After meeting an aborigine, and with only a small amount of fuel left, they took to the air again and flew northwest trying to reach Port Cockburn on Melville Island.  In fact, they flew over Atlantis Bay to Seaplane Bay where they landed and anchored the plane (3).  Over the next few days they tried walking along the coast in a southeast direction (4) as far as Atlantis Bay.

 After being chased by crocodiles while crossing the inlet at Atlantis Bay (5), losing most of their possessions and not finding any fresh water, they  returned to the aircraft at Seaplane Bay by a more inland route (6).

Over the next couple of days, the aviators removed the port float from the seaplane (photos left and right) and fashioned a mast, sails, rudder and paddles.  Then after collecting fresh water from the wings of the plane during a storm, they took to the sea to sail and paddle in a north westerly direction.  Currents and winds carried the aviators up and down the coast (7), far enough offshore to sight the State Ship S.S. Koolinda on one occasion.  Five days later they ran out of water and paddled ashore on a beach (8) approximately 4 miles northwest of Cape Bernier.

 Behind this beach they found a large pool of fresh water.  The following day they headed inland for three days (9), but on discovering the land was barren, they returned to the coast only to find that the rough seas had dashed the float on the rocks and holed the five forward compartments.  Using the saw from the seaplane's toolkit, Bertram cut the undamaged section from the stern of the float (left) and during the next couple of days, the pair paddled south east around Cape Bernier (10) to land at Bertram Cove.

 In the meantime, aboriginals had found a handkerchief and a cigarette case with the initials H.B. at Atlantis Bay.  Two days later on 15 June, "Atlantis" was located at Seaplane Bay by a search aircraft.  Within days, aboriginals had also found the seaplane, and searching further north and west, had found Bertram and Klausmann in a cave near Cape Bernier.

After 40 days of extreme hardship and without food, the aviators had been found (left).  However, Klausmann had become mentally unstable and by the time the rescue party arrived from Wyndham a week later, Klausmann was totally demented and had to be restrained in a straight-jacket.  The pilot boat "Kimberley", under the command of Captain Arthur Crane, and with Constable Marshall, sailed up from Wyndham to take the aviators on board.  On 6 July, seven weeks after Atlantis made her forced landing, the aviators arrived back in Wyndham.

 Klausmann never completely regained his senses, and was repatriated to a mental hospital in Perth. He spent the rest of his days in an asylum in Germany.  Bertram made arrangements in Perth to borrow a float and fly "Atlantis" to Perth in September 1929.  Bertram died in Germany in 1993.

      RECOVERY  OF  THE "ATLANTIS"  FLOAT

On 7 August 1978, a newspaper writer, Dennis Hancock, travelling with a Western Australian Museum expedition found the rear section of the Atlantis' port float lying buried in the sand at Bertram Cove.  However, the float was too pitted and brittle to remove with the small boats available.  In September 1979, the WA. museum staff (left), returned with the naval patrol boat "HMAS Assail" and with naval assistance excavated and retrieved the float.

 The fragile float was transported to Perth in 1982 and carefully stabilised by the Museum's Conservation Laboratory  (right).

 The restored float, reinforced with perspex to maintain the original shape (left), is now on public display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

       ABC DOCUMENTARY OF THE  "ATLANTIS"  STORY

 In 1985, the ABC filmed a documentary based on two books written about the amazing survival; "Flight into Hell" and "Atlantis is Missing".   A replica Junkers JU W-33 seaplane shown in the photo (left), was built for the filming.  The ABC Shop has 6 episodes of the documentary for sale for the bargain price of $385.  The replica of "Atlantis" is now housed in the RAAF Museum at Bullcreek (right) in Perth, and a replica of the "Atlantis" float is on display at the Broome Historical Museum.

      Acknowledgments

 This story was pieced together from a number of sources.  The major sources were the books "Atlantis is Missing" by Barbara Winter and "Flight into Hell" written by Hans Bertram and translated into English by Michael J Hudson and adapted by Carl Harrison-Ford.  Other sources included "Kimberley - Dreaming to Diamonds" by Hugh Edwards and various web sites presenting (sometimes conflicting) information on the forced landing and survival of the German aviators, the rescue attempts and the recovery of the float.

Camden Harbour Settlement | The Koolama Incident | Truscott Airbase | Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith | The Seaplane "Atlantis"

This page was last updated 12 April, 2008  -  download The Seaplane "Atlantis".pdf