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Naval messages collected by Captain William Cook

Date1940s

Object numberANMS1446

NameArchive series

MediumInk on paper

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Rhod Cook

DescriptionNaval messages collected by William Cook. Loose Naval Message pages from the signal log of HMAS WYATT EARP during its participation in the 1947-48 Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE). The signal logs highlight a variety of topics, including weather conditions and the vessel's movements during the expedition, as well as associated incidents and observations. This series contains 112 individual records.HistoryHMAS Wyatt Earp was originally built as the Norwegian fishing vessel Fanefjord in 1919. In 1933 it was purchased by American Antarctic explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and named Wyatt Earp after the famed American lawman of Dodge City, Kansas and Tombstone, Arizona. The vessel was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy in 1939, renamed HMAS Wongala (an Indigenous Australian word meaning 'Boomerang'), and operated as an examination vessel and guardship in South Australian waters during the Second World War. In 1947 the vessel was renamed HMAS Wyatt Earp prior to its involvement in the Australian National Antarctic Resarch Expedition. It was decommissioned and sold in 1951, ultimately renamed M/V Natone, and was wrecked on Queensland's Rainbow Beach in January 1959.SignificanceThe envelope was mailed by Captain William Cook to his wife during his involvement in the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE). Cook was a Royal Australian Navy officer who served as First Lieutenant aboard HMAS Wyatt Earp, the first Australian naval vessel to participate in an Antarctic research expedition (the ANARE) in the immediate post-war period.