BRITISH SHIPS ESCAPE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20652, 31 December 1941, Page 7

BRITISH SHIPS ESCAPE

| CHINA COAST EXODUS ATTACKS FROM THE AIR SINGAPORE, Dec. 17. During the past few days several ■ships which left Hong Kong when ■danger threatened have reached safe ■ports. ■ Though details of this rapid clearlance of shipping from the China coast JJcannot be revealed, it amounts to a large tonnage of useful merchant '•ships. p At least two ships well known in I; the China trade have had narrow f escapes after leaving Hong Kong. One, a medium-sized steamer, left i three days before the outbreak of war I and, not knowing of the war. was It machine-gunned by a Japanese aircraft, but escaped damage. * Passengers who travelled on a ■ larger ship tell an exciting story ot Rencounters with machine-gunning and 'bombing aircraft. ■ The passengers stated that' all day : : on December 6 ships arrived at Hong •Kong from many ports along the fChina coast." Later the same day they were warned to leave as quickly ['as possible. By the afternoon of {December 7 most of them had left. The largest ship was a well-known ! vessel, which Was underging engine i repairs after being damaged in a ‘ typhoon. Not waiting for the repairs to be completed, the captain left port, if The next morning it was known that 1 war had been declared, and, not able t to make speed, the ship was kept on r her course.

Rainy, cloudy weather favoured the vessel all day, but December 9 broke fine and clear. Early that morning a small Japanese seaplane flew masthigh and poured machine-gun bullets into the ship. The ship was not damaged and no one was hurt. Later the same day three heavy bombers flew over, apparently bound for Manila. From a few hundred feet each bomber released one bomb. Each wps a near miss, which, according to one passenger, “knocked off some paint and blew down some dust.” |