

For my friend, JS, when you see a stone, turn it over, look underneath it, over it from every direction and in every light, study it carefully and don't be tempted to hurry on to the next lead until the one in hand has been thoroughly examined and documented. I learnt that from two very experienced Detectives with whom, many years ago, I had the privilege of working. You see JS, I was just your normal copper, trained as such with an emphasis on observation. Was I trained in investigation techniques? Yes. Was I in CID? Yes. Did I arrest people for various crimes from petty theft to murder? Yes. Was I involved in a number of investigations? Yes. Do I use my real name? Yes.

As far as AFIO is concerned, you'll read all you need on every page of this blog, it's an organisation which anyone can join provided they complete the application forms and meet the approval of the organisation. Many members I understand are Professors and academics, ex-intelligence officers and yes ex-police officers. Even you could join. They have a regular newsletter filled with current and historical information which might otherwise be difficult to find. They also have a website.

So, there's mine JS, where's yours? And why not Milongal's?

With regards to the Note on the top of the pages, it's a matter of respect for our indigenous peoples, nothing more nor less, I'm surprised you asked that.

Once a copper always a copper is a very true adage, it gets in the blood, ask any ex-copper they'll tell you the same.





Share:

Sunday 22 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: A 1941 COPY OF WHITCOMBE AND TOMBS RUBAIYAT


1941 RUBAIYAT

This is an advisory post, I have been fortunate in that I have been given a 1941 W & T ROK book to examine. It was found by a personal friend and I have undertaken to take a close look and then scan the entire book. It has the name 'Williamson' handwritten on a flyleaf of the book.

If you have an interest in a copy, please let me know via the feedback message function on this blog.

Thanks, Ali!

More posts coming this week, stay tuned :)
Share:

Thursday 19 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: NEW PAUL LAWSON INTERVIEW, THE BODY, CLELAND & THE MISSING PHOTOGRAPHS


PAUL LAWSON INTERVIEW, 

OCTOBER 17th 2017


Two days ago, Clive had another meeting with Paul Lawson. As usual, Clive was prepared with a series of questions that we had brought together with each seeking clarification on previous matters raised or hopefully, adding more in the way of new information. Clive was successful on both counts as you will read.

THE BODY

Clive asked Paul what he recalled about the SM body and the response was:

1. There were no marks of a ring or a watch left on the body. In case there was any doubt, we can mark those issues as being dealt with.

2. There were no signs of vaccination or other scars on the arms. This conflicts with the records of the autopsy where a scar was described inside the elbow area of the left arm and something akin to a vaccination mark on the upper left arm. Paul made no mention of the scratches between the fingers.

3. There was no 'mole' near to the right of the mouth. It has been suggested by Professor Abbott that there was a mole above the right corner of the mouth, this looks now to be more likely to have been blood spattering from the autopsy.

4. Whilst Paul did not measure the body he believed that when he saw it, the man's height was about 6 feet. Sadly we can't be more specific than this, does it mean 6' 1" or 5' 11" ? It is therefore still open to question.

CLELAND

Paul made some interesting comments regarding Professor Cleland, specifically, he spoke about the requests that he, Paul, had received just a day or so prior to the burial of SM. Paul confirmed that he had been asked to take a cast of both the skull and the hands. There was insufficient time to do the additional work as the Police had intervened saying that the man was to be buried the next day; as it happens, it was a further 6 days before the burial took place.

The above confirms the account already published by the Adelaide University.

Paul emphasised that the man did not just have large hands, they were extremely large.

THE MISSING PHOTOGRAPHS

In an earlier interview, Paul had confirmed that he had used the photographs to complete the bust as the face of the body was dissimilar to that shown on those Police photographs.

In this latest interview, he went further and was emphatic that there were quite a number of photographs including some taken immediately after the man's death was discovered and before the autopsy. This could mean that photographs were taken at the beach or at the mortuary, we will seek further clarification on that point. As it stands, there is a likelihood that more photographs of SM could still be in existence. It would also explain the difference between the facial appearance of the bust and both the post-autopsy and pre-burial images. We first pointed this out some  3 years ago with comparisons being shown.

