Captain Ken #11 - Memories of Shanghai and a Refugee Rescue

Some thirty years later when I was captain of the Peninsular Bay, we were bound from Hong Kong to Busan in South Korea and were in the Taiwan Straits. We spotted a drifting Chinese military navy river patrol craft. At that time many Chinese were trying to flee the Communist regime and were attempting to get to Taiwan or countries in the West. It was a large open boat completely covered with a tarpaulin which was being held down all around the boat by scores of hands. All we could see of these people were their hands. The craft had two huge outboard motors, but neither was working and they were just drifting. The boat was near the Taiwan coast so we tried, unsuccessfully, to contact the Taiwan authorities. I was slightly concerned during all this as for all I knew, this might have been a pirate trap which was not unusual in those parts. We also had an important schedule to maintain so any delay was, of course, likely to prove very expensive for the company. However, knowing the phone number of the Hong Kong Rescue Co-ordination Centre, I called them on the satellite phone and gave them the exact GPS position of the boat and decided to leave any rescue or investigation in their capable hands.

As we resumed our course and speed to Busan, the unfortunate souls undercover in their boat on seeing us sail away, began a loud and mournful wailing which sounded quite uncanny and very disturbing. On reaching our destination in South Korea, I contacted our agent in Taiwan and asked if the refugees had been rescued and felt absolutely devastated when he said he knew nothing about the matter. However, when I called Hong Kong, they confirmed that all the people in the boat had been rescued and were now safely in a refugee camp in Taiwan.

(This article was first published in the October 2020 edition of the Mellor Church Outlook Magazine).