Australia Day
Submariners rarely have to deal with a man overboard, but one sailor's action during the nightmare scenario was recognised as part of the 2025 Australia Day Honours.
HMAS Farncomb was transiting submerged to Hawaii for Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022 when it started to experience a noise interfering with the sonar.
They surfaced "pretty much smack bang in the middle of Australia and Hawaii" so Petty Officer Mark, an acoustic warfare analyst, and his team could investigate the noise.
After checking the hull's forward section for anything unexpected, Petty Officer Mark was inspecting aft of the fin when he felt the boat lift beneath his feet.
He looked starboard and noticed a large wave barrelling towards the sub.
Knowing he wouldn't make it to safety in time, he shouted a warning to his team on the forward hull, took shelter on the port side of the fin, and braced as the wave washed over the bow.
When he looked forward he saw one of his sonar analysts thrown backwards and washed overboard, weighed down by a bag of tools.
Unable to tell if his shipmate's life jacket had inflated or if he was injured, Petty Officer Mark leapt into the ocean after him.
He swam to his shipmate to ensure he wasn't hurt and steered him away from the submarine's propeller.
They waited about 30 minutes for Farncomb to manoeuvre and pick them up.
During the wait, Petty Officer Mark remembered why he hadn't participated in a swim exercise during 17 years in Navy - a fear of sharks.
"It didn't even cross my mind. I remember the water coming towards me when I dived in and thinking 'all safety is lost', because I knew we would be alone and isolated," Petty Officer Mark said.
"It wasn't until I started swimming with Adrian in between my legs and items from the tool bag started popping up around me that it was like, oh, there could be some hungry fish here."
Petty Officer Mark reached in his pocket to check his knife was still there.
"It was tiny and not going to do anything, but [the shark] was going to earn [the kill]," he said.
After being hauled back on board and making sure his mate was in good spirits, Petty Officer Mark made his way down the conning tower to the "days since last incident" count in the seniors' mess.
"I walked in, still fully dressed and soaked from head to toe, and wiped the number off the board and put a big fat 0," he said.
"At the time my adrenaline was pumping but I just wanted to show people that, yeah, everyone's okay and everything is fine."
'When the letter came through with the gold crown of the Governor-General letterhead I thought I was in trouble for something.'
Petty Officer Mark was recognised during the 2025 Australia Day Honours for his outstanding leadership and courage, awarded a Conspicuous Service Medal for his actions.
"It was a bit of a shock, actually. When the letter came through with the gold crown of the Governor-General letterhead I thought I was in trouble for something," he said.
"I haven't known too many sailors that have been recognised like this. So it's a pleasant surprise but it hasn't really set in yet."
Born and bred in Hobart, Petty Officer Mark joined the Navy as a boatswain's mate after seeing a 60 Minutes story on boarding operations in the Gulf, and after five years he wanted more of a challenge.
"As a submariner, the coolest thing you can do is track other submarines, so that's what led me down the sonar system path," he said.
"Before [Navy] I used to work at Woolworths, so it's a long way from pushing trolleys in the carpark."
Looking back, Petty Officer Mark doesn't think he would have done anything differently during the daring dive, no matter who was swept overboard.
"It wouldn't matter what rank or role I was in or what person it was that went, I think the reaction's the same," he said.
"I'm still scared of sharks, though, and I probably still won't participate in any swim exercises."
