While that may have been an error of judgment by the Australian captain , Joseph Burnett , the report accepted that other factors -- which may never be known -- influenced his decision . Finding : Sydney 's captain , senior officers likely to have died in first salvo . Sinking of Sydney and loss of crew of more than 300 was Kormoran 's worst naval disaster . Australians vessel , the Kormoran , was made to look like a cargo ship . Both ships went down ; 645 on Kormoran survived ; wrecks found last year .
Finding : Sydney 's captain , senior officers likely to have died in first salvo . Sinking of Sydney and loss of crew of more than 300 was Kormoran 's worst naval disaster . Australians vessel , the Kormoran , was made to look like a cargo ship . Both ships went down ; 645 on Kormoran survived ; wrecks found last year .