You can help by adding to it. The number of victims of the bombing and strafing was estimated be about 240 to 300 passengers. Some other women refused to leave their wounded husbands behind on board the ship and would have lost their lives in the sinking. (E) H.M. MacGregor, RNR – Second Engineer, Temp. Within four days of the surrender Japanese forces that had pressed on into the Netherlands East Indies would be bombing Darwin, and over succeeding days Australians in Timor and Java would also be fighting for their lives. 21 Squadron is ordered to withdraw from Butterworth airfield. He had served with the Blue Funnel line during the Great War and before coming to China in 1922. Unlike the ships described above, the Poelau Bras set out on February 27, 1942 from the port of Cilacap on the western coast of Java. Then, a direct hit went straight into the ship’s funnel and a fire broke out in the engine room. At sunset she made a run for the Banka Strait, heading for Palembang in Sumatra. Specifically my interest relates to the evacuation of civilians and military personnel from Keppel harbour where most of the evacuation ships left from in the last days before Singapore capitulated to the Japanese. In the morning (Wednesday, 18th February) we anchored off Muntok and stayed there all day long. Surviving the retreat from Hong Kong the bantam gunboat’s luck ran out when she single handedly took on warships during the evacuation of Singapore. We were looking especially for water as the source of supply was a good distance away and whenever we saw any small water hole we drank the water – no matter the colour. Gradually the raft drifted toward Bangka Island and to their delight they saw a launch traveling in their direction. In 1939 she had been sold to the Heap Eng Moh SS Co and renamed “Giang Bee”. The Giang Bee was bombed and suffered damage during the day of 13th February, and in the evening, after a long stand-off with a Japanese destroyer, she was shelled and sunk in the Banka Strait. One group of Australian nurses, seated on a raft, had been close to land but were pulled back by the tide and swept out to sea. 22.1.42 Armed Trader LARUT (R, 894t, 1927) - Sunk by aircraft off E Coast of Sumatra. For several years the Western Australia arrivals passenger lists have been digitised and searchable for free on the National Archives of Australia website. Good old Admiralty ham. Some people missed their allotted ship, others jumped aboard the first they came upon, some tragically lost their places altogether. At about 6 p.m. on that day and when about 170 miles south of Singapore Japanese warships suddenly appeared over the horizon and fired a warning shot across the bows (ASD) ; Captain Lancaster (most sensibly in the eyes of this researcher) ordered the White Ensign to be lowered and also that all women and children should show themselves on deck. The Empire Star, 12,656 gross tons, owned by Blue Star Line, Captain S.N. (See Song of Survival for more details of the sinking of the Poelau Bras) . We also bathed in the dirty seawater during which time I had to keep my hand above water level … We passed the day on iron rations, did two hour watch at night and woke up on Tuesday, 17th February still on this bit of shore. Others were wounded or were forced ashore and were subsequently captured.”. The Mary Rose was escorted to Muntok harbour on Bangka Island where her occupants were taken ashore as prisoners of war. apart from one air raid by japanese planes while passing … The Vyner BrookeBuilt in 1928, the SS Vyner Brooke was a British-registered cargo vessel of 1,670 tons. They traveled for several days then one evening two men, returning from seeking coconuts, found that a Chinese gang had killed one of their companions and had seriously wounded most of the others. They decided to cross to the eastern end of the island where they hoped it would be easier to get a boat to take them to the nearest Allied-held island. Singapore under British military administration. Their later story was they found out the Japs were in occupation so returned to the camp. No other ships are listed, including those which are only mentioned in the archives or shipping in 1971 sections.) Their initial joy quickly turned to despair as they found that the launch was filled with burned and wounded men and that its crew had already surrendered to the Japanese in order to obtain medical assistance at the hospital at Muntok. The National Archives of Australia has now digitised the following: Volumes of inward passenger lists - ships - April 1940 to March 1942 and March 1942 to August 1945 covering Melbourne arrivals and also Passenger lists, inwards ships, Sydney [Form M308] [January to December 1942]. January 1942, her stern and after gun were blown right off killing twenty-six with another four missing, presumed dead. (E) T.R. We travelled in the “Empress of Japan”, a large liner requisitioned from The Canadian Pacific Railways 3. The highly maneuverable vessel had been handled in a spirited fashion by Wilkinson and came out of each attack with only minor damage, however their limited supply of ammunition was already running low. Four men were killed on board. After she was captured she was taken to Singapore. Installations. Philip Hogge’s description of his father’s escape from Singapore based on his father’s letters and notes with particular reference to the Mata Hari can be read HERE. At about 7.30pm Captain Lancaster (it appears after an instruction signalled by the Japanese for the ship to be abandoned) ordered all women and children to take to the lifeboats – 50 or so in each boat – and a strong tidal current soon swept the lifeboats astern of the GB. We are very grateful to all the many years that Michael has devoted to uncovering who was on board each of the ships listed below and what happened to those passengers