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Piracy of SS "Tungchow”, from 29th January,
to 1st February, 1935.
By Shipmate Peter Brown
My
sister Amy
and
I
were
born and
bred
in
Shanghai
in the
1920's
and after
beginning
our
education
in
the
Kindergarten
of the
Cathedral
School in
Shanghai,
my
sister
started
up in
North
China
at
the
China
Inland Mission Schools
in
Chefoo (now
Yentai)
in
1932,
followed
by me
in
1933. We
would
only return
to Shanghai in
December
each year for
the
Christmas holidays and
that happened as
usual in
December, 1934.
We
were to
return to
Chefoo
with
the Shanghai
Party
late
in
January,
1935
on board
one
of Butterfield
and
Swire's
ships
and
in
this
instance we
sailed
from
the French
Bund on
board
the
"Tungchow"
during
the
afternoon
of 29th
January. The
attached photographs
taken from
the North
China
Daily
News
of 2nd February,
1935,
show
the
Girls
and
Boys
of
the
Shanghai
Party waving goodbye
to
their
families
as we
set
sail
on
that
memorable
day.
A
few
hours
after
sailing and
while
we
were
still in
the
mouth
of
the Yangtse
River,
the
SS "Tungchow",
with 78
CIM
school
children
and Staff on
board
was
pirated!
The Chinese
pirates,
14
in
all,
who
had
booked as
passengers on
the
lower
deck,
managed to
climb
up
over
the guard
rails on
to
our
upper
deck
and had
taken
on
the
Russian
anti-pirate
guards with their
automatic
weapons.
They
outnumbered the guards and
when
they had killed
the
sergeant,
the remaining four
guards
surrendered.
From
that
time
we
were
confined
to our
cabins
and
not
allowed
out
on
deck, while
the pirates
ordered
the
British
Captain to
turn
south
instead
of sailing north.
They
also
attempted
to disguise
the
ship
by
painting
two white
stripes around
the
plain
black
funnel and
renamed
the
ship
"Toa Maru", making
her
look
like
one of
the
Japanese
OSK
(Osaka
Shusen
Kaisha) Line. Unbeknown
to any of
us at that time,
they
were
heading south to
a
well-known pirate
den in
Honghai Bay, just
north
of
Hong
Kong. When
the "Tungchow” failed
to
wireless
in
to
the
port
of
Tsingtao,
en
route
north and
then failed
to
arrive
in
Weihaiwei
on
the
morning
of the
1st
February, the
Senior
Naval
Officer,
Shanghai,
advised the
C-in-C
of
the
China Squadron
in
Hong
Kong
that
the "Tungchow"
was
missing.
All
Royal
Navy
ships that were
available
were
ordered
to sea
to
look
for
us
and
within
six hours
the "Tungchow"
was
found
in
Honghai
Bay
by
aircraft
from the
carrier HMS
Hermes, just
as
the
pirates
had left
the
ship
and
were
heading
for a beach
in
a
junk
and one
of
the
ship's
lifeboats. We
were
allowed
to
go
up on
the boat
deck
and
I
well
remember
seeing the
aircraft
arrive
overhead, but
they were
told
not
to
fire
at
the
two
craft as
they
each had
a
hostage aboard.
They
were left
unhurt by the
lifeboat on
the beach
and were returned
to the ship.
We then
sailed for
Hong
Kong and
were
met by
the destroyer
HMS
Dainty
and
escorted
into
port.
You
may
wonder
why
on
earth
did the
pirates
attack
a
ship
which
was carrying a
large
number
of
school
children
returning to
their
schools
in Chefoo?
The answer
lies
in
the
fact
that
originally some
gold
bullion was
to
have been
carried
on
board
the "Tungchow"
of
the B&S
Line
up to Tiensin,
the
port
of
Beijing,
but
at
the
last
moment
this precious
cargo was
transferred
secretly
to a
ship
of
the
other
British
Shipping Line, Jardine
Matheson,
but
the
pirates
had
not
caught
up with
this
transfer! By
way
of some
compensation
for their
loss, they
confiscated any
jewellery, watches
and cash
from
our
school
party and
also
looted
any
valuables they
could
find
from
the
ship
before
their
departure.
After
refuelling and
taking on more provisions,
we returned north to Shanghai, where
we
were given
another
week's
holiday, having
been
re-united with
our families.
Then
we
sailed
again in
another B&S
ship for
Chefoo, where
we arrived
safely
back
at
school
and
if
I
remember
rightly,
were heralded as
heroes
and
were something
like
the
envy
of the
rest
of
the
schools! |
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