Z Special Unit Crew after Operation Jaywick
Date1943
Object number00055860
NamePhotograph
MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 112 × 156 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection purchased with the support of the Australian Government through the National Cultural Heritage Account and the Australian National Maritime Museum Foundation through the generosity of the families of Ted Carse's brothers.
DescriptionGroup portrait of the Z Special Unit crew including Lieutenant Hubert Edward Carse, captain of MV KRAIT.
The men are Back L-R ;AB Mostyn Berryman, AB Frederick Marsh, AB Arthur Jones, AB Andrew Huston / Centre; Cpl Andrew Crilley, LS Kevin Cain, LS James McDowell, LTel Horace Young, AB Walter Falls, Cpl R.G Morris / Front; Lt 'Ted' Carse, Lt Donald Davidson, Maj Ivan Lyon, Maj 'Jock' Campbell, Lt Robert Page.HistoryOperation 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’. 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 until 1 September 1943, when Krait departed for Singapore. After passing through Lombok Strait on 6 September, the vessel proceeded to the Java Sea, at which point the crew and commando team adopted subterfuge—including use of Japanese ensigns, 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 along the coast of 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, 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 1943.