and the ships they were on. Unfortunately the Tapah was spotted by a Japanese naval vessel and escorted into Muntok harbor. She was under Hancock, one of the finest young men I have met and certainly one of the best since war started. Men and women of many races, of all professions, engineers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, sisters, nurses, housewives, sailors, soldiers and airmen, all shipwrecked. Since 2002, Singapore has granted the Indian Navy in principle access to Sembawang Port and Indian patrol boats escorting American Naval ships through the straits of Malacca. Although she usually only carried 12 passengers, in addition to her 47 crew, Vyner Brooke sailed south with 181 passengers embarked, most of them women and children. A bomb hit a lifeboat on the starboard side and another exploded at the height of the engine blowing a hole in the side of the ship. On March 6, 1942 at 8.00 PM the Poelau Bras left Wijnkoops Bay bound for Colombo (Sri Lanka). What has transpired I do not know at time of writing but they must have been say 300 miles north of Batavia. (E) W. McCrorie, RNR – Fourth Engineer. They sat and lay in groups scattered along the sands of North-Western Bangka Island. There had never been enough lifeboats for all those on board, and two of the four lifeboats had been seriously damaged by the day’s bombing. As soon as they saw us, they sent a boat ashore with provisions, water, etc. Many ships and other craft were sunk or disabled and there was considerable loss of life. However their freedom did not last long and at Semangkabaal on Sumatra, they were captured by the Japanese. A total of 12 aircraft were divided into three formations for the attack. Pressed into naval use, the 707-ton flat-bottomed patrol boat HMS LI WO was armed with a makeshift 4-inch gun and a single depth charge launcher. Billowing smoke and flame the ship sank slowly, going down by the bows, as the men swam for their lives. The result was that on 11 February 1942, when an official directive was issued to clear all ships from Singapore Harbour there ensued several days of absolute chaos at the wharves as thousands of women,children and men struggled to pass the sentries and board launches to take them to the some 46 ships left in the harbour. Her passengers and crew were landed the following day. We started to bring women and children aboard and the other ships in our group left. The Mata Hari, like the others, was bombed and strafed by over 80 Japanese war planes but was able to keep going and sustained few casualties. Some of the survivors of the bombed ships were later picked up by one or other of the four ships that made it through. 1945 - Japan defeated. As the Japanese forced their way across the island, large numbers of poorly-equipped pleasure craft also fled Singapore for Sumatra, however a high proportion failed to survive the crossing. After Muntok the fate of the Tapah is not known. Colonel John Dalley of Dalforce and five of his officers, Lt. We were fortunate the first time they unloaded their bombs but when the came back again after 1 p.m. they made a direct hit and caused damage to the engine room. Army personnel would have been unknown to the civilian groups and may have been shunned by them as well. The Sphere, Saturday 07 March 1942 Another ship was left stranded by the outgoing tide and once they could proceed the lack of labour on board meant the passengers had to coal the vessel in order to continue the voyage. This was where it appears that at least half of the women, children and men missing from the “Giang Bee” lost their lives and two survivors recorded in anguish the moment as one of horror – firstly Mr. M. J. V. Miller in his diary (IWM 88/62/1) recalled “…I shall never forget that as long as I live, and the sound of little children calling out for their mothers will be forever in my ears, it was simply heartrending…” and also in the diary of Gordon Reis “…when I got into our lifeboat the screams for help were appalling – mostly women’s voices – obviously from the damaged lifeboats and now struggling in the sea…”. 22.1.42 Armed trader RAUB (R, 1161t, 1926) - Sunk by aircraft off E Coast of Sumatra . One description of what happened to those on the lifeboat after they reached land is from Gordon Reis’s diary. The Palembang and Muntok Internees of WW2. The Mary Rose, a forty-foot motor launch, would fittingly be probably the last ship out of the colony. On 5 February 1942 in Singapore, she rescued 78 survivors from the Empress of Asia from which HMAS Yarra had had embarked 10804 troops. ReferencesStand By To Die, A.V. 42 Collier ZANNIS L CAMBANIS (R, 5317t, 1920) - Mined off Singapore. The fall of Singapore in 1942 clearly illustrated the way Japan was to fight in the Far East a combination of speed and savagery that only ended with the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. These incidentally were removed a few weeks later…” (ASD) . She carried a four inch gun and depth charges. We eventually landed on a mangrove swamp, no habitation, nothing but brackish water and a beach infested with sandflies. Battle of Singapore; Part of the Malayan Campaign of World War II: Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival (right), led by a Japanese officer, walks under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces in Singapore, on 15 February 1942.It was the … Two further life boats successfully launched with about 100 people in them combined. SC. We were waiting on the tide to come in so we could get out of there. I did not even realise that I had been hit in the back by shrapnel in six places. Later to be knighted as Sir Robert Scott and, post war, a Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence he wrote an account of this whole ordeal which can be read HERE and his obituary can be read HERE. The ship was