With this information, it seems only natural to post the comparison image between the Bust and Fedosimov with apologies for the colouring of the bust:



The image to the left is a colourised version of the photograph of the bust...

We have one more post to come in relation to this latest interview, it promises to add a significant and hitherto unknown fact and a name to the case.
Share:

Wednesday 18 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: RNSH, PAUL LAWSON & A WALK IN THE GARDEN


THE ROYAL NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL


The Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney is where Jestyn trained as a nurse, and although the place was getting on in years in 1945, it was in the process of being renovated and a new 'nurses home' was planned.

It did have some attractive aspects though, not the least of which were the gardens not that dissimilar to the one shown above.

Why the interest in the garden? Simple, according to Paul Lawson, that is where Alf Boxall and Jestyn used to meet up, that's in addition to the Clifton Gardens Hotel of course.

Followers will recall that in an earlier post,  Mr Lawson told of how Alf used to pass information to Jestyn on Allied ship movements.

One wonders whether that information was passed across in a coded poem or even written on the back page of an innocuous book of poetry whilst walking together in the gardens of the hospital where Jestyn worked.

Thanks once again to Clive for his great work on the interviews with Paul, we now have even more information that we can share. There will be more posts with some extraordinarily interesting details shortly.

Share:

Sunday 15 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: WHO WAS 'NL"?


WHO WAS 'NL'?

The sketch above shows a row of huts, but in particular, we are looking at Hut 10 at Tatura.

Let me explain, followers will have read through the PDF's of Senator Cavanagh's speech to the Senate, in them, he talks of matters that were related to the Somerton Man case. In one instance he refers directly to a man with the initials 'NL'.

NL it appears, put forward a credible explanation for the code. But who was NL?

Clive has been his usual thorough self and has found a possible fit, a man who, coincidentally, was an internee and who, for a short while at least, was a resident in hut 10 at Tatura camp.

This man was to later change his name yet hold on to his initials, shades of T Keane perhaps?

The man in question is a NORBERT LEICHT, a former internee who changed his name to Norman Lester. He returned to the UK in later years and became a British citizen.

Is it possible that this man knew enough about the code used in the Hay Banknotes to put forward a solution to the SM code?

Isn't it interesting how the Internment camp links turn up? 

To be fair, of course, we do not know for sure that the initials NL belonged to the same man.

Share:

Friday 13 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: PAYING THE FERRYMAN?


THE FERRYMAN'S ACCOUNT...




MUST BE PAID


Amongst the contents of the pockets of the Somerton man when found was a single coin, the humble 'tanner', sixpence to those that no better and a silver coin for those who think a little laterally.

The question being asked here is simply this:

Was the sixpence that was found, the only money the man had left in his possession or was it a symbolic gesture? If you are familiar with the work of Virgil, the silver coin, silver because of its purity, was the cost of the ferry across from this life to the next, the journey across the River Styx.

Charon, the ferryman of Hades, had his fee for the task, a single silver coin. According to legend, the silver coin was to be placed beneath the tongue of the departed soul but a pocket? Maybe.

Is it possible that amongst the Academic Royalty that deigns to grace this blog, (anonymously of course), and others with their presence, could somehow have missed this prize piece of information?  Let's not prejudge them, it is highly likely that they would simply have had the thought cross their complex and superior minds but immediately dismissed it because it was so obviously outside the 'broad canon' of what is and isn't acceptable in the SM case, at least that, I imagine, would be the reason given their track records.

For me, well quite honestly, it was bugging me, why only sixpence? What else did he spend on that day? How much in total? A quick calculation gave me around 3 shillings, and what was left was a humble tanner. There has to be a logical reason albeit abstract. 

What are your thoughts?

.


Share:

Wednesday 4 October 2017

SOMERTON MAN: PAVEL IVANOVICH FEDOSIMOV AND THE IAEA (Charts Added)




A PAVEL IVANOVICH FEDOSIMOV
AND THE IAEA





Above is a photograph of President Eisenhower addressing the UN, 8th December 1953. This was his 'ATOMS FOR PEACE' speech which led to the creation of the IAEA. 


