GOLD BULLION????? What would she be doing with that? paying bribes and for fuel?
She dumped the trailing aerial because it was too heavy.
Other valuables? ... what woman would cart valuables round with her on a round the world voyage.
Must ask Kay Cottee if she did.
20 foot sea snake??? Oh Yea the Buka Passage is full of monsters like that.
I'll need to see one of them.
Bit of the old "Here be Dragons" the old cartographers drew on maps.
Wikipedia reckons:-
Adults of most species grow to between 120–150 cm (3.9–4.9 ft) in length, with the largest, Hydrophis spiralis, reaching a maximum of 3 m (9.8 ft)
David Billings a LAME, has a theory that Amelia made it back to New Britain in an attempt to get to Rabaul which was the nearest strip she could use, so perhaps she did go down at Buka, but I can't swallow the Indiana Jones spectacularity.