THE SOMERTON MAN MYSTERY: TEN YEARS! A SUMMATION...

WITH MANY THANKS TO OUR FOLLOWERS...

A little late with this! For those who are unaware, this blog has been online for more than 10 years in fact, according to my records the first post was in February 2013.

Since that time there have been, according to records, just over 800 posts and we have had just over 850,000 page visits.

Bear in mind that this is a single-focus investigative 'blog' as opposed to the 'forum' style websites where the audience posts comments and theories at their leisure. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

Here's a quick summary of just some of the more notable finds and achievements, they are not in any particular order:

1. Microcode discovered. From the first findings of tiny writing on the Somerton Man code page to confirmation from a comment by Detective Brown who stated that Jestyn's phone number was found on the code page in 'really tiny lettering under the code'.  Other examples were found under the marked-over code letters and were also found in the Boxall Rubaiyat Verse 70 inscription and the title page of that book. Confirmation of the use of concealed microcode was found in a 1943 SOE manual where it was described as the INK H method. As photographic equipment improved, better images were obtained together with a simple method to 'develop' and reveal codes hidden under larger writings. Hidden code was also found in the letters TAMAM SHUD which were torn from the copy of the Rubaiyat found and associated with the Somerton Man. Subsequently, some of the microcode was deciphered using online tools which had identified at least some of the code as being a Hill cipher.

2. The Pavel Fedosimov Candidate. After a lengthy research project, a candidate for the Somerton Man was found. His name was Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov, a Soviet diplomat based in New York. It was found that he, along with many other Soviet Embassy employees was ordered to return to Russia via the Soviet ship, SS POBEDA. It was noted that his wife Vera was not shown on the passenger list. After further investigation and research and discussions with ex-KGB man Alexander Vassiliev, we found in Vassiliev's Notes that Fedosimov was suspected of being about to betray the motherland. A number of serious incidents accompanied the journey of the POBEDA including a disastrous fire and explosion on board which claimed the lives of 40 passengers and 2 \crew. Amongst the dead were a high-ranking Chinese Nationalist defector and his young daughter. It was later found that the POBEDA had journeyed through Alexandria, Egypt just ten days or so before the Fremantle-bound SS DERNA carrying European refugees passed through Cairo, Egypt. At this port, some crew members left and new ones joined, more refugees also boarded at that time. The DERNA journey was also a perilous journey with two fires on board having taken place, she finally arrived in Fremantle in late October 1948 where some refugees left the ship to travel overland to the Eastern States. It was at Fremantle that a number of Crewn\men deserted the ship.

There has only ever been one photograph of Pavel Fedosimov found, it had been taken in 1947. Despite the name Pavel Fedosimov turning up numerous times after 1948, no further photographs have ever been found of this man. It was common practice and possibly still is, to 'rebirth'  agents with similar names.

3. Tibor Kadlor & the DANETTA acrostic code name. The acrostic code name 'DANETTA' was found in the last letter of Tibor Kaldor whose body was found in a first-floor bedroom of the Victoria Hotel in Hindley Street Adelaide  December 14th, 1948 2 weeks after the discovery of the body of the  Somerton Man. Tibor's Police file is to be found on this blog. He was coincidentally a cousin of Wilhelm Sher, the owner of the Red Point Tool Company where it is said that Carl Webb was also employed. Tibor lived a short walk away from the Red Point Tool Company premises. His death was by poisoning.

4. Michael Goreloff. With thanks to Peter Davidson who found this story.  Later investigations discovered that the Acrostic code name DANETTA was also found in the Verse 70 inscription of the Rubaiyat given to Alf Boxall, in the last letter left by Michael Goreloff whose body was found on December 5th, 1948. Michael, a strapping, tall well-built man, was found hanging from a 4-foot-high sapling in Sydney bushland. There were also traces of white powder which turned out to be headache powders found at the scene. Michael was a White Russian activist and despised by the Soviets.

5. George Marshall. In 1945, George Haim Marshall was found dead in Sydney bushland overlooking Taylor's Bay. When found he had an open copy of the Rubaiyat on his chest. His copy was a Methuen 7th edition. He had underlined a particular verse, Quatrain 23, 'Ah make the most of what we yet may spend.... ' The acrostically coded name DANETTA can be found in Verse 23. It is found in just 4 verses of the Rubaiyat. His death was by poisoning.

6. The 7-line code page. the code page has been examined numerous times by this blog and it was eventually found that if the layout of the page was reformatted to a 7-line code then once more the Acrostic coded name DANETTA shows up.

7. The question of the tides. After a lengthy investigation of the tide that occurred on the night of 30th November/1st December 1948 when the Somerton Man's body was found, together with extremely valuable input from Dr. Michael Luick, it was found that the high, Spring, tide at around 4.30 am on the morning of December 1st, 1948 most probably reached the low sea wall where the Somerton Man was found lying. This would have meant that the body should have been wet when found. It wasn't. Witness statements made it clear that the sand around the body was undisturbed and that the body had not been in the water.

8. The Paul Lawson interviews. After being contacted directly by Paul Lawson, we each agreed to discuss the issue of the bust and what Paul had found in the process. There is a great deal of ground that we covered including the issue of microcode, a Kangaroo Island Safe House where he believed the Somerton Man had stayed prior to leaving and catching a ferry to Port Adelaide. Most importantly Paul disclosed that there were major issues with the skull of the body of whom he had made a plaster bust. One such issue was the fact that Paul had to use the Police post autopsy images to model the face of the man because of the appearance of the body he worked on and the fact that the skull had been thoroughly cleaned out as he found when he had skinned the head unpicking some very fine suture work in the process. He undertook this latter task at the request of Cleland. 

In one interview, Paul spoke of the way he had used mortuary soap to slick down the hair on the man's head in order to keep it from being caught in the mold. Such soaps contained and possibly still contain sodium hypochlorite. It's a bleaching agent and disinfectant. This chemical is known to destroy DNA.

Professor Abbott was aware of this fact and had mentioned it publicly.

There are many more things that we uncovered over the years including the Hay Internment Camp banknotes the design of which also contained micro-written letters and numbers. I would like to acknowledge the valuable input and assistance given by Clive Turner of Adelaide, in some of this work.

Once more Many Thanks to all of the followers of this blog over the years, I truly appreciate your loyalty and input.