elimination had established that no more than 50 members of the crew could have been the man on the Carley float. In 2019, it was reported – but not confirmed officially – by news media that Norman Douglas Foster was the Sydney crew member most likely to have been buried on Christmas Island. Foster, who was 28 years old at the time of his ship's last action, was an Engine Room Artificer, 4th Class (a rank equivalent to Petty Officer). Discovery of the body During the late afternoon of 6 February 1942, lookouts on Christmas Island spotted an object out at sea. Initially thought to be a Japanese submarine, closer inspection from a pilot boat found it was a Carley float with a dead person inside and the float was towed ashore. With the island at risk of invasion, the deceased was quickly examined by the harbour master, the medical officer and the man in charge of the radio station, then the body was buried in an unmarked grave near Flying Fish Cove.Cole, The Loss of HMAS Sydney II, vol. 2, pp. 324–6 The examiners wrote reports but these were destroyed when Japanese forces occupied Christmas Island and later recreated from memory.Frame, HMAS Sydney, p. 203 An inquest was not convened until mid-February and had not concluded when evacuation began on 17 February, Japanese forces occupying the island on 23 March. It is unknown if the doctor on Christmas Island had performed an autopsy; if so it was never found. Initial investigations and research A preliminary examination in 1942 by the island's medical officer, Dr J. Scott Clark, found that the deceased was reported to have been a young adult male caucasoid who was tall by the standards of his time. The remains were partly decomposed, the eyes, nose and all of the flesh from the right arm were missing and believed to have been consumed by fish or birds. According to the Harbour Master, Captain J. R. Smith, the body was clothed in a blue boilersuit which had been bleached white by exposure, with four plain press studs from neck to waist. However, J.C. Baker, who was in charge of the radio station at Christmas Island, stated that the boilersuit was white. The body was not carrying dog tags or personal effects. A shoe was found beside the body, which Clark did not believe belonged to the dead man.