''Lisbon Maru'' () was a Japanese

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

built at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

in 1920 for a Japanese

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. During

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, the ship was turned into an armed

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

. On her final voyage, ''Lisbon Maru'' was being used to transport

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

between

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and Japan when it was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...

ed on 1 October 1942, sinking with a loss of over 800

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lives.

Construction and commercial service

''Lisbon Maru'' was completed on 8 July 1920 at the Yokohama Dock Company shipyard in Yokohama, Japan as Yard No. 70, entering service for a major Japanese shipping line, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, and registered at the port of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. The ship was long, with a beam of and a depth of . It measured and 4,308 NRT. Twin propellers were powered by a pair of

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

s with a combined rating of 632 nhp, giving a service speed of . The engines and four

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central ...

s were made by the shipbuilder.

Sinking

On her final voyage, the ''Lisbon Maru'' was carrying 700

Japanese Army The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

personnel and 1,816 British prisoners of war captured after the

Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...

in December 1941. The POWs were held in "appalling conditions ...

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at the bottom of the hold ... showered by the diarrhea of sick soldiers above". On 1 October 1942, the ship was torpedoed by the submarine while travelling through the South China Sea. The Japanese troops were evacuated from the ship but the POWs were not; instead the hatches were battened down above them and they were left on the listing ship. After 24 hours, as it became apparent that the ship was sinking, the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing " It's a Long Way to Tipperary". Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors, the Japanese ships also rescued survivors. The British government insisted that over 800 of these men died either directly as a result of the sinking, or from being shot or otherwise killed by the Japanese while swimming away from the wreck. The ship was not marked to alert Allied forces to the nature of its passengers. The Japanese government insisted that British prisoners were in fact not deliberately killed by Japanese soldiers and criticised the British statement.

Aftermath

A ''Lisbon Maru'' memorial was placed in the chapel of Stanley Fort, Hong Kong. It was moved to the chapel of

St. Stephen's College, Hong Kong St Stephen's College () is a Christian Direct Subsidy Scheme co-educational secondary school in Stanley, Hong Kong. With an area of about 150,000 m2 (15 hectares), the college is the largest secondary school in Hong Kong, and is one of the very ...

with Hong Kong's change in sovereignty. A reunion of ''Lisbon Maru'' survivors was held on board on 2 October 2007 to mark the 65th anniversary of their escape. Six former prisoners attended, alongside many families of the escapees.

In popular culture

* The album

Tarot Sport ''Tarot Sport'' is the second studio album by Fuck Buttons, produced by Andrew Weatherall. It was released on 14 October 2009 in the UK and on 20 October in the US. It peaked at number 79 on the UK Albums Chart. Critical reception ''Tarot Spor ...

by the British

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band

Fuck Buttons Fuck Buttons was an electronic music duo formed in Bristol in 2004 by Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power. Biography Origins (2004–2008) Hung and Power grew up in Worcester.

features a track named The Lisbon Maru. Band member Benjamin John Power's grandfather survived the torpedoing of the ship.

References

External links

The fall of Hong Kong which led to transportation of prisoners on the ''Lisbon Maru''

The full roll of those who perished on the ''Lisbon Maru''

Sinking of ''Lisbon Maru''

Time to Unseal the ''Lison Maru'' Incident, an incomplete documentation of the rescue effort made by local Chinese fishermen

IWM Interview with survivor George Bainborough

IWM Interview with survivor Jack Hughieson

IWM Interview with survivor Charles Jordan

IMW Interview with survivor Andrew Salmon

IWM Interview with survivor Montague Truscott

IWM Interview with survivor Alf Shepherd
{{October 1942 shipwrecks 1920 ships Cargo ships Maritime incidents in October 1942 Ships sunk by American submarines Troop ships World War II shipwrecks in the East China Sea Japanese hell ships British World War II prisoners of war Military history of Canada during World War II