(b) Under the Defence Plan all requisitioning of ships which were required 39 either for active use by the Hong Kong Government or by any of the Services, for scuttling as block ships or in any other way associated with the defence of Hong Kong, was to be undertaken by the Harbour Master in a special capacity under the Plan as Controller of Water Transport; Controller of Land Transport.
there was a parallel There is nothing to suggest that in this capacity he ceased to be acting as an official of the Hong Kong Government.
(၁)
In
The plan was put into effect on the morning of 8th December 1941. pursuance of the pre-arranged scheme the Harbour Master roquisitioned 9 (or 10)
British River steamers; all the Ferries in Hong Kong (two fleets), and some 40 small craft, mostly launches. The 9 River steamers were all required according to the plan for use as block ships, 4 at the entrances to the Junk shelter at Yaumati on the mainland and 5 at the entrance to the small harbour of Aberdeen on the Wost of the island. 8 of the ships were
sunk in accordance with the plan, but one, originally intended to be sunk at Aberdeen was actually turned over on 9th December to the Navy at the Commodore's request by the Harbour Master for use as an accommodation ship for officers employed on Bocm Defence in Sai Wan Bay. The vessel was sunk by Japanese air attack on 16th December, 1941. The Forries were used primarily for transporting Service personnel back from Kowloon to the island in face of the Japanese advance. Some civilians undoubtedly came over at the same time, but the primary purpose of requisitioning the Ferries was to move the remnants of the fighting services to the island. The launches were needed for use by all three Servicos as well as by civilian authorities but there is no record of the use of particular craft by particular Services, nor indeed any reliable record of those requisitioned.
(a) In view of the deterioration of the military situation, on or about 11th December the decision was taken to sink large numbers of vessels in the harbour, especially on the Kowloon side, to deny their use to tho Japaneso. These ships were not requisitioned by the Harbour Master for the purpose, though some of them were already on requisition to the Hong Kong Government or to the United Kingdom Government, and some of them were foreign vessels. This action, although taken in the interests of the defence of Hong Kong and promotion of the war effort, was not specifically undertaken as part of the Defence Plan. Some ships were sunk or immobilised by the Harbour Master after the crews had been removed on his orders, others were sunk by our shell fire; in some cases there is doubt whether ships were sunk by allied or enemy fire. The ships known to have been sunk under these circumstances are as follows, though the list may not be absolutely complete:- (i) A. 15 British sea going ships, of which 10 were properly requisitioned
by the United Kingdom or Hong Kong Governments., and/or insured against war risks and 5 over which there is still dispute as to whether they were requisitioned by the United Kingdom Government or not, and which, if not requisitioned, were not covered by insurance.
3 small British Coasters and 4 British River steamers, which, so far as is known, were not insured against war risks.
B•
C.
4 Chinese steamers of which 3 were sea going and 1 a River Steamer, all of which had long been sheltering in Hong Kong to escape the Japanese and 3 of which were more or less dorelect at the time.
2 Panamanian sea going ships, 1 American sea going ship, 2 Norwegian sea going ships, all presumably insured against war risks.
D•
E.
Finally there is some doubt whether we or the Japanese sunk
1 Swedish and 2 Russian sea-going ships, but as there appear not to have been any claims, we had better have the benefit of the doubt.
i) Ferries.
The majority of the ferries belonging to both fleets wore scuttled
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