This is undoubtedly going to reignite furious debate.
Ariel searches were undertaken but nothing was found. The fact that not a single lifeboat seemed to have got off, while most of the Germans were rescued over four days and even two boatloads made it to shore on their own, points to a massive magazine cookoff that killed the entire crew in one fell swoop.
> ... points to a massive magazine cookoff that killed
> the entire crew in one fell swoop.
Could be; only 3 survived a similar event on Hood.
But another tidbit from the linked report:
“Not long afterwards, a man diving in the crystal-clear
waters off the Gascoyne coast discovered a clump of
unusual coral. He chipped away and underneath was a
German handgun, probably tossed overboard by
survivors of the Kormoran as they came to shore.”
Now why would anyone toss the weapon?
Perhaps because they were expecting immediate capture
by overwhelming force?
Or because the weapon had been recently fired, and
that fact would have been obvious.
Wiki reports that one body from Sydney was recovered,
with what may have been a 9mm head wound.
_________
As I remarked in the earlier thread,
9mm is not a round commonly used in
long-range naval engagements.