Went to talk by Mr Gilmour. (Boss to Mabel for 2 days when she worked at CSO at the beginning of our war.) Grand, very amusing. He was District Officer of various outposts. ((We saw him in early 1972 in a tv documentary about the Far Eastern war; he was still in Singapore, looking blooming.))
The kitchen sink ((see yesterday's diary entry)) will NOT be removed.
The inaugural meeting of the (first) British Community Council takes place.
'Community' has been chosen because it seems less democratic than 'Communal'. There are ten elected representatives, and a number of individuals are appointed by Gimson to serve as administrative officers. In fact, the Committee's role, in theory at least, is to advise him - he's won the 'constitutional conflict' and is the effective governor of the camp, except when the Japanese decide to get involved.
David McFerran, a former employee of the Dairy Farm Ice and Cold Storage Co., dies in St. Paul's Hospital. Most of his possessions are in poor condition, but the Red Cross uses money from their 'British Fund' to to buy part of them for the use of 'needy internees' in the Hospital who expect to be repatriated soon and are in desperate need of clothing.
The Gripsholm is now a week's sailing away from the United States. Charles Winter, who'd worked as a bread delivery driver and lived at the French Hospital alongside the bakers, writes to the family of Thomas Edgar. The Edgars learn, perhaps for the first time, that their son is alive and well - and that he was due to be married on the afternoon of June 29, soon after Charles Winter began his journey home.
And the ship's passengers see some of the destruction caused by the war at sea:
At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon we passed a bit of wreckage, big enough for several men to have been on it. We passed it at extremely slow speed, no doubt to avoid striking any partly submerged wreckage and partly to make sure that we discovered any possible survivors. There was nothing alive on the wreckage. So many of our passengers crowded the rail to see, that the ship took on a decided list. Between 6 and 7, we came to a proper wreck. This time it was the forward half of a ship, floating on an even keel. It was apparently an oil tanker which had been torpedoed. The superstructure was a black mass of wreckage. Flames were still licking the edge of a hold. Our passengers crowded the rail and every vantage point, even climbing into some of our lifeboats which were swung out at deck level, everybody straining his eyes in the dusk to see if there was anybody on the wreck.
Sources:
BCC: G. B. Endacott and Alan Birch, Hong Kong Eclipse, 1978, 356, 208-209
McFerran: Rudolf Zindel to the International Committee of the Red Cross, General Letter No. 3/44 in Archives of the ICRC (Geneva)
Edgars: Letter from Charles Winter viewable at: https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/thomas-edgar-some-doc…
Wreck: Diary of J. B. Sawyer, quoted in Greg Leck, Captives of Empire, 2006, 289
The torpedoed oil tanker in the Carribeaan:
Greg Leck reported from some interviewee that the sea was calm and the fire was out. That contradicts what I recall seeing. Ella confirmed my memory that the ship was still on fire.
I seem to recall the ocean itself on fire, in a circle around it about the radius of the ship's length - floating oil aflame. And I recall large waves that were smoothed out (wind had died somewhat).
Leck told me that sometime after the fire burned out that a tug found the tanker still afloat and took it in tow to Mexico.
We had real excitement today for at 5:00 the ship made a sudden turn and soon we discovered an object in the water which looked like a raft, so we pulled alongside to see. About 6:00 we passed a burning ship, the ruins of which certainly gave one the shivers.
Mr. E. Gilmore “Some experiences of a District Officer".
New Br. Community Council met for first time at 2:15 this afternoon under the Chairmanship of Mr. F.C. Gimson. Unanimous vote of thanks to ??? ((sp?)) B. Communal C. for their accomplishment during their term of office.
Wind backed to NE brought clouds.
No news.
Chinese believe that we shall soon be released.