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Ghost Below: The Lost Submarine of Sydney Harbour
Ghost The Lost Submarine of Sydney Harbour
On 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines slipped into Sydney Harbour and launched one of the most dramatic attacks ever carried out on Australian soil. Two were destroyed inside the harbour. The third—M24—vanished.
For more than sixty years, its fate remained one of Australia’s most enduring wartime mysteries.
Then, in 2006, divers investigating a small anomaly on the seabed off Sydney’s coast made a discovery that reopened the story. The wreck they located was confirmed as the missing M24—ending decades of speculation and revealing new evidence about the raid and its aftermath.
Drawing on Japanese naval records, Allied reports, declassified intelligence files, and modern archaeological investigation, Steven Carruthers reconstructs both the wartime attack and the long search that followed. He examines how the mystery of M24 took hold in the public imagination—fuelled by rumours, false leads, and unanswered questions—before underwater archaeology finally brought resolution.
The submarine lay on the seabed with its torpedo tubes empty, bearing scars of entanglement and corrosion—a silent tomb for its crew and a time capsule of a forgotten front in the Pacific War.
Highlights
• A detailed reconstruction of the Japanese midget submarine operation and its impact on wartime Sydney
• The lives of the Japanese crew and the Australian sailors caught in the attack
• The six-decade search for M24 and the persistence of maritime folklore
• The role of No Frills Divers and the archaeological study that confirmed the wreck
Part wartime history, part maritime detective story, part diving investigation, Ghost Below reveals how a single night of conflict left a legacy that endured beneath the waves for generations.
Engrossing and authoritative, this is the definitive account of Sydney’s lost submarine and the long effort to bring it back into history.
On 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines slipped into Sydney Harbour and launched one of the most dramatic attacks ever carried out on Australian soil. Two were destroyed inside the harbour. The third—M24—vanished.
For more than sixty years, its fate remained one of Australia’s most enduring wartime mysteries.
Then, in 2006, divers investigating a small anomaly on the seabed off Sydney’s coast made a discovery that reopened the story. The wreck they located was confirmed as the missing M24—ending decades of speculation and revealing new evidence about the raid and its aftermath.
Drawing on Japanese naval records, Allied reports, declassified intelligence files, and modern archaeological investigation, Steven Carruthers reconstructs both the wartime attack and the long search that followed. He examines how the mystery of M24 took hold in the public imagination—fuelled by rumours, false leads, and unanswered questions—before underwater archaeology finally brought resolution.
The submarine lay on the seabed with its torpedo tubes empty, bearing scars of entanglement and corrosion—a silent tomb for its crew and a time capsule of a forgotten front in the Pacific War.
Highlights
• A detailed reconstruction of the Japanese midget submarine operation and its impact on wartime Sydney
• The lives of the Japanese crew and the Australian sailors caught in the attack
• The six-decade search for M24 and the persistence of maritime folklore
• The role of No Frills Divers and the archaeological study that confirmed the wreck
Part wartime history, part maritime detective story, part diving investigation, Ghost Below reveals how a single night of conflict left a legacy that endured beneath the waves for generations.
Engrossing and authoritative, this is the definitive account of Sydney’s lost submarine and the long effort to bring it back into history.
679 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2025
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