commanded by Lieutenant (Temp) Thomas Wilkinson, a professional seaman for almost 30 years. I have set up this site to support my research related to the events and personal stories concerning the fall of Singapore in February 1942. The ship was armed port and starboard, a Bofors-machine gun in a turret was on the stern, and a 10.2 cm cannon. On March 4 they reached Wijnkoops Bay also on Java. The small heavy cruiser, HMS Exeter arrived in the Naval Base just in time to hear the dreadful news of the loss of the heavy ships of Force Z. A.H. Hogge, RNR – Chief Officer, Temp. (E) F.J. Lumley, RNR – Chief Engineer, Temp. However, an awful fate awaited many of those that landed on Radji beach. We therefore – about 11 of us – left the party in charge of Morton, Miss [Eileen] Higgs and Miss [Leila Winifred] Bridgeman [Bridgman] of the Australian Y.W.C.A. Whether the Japanese assumed the ship was one of theirs or, justifiably, failed to recognize the hostile intent of the small vessel they did not take any defensive measures as the ship closed to 6000 yards. From the approximately 300 people on board there were just over 100 survivors of the sinking. She was named after the Third Rajah of Sarawak – Sir Charles Vyner Brooke. Those who could quickly responded but Wilkinson, who had previously said that if he wasn’t killed in the fight he would go down with his ship, remained on board. The four surviving ships were: The “Mata Hari” sailed from Singapore for Batavia on 12 February 1942 with a ship’s complement of 483: 9 officers, 72 European ratings, 2 Asian crew, 30 Royal Marines and 60 Royal Naval personnel from the Prince of Wales and Repulse, 60 Army personnel, 118 civilian men and 132 women and children. Some of these were obviously water holes of animals as footmarks were around. Not long after 2 pm Vyner Brooke was attacked by several Japanese aircraft. Joan Sinclair who was 17 years at the time recalled what happened to her in an article that can be read here. GETTING AWAY One thing alone seemed to stand out clearly. That evening we built a fire and took watch all night as there were ample evidence of wild pig and the natives said tiger and elephants were near. Colonel H. L. Hill OBE (4/19th Hyderabad, Indian Army), Major K. S. Morgan (Head of Singapore Special Branch), Captain Charles Corry (Malayan Civil Service), Chief Superintendent M. L. Wynne (Assistant Chief of Police, Singapore) Head of Special Branch. At 1645 hours two battle ensigns blossomed forth and its 4-inch gun fired the first shot of the engagement at a troopship whose decks were crowded with soldiers. Superstition was the last thing on anybody's mind. The survivors were landed back in Singapore at about midnight. Because of the continuing machine gun fire from the bombers many on board did do not dare to get into the lifeboats, but rather jumped overboard in panic. Early in February, 1942, Professor G. A. Ransome spoke to me about his plans to try and escape to the Dutch East Indies if the Japanese should capture Singapore. Returning to their raft the gunboat’s crew paddled to the shore and took shelter in the jungle. Thus thousands of men, women, and children were killed before any could reach land. The Japanese were right there. By the afternoon of the 14th the ship, now separated from the other ships with which it had sailed, had survived four attacks by Japanese aircraft. Sub Lieut. Water flooded the engine room resulting in the engine stalling. Amidst the flames, the heat and noise, the sweaty, labouring bodies shovelled coal as fast as humanly possible, striving for their one chance to escape the Japanese. 8 Squadrons engage in battle with the invasion force. Men, women and children in ones and twos, in dozens, in scores and in hundreds were cast upon these tropical islands within and area of say, 400 square miles. The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), Mon 23 Feb 1942, Page 4 - LAST SHIP FROM SINGAPORE You have corrected this article This article has been corrected by You and other Voluntroves This article has been corrected by Voluntroves Ship to Quebec 1841 (two pages) many ships carrying US destined passengers; Ship to Quebec 1842 (two pages) many ships carrying US destined passengers; Ships to New Orleans & Galveston 1847; Cunard Sailings of 1849 - New York, Boston and Halifax ; Arrivals Sept-Oct 1853 with Sickness on Board; Castle Garden 1855 article about the opening as an immigrant depot, New York Daily Times; Ships … In the morning (Monday 16th Feb. 1942) we wandered about the shore which had a dismal outlook on to mangrove all around as we seemed to be at the mouth of a river, having left the open sea to go to this place. Despite evasive action, she was crippled by several bombs and within half an hour rolled over and sunk bow first. There were several fatalities. Michael Pether has recently compiled a description of what happened to some of the smaller ships such as : HMS Fuh Wo ; Yin Ping; RAF Auxiliary ‘Aquarius’ ; SS Hong Tat, and these can be read by following the links. See also Ann Silverman’s description below. At 0220 on Friday the 13th February 1942 LI WO, in company with a number of vessels, sailed from Singapore Harbor for Batavia with a total of 84 men on board. [To learn more about Miss Higgs and what happened to the party left behind click HERE]. Singapore's fall was not the end or full extent of the grim situation faced by Australia in early 1942. There they were found by the Tapah and about half the party decided to go aboard the Tapah. , 12,656 gross tons, owned by Blue Star merchantman miraculously escaped further damage across the bows forced to... Exhausted, some of the Azores, on the ship sank slowly, going by... Going down by the bows forced him to reconsider or 10 p.m. on Thursday 12th February 1942 embarked! 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