Smuggled in and out of Stanley: View pages

((Not sure of the date he arrived at Stanley. Likely early February, 1942))

On arriving at Stanley, after having been smuggled in, Miss Cholmeley ((sic.)) and Moss were there with open arms and had fixed up a bed space for me in their flat, so all was well. Whilst in Stanley I made myself useful repairing shoes, making drinking mugs from tins, and helping the old and feeble who could not help themselves. Was doing butcher work and cooking the meal (what there was of it). The customs staff are doing their fair share of work for instance. The Commissioner, Mr. Pritchard, is in charge of labour for his block, this is a hard job getting the men to work on the very poor rations they got. Oppen is doing this alone, Fuller, Ward and Kemp are Rice Boilers (or try to be), Mesger ((sic.)) and Ogden carting stones and bricklaying; Cutteridge, Stines and Seraphine cooks assistants (doing their best).

During my stay in Stanley I was always on the lookout for a possible way to get out. I did one time think of swimming for it to a nearby island, but as the weather was rather cold and one could not swim on the rations I dropped this idea.

Then on the 16 March 1942 Miss Cholmeley ((sic.)) who was lying in the camp quarters asked me whether I was still thinking of making a break. I told her I would if there was a chance. She then introduced me to Epstein and Van Ess.

After having a chat, I was informed that they were preparing for a get-away and that they had found a small boat near the beach and had made an oar from one of the doors, and that they already had made a rudder and paddle, so were more or less ready.

We talked over a small map which had been borrowed and as I knew the lay of the land in the Mirs Bay area and spoke the language, they were very keen for me to go. I did not think that it was the right time as I had found out as the wind which was N.E. and we needed a S.W. wind to make Mirs point.

On the 17th we still talked our plans over and thought it better to hang on for a bit for a better wind.

Then on the 18th afternoon Mr. Epstein informed me that he had heard on the quiet that there were two planning an escape that night which meant that we had to move and move first, so we decided to get away that night and be ready at around 9p.m. having got some of the gear over the hill and hidden the previous night.

As I had made up my mind to go, I thought that I would let Mr. Pritchard know of my plans which I did. He was inclined not to be in favour of it as the wind was against us and it was too big a risk and I agreed with him. Then I saw Mr. Fuller and knowing him to be able to keep quiet, I mentioned it to him. He was very much against it and said the same as the Commissioner, viz., that it was too risky and that during the past week the Japs had been shooting up and ramming anything they saw afloat; all this was not all at all.

Well, as promised, I was at Epstein’s place round after 9p.m., and proceeded to get the remainder of the gear down to the beach. When the whole of the party arrived on the beach and got all the gear down we laid down as it was a bit too bright to be messing around cutting the barbed wire.

After an hour’s wait and the moon had gone in a bit, Mr. Van Ess crawled on all fours and proceeded to cut the wire. This having been done we carried and dragged the boat into the water. She had not been in for very long before it was found that she was leaking and certainly letting in more water than we had expected. We thought that as she had not been in the water for a long time that she might tighten up sooner or later.

After having loaded up our little “Vanda” as she was named, we pushed off and took up our positions. Miss Cholmeley and Epstein were appointed balers, O’Neil having a wound in his back was passenger and sat forward, Van Ess oarsman (with the only oar we had) myself aft paddling and steering with same. As the “Vanda” was so small it was impossible to change positions as care had to be taken that she did not turn over. Unfortunately she did not tighten up so the balers were bailing out the whole 15 hours (as sick as they were at times).

After getting out of the bay which I thought at the time was the most dangerous part of the trip, as whilst in it we were within range of fire from all angles we tried hard to make for the direction of Mirs Bay. After an hour’s hard rowing and paddling, we found that we were not moving at all so we just had to go with the wind and the tide.

As there was an island nearby we tried for it, but found that there were too many big rocks and that it was impossible for us to tie up for the night, seeing this we pushed off from these rocks and proceeded to round the point in the hope of finding a beach which we could land on and fix the “Vanda”. No sooner had we got round the point that the wind got us again and blew us out to sea. It was in this area that we did meet a heavy sea and got tossed round all over the place, and she did everything but turn over, once or twice she took water over her sides, but we still kept afloat, the balers were still doing their stuff even though they did not care what was happening. It was very, very dark and only faint lights could be seen over the Repulse Bay area.

We carried on and at daybreak we were not far off Cheung Chow Island. We did try to make for Cheung Chow but just as before, the wind and tide would not let us, so we tried for another island nearby and the same thing happened; by this time the sea had quieted down, so we got out the bamboo pole which was to act as a mast, and the sail which was one of our blankets. Having no place to fix this pole, O’Neil held it between his knees.

No sooner had we got the sail up then the wind dropped. At this time a Japanese patrol boat was sighted about 400 yards away and all thought that it was all up and that we would be fired on by them, we all kept very still, Miss Cholmeley and myself putting dark handkerchiefs over our heads, the remainder keeping low.

To our relief, this launch proceeded on its way to search a fairly large junk in the distance. Having worked for a short time on the launches in the Kowloon District, I told the party that we had to make for the sandy beach which was about 3 miles away and we had to get there before the launch returned. We worked harder than ever to make it, but when about 200 yards from the shore the launch was soon to be returning and it looked as though she was making for us. Again, we did the same thing, kept still and were more than happy to see her steaming past.

Our “Vanda” looked nothing like a fishing boat, what could be seen of her, as I have stated, she was overloaded and there was very little of her showing out of the water, then again the sail as stated was an old blanket, so we looked nothing like anything that does float around those waters (another stroke of luck). After fifteen hours we set foot ashore and how pleased we were!