On the afternoon of 6 February 1942, lookouts on Christmas Island spotted an object out at sea, which on closer inspection turned out to be a carley float carrying the body of a Caucasian man wearing a blue boilersuit that had been sun-bleached white. The flesh of his right arm had been eaten away by fish, and his eyes and nose consumed by birds. Shrapnel was embedded in the float's outer covering, while the proliferation of marine growth indicated that it had been adrift for some time. As the island was under threat of Japanese invasion, after a brief examination, the body was buried in an unmarked grave near Flying Fish Cove. Evacuation began on 17 February with Japanese forces occupying the island on 23 March.