JDK 1.3 throws a StreamCorruptedException when attempting to deserialize an
object whose class defines a custom writeObject() method but is not resolvable
in the receiving VM.

This situation currently arises when serializing Exceptions containing
instances of java.lang.StackTraceElement from a merlin to a 1.3 VM, since the
StackTraceElement class defines writeObject() and is not present in 1.3.
To reproduce the failure, run the attached program twice, once to write out a
serialized exception and once to read it back in:

    merlin/java Trace write ser.out
    jdk1.3/java Trace read ser.out