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Sarong belonging to Mostyn Moss Berryman
Sarong belonging to Mostyn Moss Berryman

Sarong belonging to Mostyn Moss Berryman

Datebefore 1943
Object number00056303
NameSarong
MediumCotton
DimensionsOverall: 980 × 880 mm
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Rosemary Hayward
DescriptionCotton cloth sarong with patterned design used by Able Seaman Mostyn ‘Moss’ Berryman as part of his Malay fisherman disguise while serving aboard MV KRAIT during Operation Jaywick (September-October 1943).HistoryOn the night of 26 September 1943, six members of Australia’s Z Special Unit carried out a daring clandestine raid against Imperial Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. To avoid detection, the men had been transported deep into enemy territory aboard a Japanese-built fishing vessel, assumed the appearance of local fishermen, and launched their attack using folding kayaks and limpet mines. The mission, Operation Jaywick, was a complete success, resulting in the damage or destruction of seven Japanese ships and no Allied losses. However, the raid had dire consequences for Singapore’s civilian population, which was subjected to mass arrests, mistreatment, and summary executions. Most of the commandos that participated in Operation Jaywick were killed in a follow-up raid on Singapore Harbour called Operation Rimau. The fishing vessel that served as Operation Jaywick’s ‘mothership’, MV KRAIT, also survived the war, was brought back to Australia in 1964, and has been on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum since 1987. Operation Jaywick was the brainchild of W.R. ‘Bill’ Reynolds and Major Ivan Lyon, both of whom fled Singapore ahead of the Japanese advance in February 1942. Reynolds was a civilian who secured possession of a Japanese fishing boat, KOFUKU MARU, and used it to transport approximately 1,100 Allied evacuees to Sumatra following the Fall of Singapore. Following the surrender of the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) in March 1942, he escaped with the vessel to Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). It was there that he met Lyon, a British Army officer affiliated with the Allied Intelligence Bureau. The two men devised a plan to attack Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour with a team of specially-trained commandos disguised as the crew of an Asian fishing vessel. Operatives would use collapsible kayaks called ‘folboats’ to approach Japanese ships under cover of darkness and attach time-delayed limpet mines to their hulls. Members of Operation Jaywick were assigned to Z Special Unit (also known as ‘Z Force’), a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit formed by British Special Operations Executive officers who escaped Singapore. Although predominantly Australian, Z Special Unit also included British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese, and Indonesian nationals among its ranks. Training for the raid took place at Refuge Bay, a remote and inaccessible area located along the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. KOFUKU MARU's background as a fishing vessel made it an ideal candidate for the covert role of Operation Jaywick’s ‘mother ship’. Its teak hull was built in Japan in 1935 and clad in protective copper-alloy sheathing to the waterline. The vessel measured 70 feet, 8 inches (21.5 metres) in overall length, and its maximum breadth and depth were 12 feet (3.7 metres) and 7 feet, 6 inches (2.3 metres), respectively. By the late 1930s, KOFUKU MARU was owned by a Singaporean fishing company. It was based in Singapore until the Japanese entry into the Second World War, at which point it was seized by British authorities and confined to port. Following its selection for Operation Jaywick, the vessel was renamed KRAIT after a venomous snake indigenous to Southern and Southeast Asia. Originally slated for the first half of 1943, Operation Jaywick was postponed due to persistent engine problems that plagued Krait, as well as the vessel’s general unseaworthiness. These issues were resolved by the time KRAIT departed for Singapore on 1 September 1943, although on-the-spot repairs had to be made to a broken propeller extension shaft during the voyage. After passing through Lombok Strait on 6 September, KRAIT proceeded to the Java Sea, at which point the crew and commando team adopted subterfuge—including use of a fake Japanese ensign, wearing sarongs, and covering their bodies in dark makeup to give the appearance of local fishermen—to avoid detection. After crossing the Java Sea, KRAIT coasted just off Borneo before setting a course for the Lingga Archipelago, a group of islands south of Singapore. On 18 September, six commandos disembarked in their two-man folboats at the island of Pulau Panjang. KRAIT then departed for Borneo with orders to rendezvous with the operatives on the night of 1-2 October. The commandos prepared for the attack, and then island-hopped northwards through the archipelago to Pulau Dongas, where they arrived on the evening of 22 September. Two days later, Japanese shipping totalling approximately 65,000 tons gathered near the entrance to Singapore Harbour. On the night of 26 September, three folboats silently approached the anchorage and diverged to attack selected targets. Despite two close calls—one folboat team thought they had been spotted by a Japanese crewman, while the other was nearly run down by a tug—each team successfully attached limpet mines to their targets and fled the anchorage undetected. Early the next morning, seven explosions shattered the darkness and resulted in an equal number of Japanese ships—totalling between 37,000 and 39,000 tons—either sunk or severely damaged. KRAIT made its way back to the rendezvous point on 2 October and picked up all three folboats and their crews. It then quietly retreated across the Java Sea, through Lombok Strait, and back to Exmouth, where it arrived on 19 October. Able Seaman Mostyn Berryman was born in Kent Town (Adelaide), South Australia on 9 November 1923. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve on 6 March 1942. He reported for duty as an Ordinary Seaman at HMAS CERBERUS on 7 April 1942. One year later, he was promoted to Able Seaman and assigned to HMAS MORETON, from where he was ‘appropriated’ to serve with the Services Reconnaissance Department, the official cover name given to Z Special Unit. Berryman served as a crewman aboard KRAIT and a reserve canoeist during Operation Jaywick but did not take part in the folboat assault on Singapore Harbour. In the wake of the raid’s success, Ivan Lyon asked Berryman whether he wanted to return to Singapore as part of a larger, repeat operation. Berryman carefully considered the proposal before declining. The mission, Operation Rimau, resulted in all operatives either being killed in action or executed by the Japanese. Berryman was mentioned in despatches in April 1944 ‘for gallantry, skill and devotion to duty in a hazardous enterprise’ and demobilised from service on 21 February 1946 while serving aboard HMAS VENDETTA (I). After the war, Berryman resumed his job as a clerk with the stockbrokers S.C. Ward & Co. and remained there until retiring 46 years later. He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Cant, who predeceased him in 2018. He was aboard KRAIT when the vessel entered Sydney Harbour in 1964 to become a museum ship and advised the museum’s former Curator of Historic Vessels, David Payne, on the vessel’s 2017 refit to its 1943 configuration. At the time of his death in August 2020, Berryman was the last surviving member of the Operation Jaywick team. SignificanceThe sarong was worn by AB Moss Berryman during Operation Jaywick. While Jaywick operatives are known to have worn sarongs as part of their Malay fisherman disguise, no other examples are known to have survived the war, nor are any currently curated in Australian or overseas collecting institutions. This, in conjunction with its excellent condition, makes Berryman’s sarong exceptionally rare, historically valuable, and significant.