SS ''Hong Chuen'' was a 62-ton wooden coastal steamer owned by the Ho Hong Steamship Company and formerly owned by the

Straits Steamship Company The Straits Steamship Company was a shipping firm that operated steamships on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca Formation The company was formed on July 1, 1894, by Capt. James Morgan, L. B. Hastings, W.S. Mann, and A.L. Horn.

. Her last voyage was under

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

to the

Minister of Economic Warfare The Minister of Economic Warfare was a British government position which existed during the Second World War. The minister was in charge of the Special Operations Executive and the Ministry of Economic Warfare. See also * Blockade of Germany (193 ...

for

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

, complete with

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

crew, in the final days before Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, during World War II.

Final voyage

A party comprising Commander J. Petrie, Lieutenant Colonel Goodfellow, Captain Morgan, Second Lieutenant Hemby, Sergeant Lamb and from the Ministry of Economic Warfare were ordered by

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Ernest John Spooner Vice Admiral Ernest John Spooner, DSO (22 August 1887 – 15 April 1942) was one of the senior Royal Navy officers at Singapore during the World War II Japanese invasion of Malaya and the subsequent fall of Singapore. Spooner died of exhausti ...

of the Naval H.Q Singapore Base to establish an escape route from Singapore when its fall to the Japanese became inevitable.'This Inglorious Business' from 'Singapore: The Pregnable Fortress' by Peter Elphick, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1995.
/ref>Megan Spooner: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref>Ernest John Spooner: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> They planned to go to

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, then overland to

Padang Padang () is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. With a Census population of 1,015,000 as of 2022, it is the 16th most populous city in Indonesia and the most populous city on the west coast of Sumatra. Th ...

, on Sumatra's west coast. The SS ''Hong Chuen'' was chartered for this assignment. The party departed from Singapore on 12 February 1942, and after receiving provisions at the island of Salat Sinki and at Penju on Soregi Bawah Island, the party reached the mouth of the Jambie River at Tigi Solok, at dusk on 13 February 1942. Their passage had been eventful. The ship was

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

ned from the shore on leaving Singapore waters and there were frequent flights of Japanese bombers overhead. The Malay crew deserted at Penju. The ship picked up sixteen Chinese escapees adrift in a disabled motor tanking off Tjombol Island, and a defective compass caused the party to miss their planned landfall on Sumatra at the mouth of the

Indragiri River The Indragiri River is a river in Sumatra, in the Indonesian province of Riau, Indonesia, about 800 km northwest of the capital Jakarta. It is formed from the union of the Ombilin River and the Sinamar River, and empties into the Strait of Ma ...

at Prigi Raja. On the morning of 14 February 1942, the party proceeded up the Jambie River, arriving at Jambie after 24 hours of continuous steaming, at 10:00 on 15 February 1942. The ''Hong Cheun'' tied up at Jambie Wharf, where she was set on fire by a blazing oil barge which became wedged alongside her. She sank in one hour. The barge had been set on fire by the Dutch authorities in their "denial of fuel" operations.

Escape party

The escape party, including the sixteen Chinese escapees, proceeded over land by road in two trucks and a car provided by the Dutch authorities and reached Padang, after continuous day and night driving, on 17 February 1942. Some were then dispersed by sea to

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Lieutenant Colonel Goodfellow remained in Padang. The escape route established by the party was subsequently used by some hundreds of escapees from Singapore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Chuen Steamships World War II shipwrecks in the Strait of Malacca