70th Anniversary of the Lisbon Maru Incident
Zhoushan Remembrance Ceremony
The Chinese authorites in Zhoushan had originally planned to send two of the surviving fishermen who had helped in the 1942 rescue to the UK to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the incident. This idea was later changed, and instead a remembrance ceremony was held in Zhoushan on 2 October 2012 to mark the occasion. The Lisbon Maru Association of Hong Kong sent a poppy wreath for the occasion, which is now displayed in the Zhejiang Ocean University.
Tony Banham, author of the authoritative book "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru", wrote an address for the occasion, which was read out in both Chinese and English.
Seventy years ago today, the Lisbon Maru - carrying over 1,800 British Prisoners of War from the battle of Hong Kong - sank in the Zhoushan Archipelago. Struck by a single American torpedo, the Japanese ship began to founder with the prisoners battened down in dark unhealthy holds. They managed to break free, amd as they broke into the sunlight and jumped into the sea they saw these islands. Those who could started swimming towards them. Those who couldn't - some 800 of them - drowned. Some 200 men made it to shore, and were greeted by local fishermen who cared for them and launched their boats to rescue a further 200 men from under the noses of the Japanese vessels. Fed and housed by the local people overnight, these 400 men - and a further 600 survivors - were eventually recaptured and taken to Japan. There, within two months, a further 200 men died of disease, exhaustion and exposure.
Today the few survivors are down to single digits, but we remember them, their comrades, and their rescuers, seventy years on.
The local press provided some coverage of the event, bringing the memory of the incident to a wider audience and, as well as praising the courageous fishermen for their selfless actions, also expressed great sympathy for the victims, especially for those who had not survived. A copy of the Chinese press articles and an English translation, as well as video coverage of the event, can be found at the links below.
Chinese Press coverage in Chinese
