About 10 o'clock the next morning, we saw two Japanese auxiliary naval vessels approaching the island. The villagers were fearful that they would suffer for helping us and begged us not to tell the Japanese of the hospitality we had received.
Within an hour, a heavily armed motor launch reached the island and a Japanese officer, with a party of soldiers, fully armed and carrying large flags, arrogantly stepped ashore and approached our helpless and pathetic group. He said in a loud voice “Do you surrender?". It would have been laughable, had it not been so grim. We were rounded up and transported to the naval vessels where, wonder of wonders, we were sat on the open deck and given a meal of rice.