SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: In the absence of a service dossier, this story draws on contemporary newspaper reports; the Australian War Memorial’s file related to the loss of AE1 AWM 50, 18/2; and a short biography on Gordon published in the Sydney City Morning Herald, 1 December 1914. For an introduction to the mystery surrounding the AE1 see Benjamin Evans, ‘The loss of the AE1’, Wartime, vol. 16, 2001, pp. 10–13.

Please Note: the wreck of the AE1 was discovered in 2017, over a century after the ship had been lost.