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THREE canoes set off from an island cave for Japanese-held Singapore Harbour on one of the most daring and brazen commando missions in Australian history. But only one of the canoes – known as folboats because they folded down – was there at the designated rendezvous time.

The six brave men of the 14-strong Z Special Unit had achieved their secret World War II mission, sneaking into the harbour in the dead of night in 1943 and attaching mines to seven Japanese ships, blowing at least six sky-high .

British mission commander Captain Ivan Lyon had ordered Mostyn “Moss” Berryman and close friend Able Seaman Fred Marsh, who remained with the boat, to leave no matter what.

But they weren’t about to abandon their mates on the missing canoes.

“Being good old Australians , we decided we’d break the law and go back in two nights later,” Moss later recounted . And their loyalty was rewarded – the other four men had turned up.

Z Force had already been through so much together.

When mates Moss and Fred enlisted as 18-year-olds more than a year earlier, and then volunteered for mission Operation Jaywick, they didn’t know what they were in for. “We were basically Sunday school boys. We had no idea how we were going to learn to kill people,” Moss said.

They trained in Sydney then sailed to Exmouth, in northern Western Australia. The rickety former Japanese fishing boat Krait, renamed after a small poisonous snake, then set out for Singapore.

“We climbed aboard and there was nothing there. She was as bare as a baby’s behind – no fridge, no bunks, no toilet, no nothing,” Moss said.

Most of the crew huddled below, squeezed in between cargo such as fuel barrels, for much of the 4000km journey.

Those up top were wearing sarongs and constantly applying foul-smelling dye to their skin to disguise themselves as Malay fishermen. They were only told halfway to Singapore what the mission was.

Moss took to sitting at the top of the mast with binoculars, looking out for other boats. If a Japanese plane flew over, they would pretend to be fishing.

Once near Singapore, six designated canoeists paddled 50km in pitch black to set up the island-cave base site. But, much to their disappointment, Moss and Fred were ordered to stay with the ship.

“Of course, we put on a bit of a turn – ‘We’ve done all the training, sir, why can’t we be in it?’. And he said, ‘Nope, you two are going to be babysitters and look after Krait’ ,” Moss said.

They stayed on board as the Krait hid among the islands for 14 days before completing the mission.

On the return journey, a Japanese ship pulled up beside them. Moss waited below, ready to open fire with a machine gun.

But the ship pulled away after 15 agonising minutes. Thankfully, they did not have to use the cyanide capsules they had been issued.

The mission was kept secret so similar forays could be launched. But this led to fierce reprisals on the Singaporean people by Japanese soldiers.

Moss was soon asked to go on a similar mission but he declined , later saying he only considered the proposal for two seconds.

On Operation Rimau, all were killed in action or executed by the Japanese, including Lyon and five other Jaywick men. Commando raids of that type were not attempted again.

Moss completed his war service on the destroyer HMAS Vendetta.

After the war, he married nurse Mary and they had four daughters. He returned to stockbroking with S.C. Ward & Co and retired 46 years later.

Author Ronald McKie released a book about the mission in 1961 called The Heroes.

This was made into a miniseries in 1989 featuring Jason Donovan, Cameron Daddo and David Wenham. Longtime Australian actor Don Halbert, who has been in shows such as Home and Away, played Moss.

In 2018, another book, The Mighty Krait, was published. The last survivor of Z Force, Moss spoke of Operation Jaywick achieving a world record.

“Nobody in the history of the world had ever gone that far into enemy territory and come out alive,” he said.

Mary died in 2018. Moss is survived by his four children.

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