The Royal Navy and the Sino-Japanese Incident 1937-41.

Discussion in 'Prewar' started by High Wood, Apr 23, 2019.

  1. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I am using the title of Martin H Brice's book for this thread as it seems to cover what I hope will be an interesting topic. The house clearance man has come up trumps again and has sold me a whole bunch of photographs taken by a sailor from H.M.S. Diamond. Some are captioned, but many are not, some show an event that should be recorded somewhere, but I am not able to find any information about. Others should be dateable as the locations are known. As H.M.S. Diamond transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1939 they must all predate 1939.

    Having read Martin Brice's book some time ago my memory needs updating, but despite having five distinct entries in the book, there is nothing that relates H.M.S. Diamond to the incidents in the photographs; the book being somewhat of an overview.

    I will post the photographs in rough order showing some of the more general ones first.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019
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  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    HMS Diamond, sampan incident, died, and other RN casualties 1938
    Friday, 18 November 1938
    Diamond, destroyer, sampan accident, all died
    CONNOR, John, Able Seaman, D/SSX 16501
    MUIR, George, Leading Stoker, D/KX 78208
    MULLIGAN, Patrick, Stoker 1c, D/KX 89328
    SHUTTLEWORTH, Stanley, Able Seaman, D/SSX 15187


    HMS Diamond, destroyer
    D or DEFENDER-Class Fleet Destroyer ordered on 2nd February 1931 from Vickers Armstrong at Barrow under the 1930 Programs. The snip was laid down as Yard No 675 on 29th September 1931 and launched on 8th April 1932 as the 14th RN ship to carry the name, introduced in 1652 for a 4th Rate. It was last used in WW1 by two trawlers hired for minesweeping. Build was completed on 3rd November 1932 for a contract price of £223,509 excluding the Admiralty supplied equipment such as guns, ammunition and wireless outfits. She joined the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean during December that year. In 1934 she was re-commissioned after refit at Devonport and in November sailed to join the 8th Destroyer Flotilla on the China Station where she served with her sister ships. The Flotilla was renumbered to 21st Destroyer Flotilla before the outbreak of war. As she was then under refit at Singapore the ship did not go to the Mediterranean with the Flotilla when war was declared in September 1939.

    TD

    HMS Diamond (H22) - Wikipedia

    For Info - all 4 men are reported as having drowned following the capsizing of the sampan in which they were travelling

    UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
    Name: John Connor
    Event: Death
    Birth Date: abt 1917
    Death Date: 18 Nov 1938
    Death Age: 21
    Death Place: Swaton China
    44994_adm_104_112-0079.jpg

    Left hand side below halfway
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019
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  3. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    TD,

    I am absolutely stunned by your psychic abilities, do you have next weekend's winning lottery numbers by any chance? I hadn't even asked the question and you have answered it.
     
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  4. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    The caption reads: Diamond's ships company on the march through the streets of Swatow. Diamond 018.JPG
     
  5. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Uncaptioned. Diamond 023.JPG
     
  6. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Simply captioned: Naval Funeral, China. Diamond 024.JPG
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019
  7. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Uncaptioned. Diamond 019.JPG
     
  8. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    images (45).jpg

    Sorry High Wood - we have to keep our abilities under control otherwise the National Lottery, betting shops etc would just well, close/stop trading

    Glad it helps your research
    TD
     
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  9. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Uncaptioned. Diamond 020.JPG
     
  10. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Can you not just make an exception this one time? Think of all the photographs I could buy and post on the forum if only I had the money.
     
  11. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Uncaptioned. Diamond 021.JPG
     
  12. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Its a bit like magicians can never tell how a trick works - anyway I'm busy looking through my superyacht catalogue

    TD
     
  13. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Apologies if anyone is offended by my posting this photograph. The question that I was going to ask was: does anyone know what caused the deaths of these four sailors? The question that I am now asking is: does anyone know if the cemetery is still there? Swatow now know as Shantou has been highly developed and much of the old city has been swept away. I wonder if the cemetery has gone and the men are now commemorated elsewhere. They seem to fall outside the remit of the C.W.G.C.

    Diamond 022.JPG
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019
  14. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Some happier pictures. "The Skipper and his officer's on the bridge".
    Diamond 001.JPG
     
  15. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    "Diamond at sea". Diamond 003.JPG
     
  16. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    H.M.S. Diamond on the horizon. Diamond 004.JPG
     
  17. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    A Japanese battleship, location unknown but probably at one of the treaty ports. Diamond 006.JPG
     
  18. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    This might be worth you investigating further

    Bristol University - History - Chinese Maritime Customs Project: Home

    From this Ancestry message board :
    I just did a simple search on the internet for "Shantou cemetery" and, much to my surprise, came up with this link to a lone cemetery on Double Island (Masu) in Shantou (aka Swatow) which was used to bury foreigners who had died there: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/Customs/TalbotStones.pdf


    Also
    Shantou – Travel guide at Wikivoyage
    Qing Yun Yan 青云岩 in DaHao 达濠 (Last stop of bus #16 from Shantou). Temples and a lake on a cemetery hill.

    TD

    Search results for 'swatow' | Search | University of Bristol
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019
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  19. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

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  20. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    Many thanks for that TD, it is appreciated. One paragraph stood out of the Travel Guide.

    The old town (In the western part of central Shantou). Most of the lovely historic buildings are so dilapidated that it seems like a European city that has been bombed. They are slowly being torn down and replaced with ugly modern buildings, so see it while you can!

    And speaking of bombing, this one is captioned: "More bombing, Shanghai".


    Diamond 012.JPG
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2019

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