HMS Peterel (1927)
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HMS ''Peterel'' was a
river gunboat A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more ...
built by
Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...
at
Scotstoun Scotstoun () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, west of Glasgow City Centre. It is bounded by Garscadden and Yoker to the west, Victoria Park, Jordanhill and Whiteinch to the east, Jordanhill to the north and the River Clyde (and Braehead ...
and she was the sixth ship of the Royal Navy to carry the name and the lead ship of her class. Her name used an archaic spelling for consistency with previous Royal Navy Ships of the same name, in contrast to the modern accepted spelling ''petrel'' (as in the bird). After completion, she was dismantled and shipped to
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
for re-assembly before being deployed for service on the
China station The Commander-in-Chief, China, was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1 ...
, on the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
to provide protection for British commerce and nationals. HMS ''Peterel'' was designed and equipped to patrol the upper reaches of the river (she had a shallow draft and her primary armament was a pair of 3-inch guns).


Inter-war years

''HMS Peterel''s service on the China station was largely uneventful. She lost crew members in isolated accidents (for example, Stoker First Class William J Lansdell died from drowning on 25 November 1928 and Stoker First Class Wilfred O'Brien from drowning on 13 August 1930). The most notable event was that in 1930 she needed assistance by the French gunboat ''Doudart de Lagrée'' '(
Ernest Doudart de Lagrée Ernest Marc Louis de Gonzague Doudart de Lagrée (; 31 March 1823 – 12 March 1868) was the leader of the French Mekong Expedition of 1866-1868. He was born in Saint-Vincent-de-Mercuze near Grenoble, France, and graduated from the École Pol ...
) after running aground in the
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
.


World War II


Outbreak of war

At the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, many ships and personnel from the Royal Navy's China Squadron were recalled to home waters, or sent to the Mediterranean. A number of river gunboats were considered of limited value and these were laid up locally. One river gunboat, HMS ''Peterel'', was retained in Shanghai to provide a token British military presence that it was hoped would dissuade the Japanese (who had already occupied most of the city) from moving against the International Settlement there. Her crew was reduced to 21 and 19 locally recruited Chinese; she was moored in the pool of Shanghai (off the
French Concession The Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai. ...
). With her reduced complement, she was capable of steaming for only a limited period of time and her main armament had been disabled to lessen her value to the Japanese in the event of capture. Her captain, 62-year-old Temporary Lieutenant Stephen Polkinghorn from New Zealand, was under orders to scuttle the vessel should the Japanese attack.


Sinking

By December 1941 Shanghai (aside from the International Settlement and
French Concession The Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai. ...
), had been occupied by Japan's land forces and there was a large buildup of Japanese naval forces in the area. At around 4:20am local time on 8 December 1941 news of the attack on
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...
, a few hours earlier, began filtering through to Shanghai. HMS ''Peterel'' was notified of the attack by Commander Kennedy from the British Consulate and the ship was called to battle stations. Soon after the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor reached Shanghai, Japanese marines boarded the US Navy river gunboat, . She surrendered without a shot being fired (the only US Navy ship to surrender during World War II). The Japanese later commissioned her into their navy as the ''Tatara'' and subsequently gave her to its puppet
Reorganized National Government of China The Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, commonly described as the Wang Jingwei regime, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in eastern China. It existed coterminous with the Nationalist government of the Republic of ...
based in
Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...
. Although Japan had not declared war on Great Britain, Japanese marines also boarded the ''Peterel'' to demand her surrender. Polkinghorn attempted to stall for time, in order for the demolition fuses to be lit and the code books to be passed down a special chute to be burned in the boiler room. When his attempts failed, Polkinghorn told them to "Get off my bloody ship!" The Japanese disembarked and almost immediately the Japanese cruiser , the accompanying gunboat ''Toba'' and Japanese shore batteries in the French Concession opened fire at almost point-blank range. Despite being outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned, the Royal Navy crew of HMS ''Peterel'' returned fire, using small arms and the deck-mounted Lewis machine guns (the
breechblock A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by ...
s from her 3-inch guns having been removed and taken to the Royal Navy dockyard in Hong Kong). The Royal Navy crew inflicted several casualties on the Japanese before the ''Peterel'' capsized and drifted from its mooring under heavy fire. The Japanese machine gunned both the surviving Royal Navy and locally recruited Chinese crewmen in the water. Of the British crew of 22, 18 were on board the ''Peterel'' at the time of the attack. Six of them were killed by the Japanese; they have no known graves and it is unclear whether their bodies were recovered from the water. 12 Royal Navy crew survived: some sought refuge on a neutral
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
nian-registered merchant vessel, the SS ''Marizion''. In violation of international law, the Japanese boarded the ship and took the survivors prisoner. The number of casualties suffered by the locally recruited non-combatant Chinese crew and the fate of any survivors at the hands of the Japanese is unknown (under a directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by
Emperor Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...
, the Japanese removed the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners by its military). The Royal Navy survivors from HMS ''Peterel'' (including Polkinghorn) were moved amongst the Hongchew, Kiang Wang and Woosung internment camps in China. Ongoing supplies received from the British Residents Association (Shanghai) and the
International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...
were critical to the survival of those interned. On 9 May 1945 the inmates at Kiang Wang were moved to camps in Japan itself. Three of the crew of HMS ''Peterel'' were onshore during the Japanese attack; two were captured but the third, PO Telegraphist James Cuming, remained at large in Shanghai for the duration of the war, working for a Sino-American spy ring. ''The Lonely Battle'', an account of Cuming's tale, was written by Desmond Wettern in 1960.


Aftermath

Polkinghorn survived his three years and nine months in captivity. He was awarded a gallantry medal, the
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries. *Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) *Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) *Distinguished Service Cross (U ...
(DSC), for his actions in Shanghai. The citation (published in ''
The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...
'' on 23 October 1945) reads: "For great courage, determination and tenacity in fighting his ship, HMS ''Peterel'', when attacked by overwhelming Japanese forces at Shanghai on 8th December 1941".London Gazette 23 October 1945 p5180.
/ref> A small collection of photographs displayed at the Bund Historical Museum in Shanghai records the scene in the pool of Shanghai in the days both before and after 8 December 1941. Included in the collection are images of the badly damaged, capsized hulk of HMS ''Peterel''. In December 2013 (a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer) visited Shanghai and its crew participated in a HMS ''Peterel'' commemoration service. A fictionalised account of the Peterel's sinking appears in
JG Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, s ...
's novel '' Empire of the Sun'', which was adapted into a film released in 1987. This scene was deleted from the final film.


Citations


References

* * Konstam, Angus. ''Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49''. Osprey Publishing (2011) . * Wetten, Desmond. ''The Lonely Battle''. W.H. Allen (1960) ASIN: B0000CKH0A {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterel (1927), HMS 1927 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Gunboats of the Royal Navy World War II patrol boats of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1930 Maritime incidents in December 1941 World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean