The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru
In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’re going to talk about the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese transport ship carrying more than 1,800 British prisoners of war that was torpedoed by a US submarine off the eastern coast of China during World War II.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of both the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and the UK as well as the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. It is also the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and the heroic rescue that followed.
In Hong Kong on September 25, 1942, a total of 1,816 British POWs were assembled in the square of the Sham Shui Po concentration camp where they had been since Japanese troops occupied the city the previous year. Japanese Second Lieutenant Hideo Wada declared through an interpreter: “You will be taken away from Hong Kong to a beautiful country that will take good care of you and treat you well. I will personally lead this procession, so please take care of your health and remember my face.”
The British POWs knew immediately that they were about to be sent to Japan to work as forced laborers, but what they did not know was that an even more tragic fate was awaiting them.
After a brief medical examination, the POWs were led by a Japanese soldier in groups of 50 before boarding the Lisbon Maru. Built in 1920, the transport ship was about 116 meters long and 18 meters wide, with a displacement of 7,152 tons and a top speed of around 12 knots. Though it was originally a large passenger ship, it was later converted into a freighter and requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1940 at which point it was equipped with military equipment such as small-caliber guns.
The British POWs who boarded the ship were crammed into three narrow cabins where the air was foul and hot. The men sat shoulder-to-shoulder, unable to lie down and rest. Many of them suffered from dysentery and had severe diarrhea.
At 8 AM on September 27, the Lisbon Maru departed from Hong Kong and headed north for the Japanese port of Moji in Kyushu. Besides the British POWs and over 1,600 tons of strategic supplies, also on board were 778 Japanese soldiers and civilians who occupied the front deck. Many of them were returning home to reunite with families and had good cause to be in good spirits, quite a contrast from the frustrated atmosphere of British POWs below deck.
Due to the unsanitary conditions and poor air circulation, dysentery broke out on the second day of the voyage. Although doctors gave antibiotics to the sick, the ship was overcrowded and the epidemic continued to spread: even Captain Kyoda Shigeru became sick.
The Lisbon Maru initially sailed close to the southeast Chinese coast, but at about 8 PM on September 30, a storm approached and it was very difficult and dangerous to continue sailing along the coast. The captain had a high fever and the inexperienced duty officer was unable to take the helm. Seeing that the high risk of running aground was too great, the captain decided to take the ship offshore, sailing out to the sea nearly 9 nautical miles to the easternmost part of the Zhoushan Islands.
But it was this decision that exposed the Lisbon Maru to the American Navy submarine, the USS Grouper. According to international law, ships transporting POWs in wartime are required to fly the Red Cross flag to inform enemy combatants. But Japan’s practice of transporting British POWs was itself a violation of the Geneva Convention, so the Japanese did not fly the flag.
At 4 AM on October 1, the USS Grouper spotted the Lisbon Maru. At about 6 AM, the Lisbon Maru changed course sailing back toward the coast, but the submarine, fearing it was about to lose the opportunity, immediately dived for the attack. At 7:04 AM, the USS Grouper fired three torpedoes at a distance of 3,000 meters from the Lisbon Maru, but all of them missed. The USS Grouper then fired the fourth torpedo. Two minutes and 10 seconds later, a loud explosion was heard on the Lisbon Maru – the ship had been hit in the stern and stopped. The submarine fired another two torpedoes but both missed their target.
Meanwhile, Japanese warships and planes summoned by the Lisbon Maru arrived and used depth charges to drive off the submarine. At 7:05 PM, taking advantage of the poor visibility, the USS Grouper surfaced and sailed away.
After the attack on the Lisbon Maru, Japanese soldiers on board immediately battened down the hatches, guarding every cabin entrance to prevent prisoners from coming out. Dennis Morley, a survivor, recalls in the documentary titled Asia-Pacific War Crimes Trials that: “We were all waiting for breakfast and we all heard a sizzling sound and then a big bang from behind. One of us was in the Navy and he said we were hit by a torpedo. We were wondering how to get out.”
