The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

In 1942, the Japanese freighter Lisbon Maru, carrying 1,816 British POWs, was spotted by a U.S. submarine off the coast of China. The submarine would not normally attack civilian freighters, but they saw armed Japanese troops on board, so let loose a torpedo. The Americans had no idea that allied prisoners were locked in the ship’s three holds.

As the ship took on water the Japanese lay down planks on top of the holds and canvass on top of those. The prisoners were trapped. Some were freed and they jumped overboard. Many drowned. Others were shot at by the enemy troops until they too had to abandon ship as it slipped underwater.

Local fishermen from the island of Zhoushan took to their boats and rescued 384 survivors, risking bullets themselves. Much of the action, including the terror of the men in the holds, is shown in realistic animation.

This tragic story is described by two of the English escapees, now old men recollecting their fear and the death of their friends on that terrible day. Also surviving to the present time, a retired Chinese fisherman who was one of the rescuers. He smiled as British family members came to his village to thank him many years later.