大象传媒

At about 6 p.m. we steamed out of the harbour to the accompaniment of much shelling and bombing all along the water front but the ship was not hit though we were straddled by a stick of bombs in the outer harbour. Everyone said what a wonderful captain we had but actually of course it was merely a case of luck in not being hit. That night we steamed as fast as we could 鈥� about 9 knots 鈥� and were making for a small Dutch island about 100 miles away where the captain had orders to lie up and hide until the following night when we would make a dash for Batavia. As we looked back the sky was lit up by the burning city like a huge sunset and though we were glad to be out of it I think most people felt it was rather like deserting a sinking ship on which so many people still remained.
We duly arrived off our small island at dawn and anchored close inshore in deep water. Personally I would have taken the ship a good deal further in but we actually anchored about 400 yards off. We spent the morning sending parties ashore in the 4 life boats to collect branches of trees which were strewn about the upper decks to act as camouflage. I think the idea was to try and make our selves look like a tropical island! This work was completed by about noon and the life boats were all ashore getting the last loads of foliage when the alarm bells rang and the sound of aircraft could be heard. It was clear that we had been spotted. Our little ship of 1500 tons had 2 masts and an exceptionally tall funnel and the attempts at camouflage would not have deceived a child! During the morning I had formed a committee of the passengers who had gone to the Captain and explained that it was our opinion that if we were to anchor here all day it would be wise to put everyone (especially the women and children) ashore. As it was with about 500 people on board there was hardly room to move. The Captain said it was not necessary and remained adamant and took the usual line that his brains were better than all ours put together. So there we were packed in like sardines, the ship anchored and no guns of any kind. Thinking my last hour had definitely come this time I crept into a corner inside the engine room door, stuck my fingers in my ears and tried to wrap my legs round my head! The next instant the whole place was in an uproar which sounded like the end of the world. Apparently 9 Jap. bombers dropped all their bombs at once from a height of about 2000ft. The ship was hit all over the place and set on fire from end to end 鈥� the bridge and wireless cabin appeared to be completely demolished. The pandemonium that reigned can better be imagined than described. I looked over the side to see whether the ship was sinking, but could not decide. I joined a crowd amidships throwing tables and chairs and anything that would float overboard. After about 10 minutes the heat became intense and we could neither go forward nor aft. Dozens of people were in the water and cries of agony and for help filled the air. I decided it was time to go overboard and so taking off my pistol and boots I took a header into the sea. Apparently there were only enough life boats for the women and children and so there must have been many men including soldiers and civilians who could not swim and therefore perished. As I struck out for the island about 录 mile away I could see the ship down by the bows burning from end to end. I also noticed the 4 life boats which had put off from the shore and were rowing about picking up as many as they could. About half way to the shore I realised that there was a strong current carrying me across the island and that it would be useless to try and fight it. Many persons apparently tried to swim against it and became exhausted and were carried out to sea. So I set a course partly with the stream which I judged would land me about 陆 a mile farther down the coast. This resulted also in my getting away from the site of the sinking ship much more quickly and here again I was fortunate because a second wave of bombers came over and plastered the ship, lifeboats and people struggling in the water all around. The depth charge effect must have killed scores of people and at least one life boat got a direct hit and was not seen again. Finally I managed to reach the rocks where I found a couple of women in life belts floating exhausted (one wounded in the thigh) at the edge of the rocks. Managed to get them both up on to the rocks where we all lay exhausted while a third wave of bombers roared down and bombed all along the waters鈥� edge but slightly beyond our position and nearer to the ship. The ship by this time had gone down strewing fuel oil all over the sea. This wretched oil came back on us later with every change of the tide but mercifully did not take fire. We lay at the waters鈥� edge most of the afternoon too dazed and depressed to do anything while Jap reconnaissance roared overhead periodically. The island proved to be uninhabited and entirely covered with thick jungle, but fortunately we found a disused native well which had good water though very limited in quantity. This fact undoubtedly saved all our lives since the majority of survivors were marooned on the island for a week. The only food was biscuits and a few tins of bully beef out of the 3 life boats, but as there were about 400 survivors we were rationed to 陆 a biscuit morning and evening and 陆 a cigarette tin of water twice a day. By day we all hid in the jungle and by night came down to the beaches and slept on the sand. I will not easily forget those terrible nights with the cries of the wounded and dying and the burial parties every morning. Added to all this was the ghastly thought that unless somebody found out our plight we should simply have to stay there until we died of starvation. The men gave up their shirts for bandages and we were left in shorts, barefoot and naked to waist. Fortunately we were in the tropics.
