The Royal Commission could not establish the cause of the loss of the Undola. It established that the ship was in seaworthy condition and stable. The nature of the flotsam washed ashore inclined the Royal Commission to the view that the ship had struck a German mine. The wrecks of the three ships were not found on the sea floor until many years later. When the wreck of the Undola was found, she was sitting upright on the seabed, with her hull largely intact, and it is more likely that the Undola had foundered and not been sunk by a mine. However, the true circumstances of her sinking can never be known. From what remains of her wreck, it is not possible to know if the hatch covers were in place by the time that she sank. It is known that, before she left Bulli—with both hatches open—the weather had changed, due to a Southerly Buster, and there were 44 mph (71 km/h) winds and probably a rising sea, diminishing the chance that her crew could survive the sinking, and none of them did.