Almost 4 years later, led by this man, Stirling Cole, one-time US Diplomat and UN Official, the IAEA was formed. The first IAEA General Conference was held in October 1957 and was coincidentally formed with diplomats and scientists from 57 Nations.

First IAEA General Conference October 1957

On the Soviet team was a man named Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov. The same name as the man who has been put forward on this blog as being the most likely candidate for being the Somerton Man.

Much discussion and criticism has ensued since that post but the position remains the same, I still believe that Pavel Fedosimov as pictured below on the right in a comparison image of the Adelaide University's artists impression of the Somerton Man, is, in fact, the Somerton Man.:


But what of the man with the same name who turned up almost 10 years, and for some years later as a diplomat at the IAEA conferences?

Followers would be aware that Clive and I have spent quite some time patiently following up with the IAEA to see if we could get confirmation or otherwise that the Diplomat was the same man as the SM candidate. This would, of course, mean that the suggestion that he was our man was wrong. The only way we could hope to clarify the position was to obtain a photograph of the Diplomat whilst at the IAEA, a positive link would then be established. Without such a photograph, there would be no evidence which in itself would be another kind of evidence.

It has been almost 8 months now and despite a number of emails sent by Clive, we had received nothing in response. Trawling through the IAEA information, we found a new email address and it was from this address that we received the long-awaited response.

Here's the content of the email:

Dear Mr Turner,

You sent a similar request in February. I assume that my colleague sent you the information that I sent her then:

I regret to inform you that after an exhaustive search, I was not able to locate any images of P. Fedosimov. Mr Fedosimov was part of the Permanent Mission of the USSR, and he was one of the alternates for the Governor from the USSR on the Board of Governors. Although he attended several General Conferences, I could not find a photo of him. I am sorry that we could not be of more assistance.

You can trace his attendance of the General Conference by looking at documents in the General Conference Archives on the IAEA website: https://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC02/Documents/index.html Otherwise, as previously stated, we have no images of Mr Fedosimov.

Best regards,
Elizabeth Kata

Ms Elizabeth KATA | Archives Assistant |
Archives and Records Management Section | Division of General Services| Department of Management |
International Atomic Energy Agency | Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria |
Email: E.Kata@iaea.org or archives@iaea.org T: (+43-1) 2600-21192

And there we have the result, no images of Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov were found. 

Considering the fact that the first appointed Director General of the IAEA was an ex-US Diplomat, you would have to think that the structures that he would have put in place including the credentials committee, would have been designed to ensure that not only unwelcome countries were barred but also unwelcome individuals.

The Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov we have put forward was a KGB Major, he was a known spymaster, he ran amongst others, Harry Gold and perhaps the most well-known of all Atom spies, Klaus Fuchs. The man had orchestrated all of the espionage activities and networks that resulted in the theft of the US's most secret weapons development documents. This was no ordinary spy, this was a man of the highest level in the US during the years 1941 to 1948.

You would have to believe that had this particular man been put forward as a USSR diplomat and representative, Mr Cole would have been well aware of his history. Do you honestly think that such a man would be allowed to be involved in the world governing body, the IAEA?

Would it be possible? In those days there was much wheeling and dealing and whilst it may be possible, it is in my view, highly unlikely.

The bottom line is that there is absolutely no photographic evidence that the diplomat and the spy were one and the same person.

We will continue to search for and examine any relevant photographs from other sources and will update if, as and when such images are found.

With thanks to Clive for his ongoing enthusiasm and superb contributions.

UPDATE 7TH OCTOBER  2017


In response to a comment, the following charts may shed some light on the enormity of the espionage tasks facing the Soviets in the US at the relevant time.

First off, the Manhattan Project Orgnisation Chart:


And secondly, a typical organisation chart for a Soviet Espionage cell, the Soviet Controller position was, I believe, a Moscow based role.:



Share:

ABOUT US and OUR RECORD

Learn more about, when the blog started our location plus a long list of 'finds' and new evidence discovered by this blog