The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: The 828 Unforgotten

Special British Film Institute Viewing for Descendants of the POWs From the Lisbon Maru

On 15th August 2023, the 78th Anniversary of VJ Day, I was privileged to be invited to a special pre-premiere screening of Laurel Films “Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: The 828 Unforgotten” at the British Film Institute on the South Bank in London.

This screening was put together for the Families of the Prisoners of War who had been held aboard the ship during World War Two, and for some invited guests like myself.

Time Detectives worked as Genealogical Consultants for the film, with work starting five years ago in 2018, spanning Covid, tracing the relatives of British POWs who died in October 1942 aboard the Lisbon Maru.

The ship was transporting 700 Japanese Troops plus 1,816 mainly British and Commonwealth POWs to camps in Japan, when on 2nd October 1942, she was intercepted by American Submarine USS Grouper.  The USS Grouper, correctly identifying the Lisbon Maru as an armoured Japanese transport ship, engaged her with torpedoes and sank the ship.

As the ship went down the POWs were locked in the holds by their Guards, some POWs managed to breakout and escape, but were shot on deck and in the water by Japanese Guards and Japanese escort ships.  The killing was stopped when Chinese Fisherman from a local Village set out to rescue the POWs, this brave act stopped the slaughter. Tragically 828 POWs died in the massacre.

Chinese screen writer and producer Fang Li, from Laurel Films, has made a documentary showing the human side of the story, and Major Brian Finch was been appointed as the UK Liaison for the venture.  The event was considered important enough to have had the Chinese Ambassador to the UK as Guest of Honour, Mr  Zheng Zeguang. (Fang Li, Zheng Zeguang, and Brian Finch below).

Time Detectives agreed to provide Genealogical detective work to help contact relatives.  Some rlatives have been tracked by Time Detectives by constructing their Family Trees from the Victims’ ancestors down to living relatives.  A fascinating and worthwhile Project.

Time Detectives also looked for We are looking for families of the crew of USS Grouper, and both the Families of the Captain of the Grouper Rob Roy McGregar, and the engineer who fired the torpedoes Garfield Kvalheim, the McGregar tree was interesting to trace and the story of the family can be seen here: 

Rob Roy McGregor Part 1

Covers the family history in Scotland.

Rob Roy McGregor Part 2

Covers the family in the USA.

Interestingly Captain McGregor was a Consultant on the film Run Silent, Run Deep

The good news is, having found relatives of the victims, has helped to ensure that the 828 will never be forgotten. 

The World Premiere will take place on 1st October 2023, the 81st Anniversary of the sinking of the ship.