However, for those of us who developed ' attachment issues' somewhere along the way, we tend to seek out relationships that mirror those early attachment relationships. If this sounds like it might be an issue for you, I do encourage you to learn more about your attachment style and connect with a mental health professional. It's not your partner's responsibility to heal those wounds (at least entirely). Now, it should be noted that insecurity in the pockets between texting, calling, and being together could also be an indicator of insecure attachment-something that's best explored further with your therapist. If you feel largely abandoned or unsure when you're not physically together or communicating digitally, that's a sign that your relationship is not as supportive or healthy as it should be. The families of those lost on the SS Iron Crown.You should feel happy and secure when you're together, when you're apart, when your partner is out drinking without you, and in any other scenario really. On Margaret Pearl, and to Natalie Corbett-Jones, Bill Stewart and all Thanks to Kylie Watson, who conducted the genealogical research Author Emily Jateff is the Australian National Maritime Museum’s Curator of Ocean Science and Technology.

This isn’t what usually happens when you find a shipwreck. And so, after 79 years, Bill and Beryl were finally reunited. Rachel asked me to connect the two, and with their permission, I did. She had received a message from Kylie Watson, grand-daughter of Ronald Francis Pavy, Margaret Pearl’s youngest son from her first marriage, who had heard of the discovery and thought she might be related to Bill Stewart. Then, more than a year later, an email from ABC journalist Rachel Mealey, who had covered the memorial event in 2019, popped up in my inbox. This wasn’t the end of the story, however.Īlthough they had both tried to find each other, Bill Stewart and his sister remained separated. Bill Stewart said that the discovery gave him comfort because he finally knows his dad’s resting place, and that it brings peace to ‘the forgotten men of the war’. Image courtesy Natalie Corbett-Jones.Īt this event, I met Bill Stewart, Frank Stewart’s son, and Natalie Corbett-Jones, Bill’s granddaughter. Brigadier David Westphalen, himself a descendant, had applied for eligible crewmembers to receive the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal, which were accepted by the descendants.Įmily Jateff and Bill Stewart at the SS Iron Crown Memorial Service in September 2019. On Merchant Navy Day (3 September) 2019, more than 50 descendants of Iron Crown’s crew gathered for a memorial event at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Victoria. In April 2019, with the support of CSIRO Marine National Facility RV Investigator, a joint maritime archaeological research project by the Australian National Maritime Museum and Heritage Victoria located the last resting place of SS Iron Crown in 672 metres of water in Bass Strait. Bill and Beryl spent the following decades apart, not knowing where the other was, or if they still lived. Bill was placed with the Allen family in Adelaide when he was 14, moved to Sydney when he was 19, and is still resident in New South Wales. It is my understanding that it was quite the opposite and common practice to discourage any further contact with their past lives.’īeryl was adopted at age seven by Walter and Rose Johnson and lived in South Australia for her whole life. Family member Kylie Watson says, ‘I don’t believe there was legislation in place to support siblings to remain in contact. This seems inhuman now, but at the time, it was believed that adoptees needed a ‘clean break’ from any remaining relatives. After Margaret died in 1935, and Frank joined the merchant navy, both children were sent to St Joseph’s Orphanage at Larg’s Bay, South Australia.įollowing Frank’s death at sea, William and Beryl were adopted separately. Frank and his wife Margaret Pearl had two children, William and Beryl.

This included 64-year-old fireman Frank Stewart, who was born in London, England, in 1878. It sank within minutes, taking 38 of the 43 crew with it. The Australian merchant vessel SS Iron Crown was enroute from Whyalla to Newcastle, New South Wales, when it was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-27 on 4 June 1942.

Happy ending signals