But there was no way out. All the hatches had been battened, which is a nautical term that means the openings had been covered with canvas that was nailed down with wooden strips. It’s a routine practice when ships are sailing in rough seas or stormy weather, but in this case, it became a war crime. Below decks, there was no food, no lights, and the air unbearably rancid. The sickest among them repeatedly asked to go top side to get some air, but all requests were rejected by the Japanese guards.
The Japanese troops on board were later transferred to a Japanese destroyer without any casualties, while Second Lieutenant Hideo Wada remained on board with a few Japanese guards. The POWs in the three compartments tried to communicate with each other by any means they could, even using Morse code by tapping on the pipes. Their situation was gradually worsening and eventually they realized that the Lisbon Maru might sink.
Twenty-four hours passed, and despite the fact that their lives were at stake, the British POWs remained quiet and obedient, without any disturbance. By the morning of October 2, the air inside the compartments had become extremely hot and stuffy, and the ship began to list to one side. At that point, it was obvious that the ship was going to sink. The instinct to survive drove the captives to plan a daring escape. Using a knife that one prisoner had kept hidden, the officer in charge prepared to pry open the wooden strips and cut the tarp over the hatch.
At 8:10 AM, the captain of the ship was given permission to abandon the sinking ship. The Japanese crew boarded the lifeboats, leaving behind a crew of only around 70, 25 of whom were heavily armed soldiers to watch over the prisoners. Soon, the Lisbon Maru began to list considerably and was about to sink.
Before it was too late, four POWs from two of the compartments climbed up to the deck and attempted to negotiate with the captain, but they were intercepted by Hideo Wada. At that moment, Japanese guards opened fire, killing one man and wounding the other three.
As the Lisbon Maru continued to sink, lifeboats were picking up the last Japanese guards and crew on board. The POWs eventually understood that the Japanese were going to abandon the ship and let the POWs die. Fortunately, the Lisbon Maru was in shallow water and had touched the sandbar as it sank, providing most of the POWs some time to escape.
Then the ship abruptly lurched to the rear, and it was apparent that it would not last much longer. As the stern of the ship sank and water poured into compartment 3, there were still hundreds of POWs trapped inside. In a panic, some tried to pump the water out while others climbed out the hatch. When the ladder broke, those trapped below deck knew their fate was sealed. In the memoirs of some of the survivors, it is said that the men in compartment 3 went under while singing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”.
The POWs in compartments 1 and 2 rushed to the deck and seeing this, Hideo Wada ordered the guards to fire at the unarmed men. The unarmed POWs fought the Japanese soldiers, and one British soldier seized Hideo Wada from behind and threw him down. Later, Hideo Wada and several guards were killed, while the prisoners jumped into the sea to escape. Captain Kyoda Shigeru and the rest of the crew also jumped into the sea. After drifting for a short time, the Japanese crew members were soon spotted and saved by a Japanese rescue ship. However, at this point in the story, the Japanese ships were not rescuing any British POWs. Instead, as multiple survivors later testified, the Japanese used machine guns and rifles to wantonly slaughter them in the water, even steering motorboats to run over the struggling swimmers. Some POWs managed to climb up the ropes hanging from the Japanese ships, but even they were beaten back into the sea to drown.
At 9:07 AM, the Lisbon Maru partially sank into the sea with her head up and tail down. Scattered around were countless dead bodies, bits of cloth, and struggling survivors. At this time, the sky was clear, and propelled by a rising tide and an easterly wind, the more fortunate POWs drifted toward waters off the nearby islands of Qingbang, Miaozi Lake, and Dongji.
The islands were about four miles away, but there were two big obstacles even for those strong enough to get there: currents and sharks. One survivor, gunner Charles Jordan, described the tragic scene saying that if the men were not killed by sharks, then the currents would carry them out to sea. He said many of the men tried to stick together, if only to provide comfort.
As dire as their situation was, hope emanated from those tiny island outcroppings in the form of fishing junks and sampans as dozens of Chinese fishermen braved the wind and waves – and bullets – to rescue as many of the desperate men as they possibly could.
Well, that’s the end of part one of our podcast on the Lisbon Maru. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Du Guodong, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.