By the end of the third day spirits were getting very low and so was the food supply. Volunteers were called for men who could sail a boat and use a compass and could speak the local language and sail away in a life boat and look for help. I volunteered and off we went 鈥� a party of 8. We had a compass but no maps or charts and a very hazy idea of where we were. We sailed away at dusk on the 16th to avoid observation by enemy aircraft. The white sails and paint of the life boat were a constant source of worry! The next morning we drew in to an island and found a native village. They promised at once to send sampans loaded bananas and coconuts which they delivered that night to the people left on the island. Through them the word was passed all through the archipelago and within a few days they had rescued everyone and, I believe, sent them on to the mainland of Sumatra. I do not know what adventures they had subsequently. We, however, continued to sail (an row) westwards. Generally there was no wind and the tropical sun was pitiless. I missed my dark glasses- the glare was very trying on the eyes not to mention the absence of a shirt or hat. During the third night we ran into a 鈥淪umatra鈥� and were driven ashore on some headland. We abandoned the life boat but soon found some friendly natives who took us in their fishing boats to the island of Dabo, which is the largest island in the Sin(u)kap group and where there is, or was, a Dutch settlement and a hospital. We were 4 days on this island but in the state of the greatest apprehension as we expected the Japs to land and seize this island at any moment. Finally we could bear it no longer and making up a party of 5 we seized a native fishing boat and sailed away for Sumatra. We struck the coast in the mouth of the Indragiri river the following evening and decided to work our way up river into the hinterland of Sumatra 鈥� one of the wildest unknown regions of the world. We knew it was useless to try going south east to Java as we heard from natives that the Japs were already there and had also taken Palembang in southern Sumatra. Our only hope was, therefore, to strike right across Sumatra and try to race the Japs for Padang on the central west coast. We reached Padang on or about the 4th March having progressed by paddling up rivers, walking and getting lifts in local buses, which ran between some of the small Dutch towns. We lived largely on rice, bananas, coconuts and native cane sugar. I think I must have lost about 1陆 stone but kept remarkably fit throughout. The thought of the oncoming Japs spurred us on where we would otherwise have often stayed and rested! Running about barefoot as a boy at Wei Hai taught me that as soon as one鈥檚 feet get toughened there is little need for boots 鈥� in fact when I finally reached Colombo I found shoes to be most uncomfortable. There were scores of people at Padang who had escaped from Singapore and found their way across Sumatra but we managed to squeeze on board. For the next 7 days in getting to Columbo I slept on a coil of rope 鈥� all better positions having been bagged. We learned later that the ship in front of us and one behind us had both been torpedoed 鈥� in one case with the loss of all on board including the Director of Public Works and his wife. The Deputy Director was killed on our ship during the bombing as also were 4 other P.W.D. Engineers. No one will ever know what happened to some of the people we had with us 鈥� in fact it is not known who or how many there were on the ship. After 20 days in Columbo where I was able to get dressings for two slight bomb splinter wounds on the right leg and one on the right hand I felt ready to move on and boarded a ship for Freemantle. We took 16 days and reached that Australian port on 31st March. The transcontinental rail trip to Melbourne with nowhere to sleep and no food provided and which lasted 4 days, was one of the most tiresome and uncomfortable I have ever made. However, here we all are again and none the worse for all our adventures, though it was pretty grim while it lasted and I have now experienced what it is like to be really frightened . To hear the swish of falling bombs while you are floundering helplessly in the sea can be recommended as being the last word in horror!
Do I hope you continue to keep so fit and glad to hear you are busy with those lectures. Regards to all relations when you see them and love to you and mother from your affection(nate) son, Leonard !

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