Beneath the still waters of Papua New Guinea lies Australia's oldest wartime mystery.

Three aging patriots, a stubborn naval commander, a former army commando and a legendary deep sea salvage diver all determined to find Australia's first submarine, the AE1. Her World War One mission was to attack New Guinea, then held by the Germans. But while returning from patrol on September 14th, 1914, the AE1 vanished. It became our first naval loss, and all 35 crewmen perished.

Sunday Night sat down with the investigators who led the search for AE1 in 2009, which was later discovered in 2017 after 103 years lost at sea.

This story originally aired on May 31st 2009, on Seven News Australia Sunday Night.

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