Twice Sunk (part 1 of 2)

Heroes Remember

Twice Sunk (part 1 of 2)

Transcript

Interviewer: What was the name of that ship you were on? Atesbull. Interviewer: Now, that ship was sunk by a------? That was later sunk by a Japanese submarine. Interviewer: Was that very long afterward? Not very long afterward. But we sailed regularly between Australia and, and middle east. It was in early 1942. Interviewer: Now that was sunk so then you got onto another ship? Then, I was ashore on an island on the . . . all the crew was saved, you know. The ship broke in two, but we went into lifeboat and we lived on the island, a small island about 10 by 12 kilometres, called Christmas Island, full of red crabs, you probably heard about that. And we were picked up by a British cruiser. I think it was the Durban or Iayaks, I'm not sure. And took us into Batavia, Jakarta it's called now, in Java. And then, they got orders to get the heck out of there, anyone who can find a job on a ship or something, get out because the Japanese is pretty close that you know, and it (inaudible). So I signed on another ship called the Prominence,and I was aboard it for a week, when we were shot down by a destroyer. That was a bloodbath I'll tell you, that was sheer murder. Interviewer: A beautiful night on the ocean. Yeah I was, I was onboard and full moon. You could see almost, it was as clear as day, you know. We were on a southern part of Java is, that's only one port there actually, called Jakarta, no called Cilacap and we were around thirty ships in there, big and small mostly, you know, about 40 ships anyway. And then we got order get out, the Japanese already invaded the island. So we left, it took us, there was thirteen Australian soldiers trying to get away from there. Then we steamed south, towards Australia, all of us you know, thirty ships. The second night we were around 230, 250 miles south of Java, when I saw lights and explosions and commotions, and then I saw ships blowing up, you know tankers blowing up, and I saw fire, you know gunfire, shellfire. And we were a slow ship, so we were in the back of the convoy. It wasn't a convoy, we were free to go wherever we like, but it was a bunch of ships put it this way. And since this was a Norwegian ship and if we are not involved with it, Barnaby thought maybe, that I will respect the flags. Now we went back, hoisted the flag which they can plainly see. One destroyer came up and he was only about, about 100 feet away from us, probably a little more than that. And we were lined up, all of us, in one bunch, on the starboard side below the bridge and he fired right in among the people. There were body parts flying all over the place and it killed thirteen men and wounded pretty well everyone else. Interviewer: Were you wounded? Well I was wounded too. I got my left leg shot, in, in the ankle and bones broken. But I wasn't the worst one, I was pretty well off I guess. The second mate, ya the first one was the, the first mate, he was also the wireless operator and he went into the radio shacks to send a signal you know. And the first thing they did, was to shoot the radio shack away, so that disappeared with him in it and then they shot, fired right at us, the rest of the crew. So we spread out the best we could you know, try to save ourselves. They didn't sink us, the first destroyer didn't sink us, he just . . . and then they shot off the bridge and left.

Description

Mr. Maro recalls when the Atesbull was sunk, and the crew was rescued by a British cruiser. He then describes joining the Prominence in order to escape the invading Japanese, only to have the ships deck shot off by a Japanese destroyer.

Harold Maro

Mr. Maro was born in Norway in 1917, and had begun going to sea with his father at age 15. During the Second World War, Mr. Maro sailed with two Norwegian Merchant Navy ships; the Atesbull and Prominence, both of which were sunk. Mr. Maro and other crew members washed up on the beaches of Indonesia five days after the Prominence was sunk and were placed under Japanese supervision; however, they were not taken prisoner until Norway declared war the following year. Transferred from camp to camp over the course of 3 ½ years, Mr. Maro was interned in Chang, Singapore when he was liberated in 1945. As the war came to an end, Mr. Maro eventually returned to Norway, but was soon lured to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for work , moving with his wife. They both soon became Canadian citizens. Mr. Maro continued to sail until his retirement in 1976.

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