Interrogation of the German survivors to discover the fate of "Sydney" began on 25 November. This was initially hampered, as the sailors had been ordered to obfuscate the enemy by falsely answering all questions. Many did not follow this instruction, but their accounts included second-hand information of varying reliability. Several groups were quickly combined together, and had the opportunity to standardise any falsification: those who made landfall in two separate groups were combined, then placed aboard "Centaur" with the men from Detmers' lifeboat. However, some efforts were made to keep officers separate from the sailors; Detmers and his executive officer were initially held aboard HMAS "Yandra", then transported overland to Fremantle, and while all of the sailors were interned at a camp near Harvey, the officers were imprisoned at Swanbourne Barracks. Not all groups had this opportunity: the survivors rescued by "Aquitania" were delivered to Sydney, and interrogations of these men showed the same commonalities and inconsistencies as the main body of interviews. In addition, some of the Germans were interviewed, formally or informally, prior to their group reuniting with others; the independent accounts provided the same common elements. Based on this, it was concluded that the true story was being given, and that there were no widespread attempts to falsify accounts.