 Detzner made attempts to explain away specific ambiguities , contradictions , and errors . In 1915 , he said , he lost his surveying instruments while eluding an Australian patrol , which explained why many of his assertions were vague and inconclusive , and his calculations inaccurate . This was true , the Australians did find a box of Detzner 's equipment in the location where the missionary Johann Flierl 's oldest son , Wilhelm , had kept ( or stored ) his small canoe . Although Wilhelm denied helping Detzner and his men , the Australians arrested him . The event coincided with one of Detzner 's narrow escapes from Australian patrols in 1915 and was inadvertently corroborated in 1919 by the angry letter to The Argus 's editor . Some of Detzner 's assertions could be sustained through observable physical evidence : he had reportedly wasted to a mere 40 kilograms ( 88 lb ) while roaming in the bush , which should not have happened , some supporters claimed , if he had indeed been under the protection of Keyser and Thiele . On the other hand , this weight loss could also have been due to his debilitating illness in 1917 . 
