Sinking of the Empress of Asia - 1941
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- In November 1941, the Empress of Asia, a converted passenger liner, set sail for Bombay, carrying troops and supplies for the British war effort. After falling behind her convoy, she was sunk by Japanese bombers, and her survivors eventually captured by the Japanese. Among them was Bill Moylon. Now aged 98, he describes his experience of the sinking.
Love that people take the time to record these stories for posterity. Thank you. ❤️
Thank you very much!
My father was on this ship and talked about how high it was to jump into the sea....especially as it was listing he said.
He survived the Japanese POW camps and went on to have a wonderful family raising 6 boys and a girl...I am the girl.
He died in 2003.
He was a wonderful man and told me many stories from the camps
Thank you so much for sharing this. My great grandad was on this ship.
Just found this - thanks for posting. My father (still with us at 97) was on the Empress of Asia on her earlier voyage to Suez in 1941. The stokers mutinied off the west coast of Africa and the ship put in to Durban for them to be arrested.
Thank you for sharing this story!
My grandfather, Fred (WF) Cowley was on the ship when it sunk, he escaped sing before the Japanese came. Not 100 % sure but think he left on ship for Ceylon. Is your dad still alive? My grandad was engineer- even though he had no experience when he signed up,!. He lived until he was 84 - a right character.
My father was on the empress of Asia and spent the rest of the war in changi P.O.W camp
My Grandad was on this ship when it was bombed then was Japanese POW first in Changi then in Burma Thailand altogether 3 half years. Gone but never forgotten.
My grandfather G. E. Johnston, was a baker on that ship. When it sank he made it to shore. However, he spent the next few years in a Japanese POW Camp.
My father, Kenneth Sargent was on this ship when she went down and I had no idea what had happen. He was taken by the Japanese to work on the railway and made it home in 1946.
My great grandfather. Richard Staveley was a Private with the 18th recce corps when the ship was attacked.
As i've reached and surpassed his relative age at the time (26) i've become more and more fascinated and obsessed with the story. He was re kitted and fought in the fall of singapore and was captured by the Japanese and taken to Palembang.
My great grandad was on that ship John Patrick Coyle he was a fire man a coal persons
My cousin, James Joseph Towers was a deck boy on this ship, he was taken as a PoW by the Japanese and died in a PoW camp on the Death Railway in Thailand.
wow, thank you for sharing this sir
Thank you for your reply David. Following the sinking of the Empress of Asia, most of the catering crew served in the hospital in Singapore. Some members of the catering crew managed to leave Singapore on small steam ships and made it through to Java, James being one of them, James was captured in Jakarta and transported back to Singapore on the Japanese ship the Roko Maru and then onto Changi prison in Singapore. Later James left Ghangi prison as part of H Force, via rail in steel box cars to Kanchanaburi and then onto Malai camp which was one of the many PoW camps on the Death Railway. James died of Dysentery age 19 in July 1943 and was buried in grave number 26 in the camps cemetery. After the war he was re-buried in Kanchanaburi war cemetery. What must have gone through his mind, from one moment a Merchant Navy crew member on the Empress of Asia, to ending up in the hands of the Japanese, and then to die of Dysentery as a PoW. Lest we forget.
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