Imminent Peril: Ocean Island on the Brink of Invasion

Maureen White was seventeen years old and one of the people who survived the sinking of the British Phosphate Commission (BPC) ship, SS TRIONA, by German Raiders prior to the evacuation of Banaba—known during the phosphate mining period as Ocean Island. Maureen and her mother, Letitia, were taken prisoners by the Germans before being released on a remote island in New Guinea.

This is her first account that originally was a Featured Story - Farewell to Banaba in Banaba/Ocean Island News No. 8 (March-April 1994). [1]

Having survived the experience of being a prisoner of the German Navy's Pacific Raiders in December 1940, being landed on Emirau Island [2], off New Ireland, and eventually reaching Melbourne my mother and I decided to return to the Island (Ocean Island).

After restocking the depleted wardrobe we took the Spirt of Progress train to Sydney from where we sailed early in the May of 1941. The Norwegian ship was the SS NORTUN [3], a beautiful new freighter sailing under the Panamanian flag and therefore neutral, in a world rapidly being enveloped in War.

How different from the previous trip, a blacked-out TRIONA, now at the bottom of the sea off the Solomons. We had lights blazing and charming Norwegian hosts who carefully cared for their six lady passengers, with the Second Officer assigned to me. He was a most romantic, handsome Nordic man, with a wonderful library of books and determination to take me to the bow of the NORTUN, "to watch the porpoises making love in the moonlight". Very tempting. I ended up agreeing but cheated by taking one of the other women as a chaperone. Silly girl!

Arrival back on the Island was a most emotional reunion with my father and friends who had thought of us as lost at sea when we failed to arrive early in December. They had to wait four weeks to know what we had survived.

By this time the Australian Defence Force had sent a battery of the Army to defend the Island. Time was running out. I worked in the office and time passed very pleasantly with swimming, tennis, beach parties, the odd concert and the home a haven for soldiers. I was just glad to be back where I belonged.

It was inevitable that I should lose my heart to a handsome Sergeant and we would walk along the beach hand in hand. He had won the prize. Our paths did cross the next year when he was passing through Melbourne but 'his girl next door' had staked her claim and we parted most amicably. A nice memory.

In July the NORTUN again visited the Island. They had been in Yokohama in early 1941 and were convinced that the Japanese would soon enter into the War.

One evening there was a conference at home with the Island manager, the captain, and my father. It was decided that I must leave, so the next day my mother and I, together with four others left on the NORTUN, bound for Auckland. The rest of the women and children were evacuated about two weeks later on the TRIENZA, the last ship of the BPC fleet and MV WESTRALIA, an armed merchant cruiser sent to Nauru and Ocean Island for the express purpose of evacuation.

We were devastated at having to leave our home and friends. There was a sense of abandoning those who were staying and this of course is what happened. Precious things (including Mother's brass jardiniere) were packed into two camphorwood chests. One carved, one plain, and by good fortune they were placed on one of the later ships and turned up about four months later, everything else was left behind.

There was much rejoicing in early 1942 when so many of the men from the two islands, including the Chinese labourers who had worked for the BPC, were rescued in a daring visit by the French Destroyer, LE TRIOMPHANT. This is a story in itself. [4]

Unfortunately, a dreadful fate awaited those Europeans who remained behind and the Banabans who were scattered by the Japanese and did not return to their Island after the War but moved to Rabi.

Dear Father Pujebet, the crush of my youth, Arthur Mercer, Ron Third, Cartwright, and Lindsay Cole, did not survive the War being cruelly murdered by the Japanese as were the remaining Islanders, except for one Kabunare who lived to tell the dreadful story.

We sailed away from Banaba just after nightfall on 2 July 1941, after a most emotional farewell to our friends and again to my father. It was all very sudden but news spreads on a small Island and many came to the boat harbour to wave us farewell.

Our Banaban friends paddled out to where we were buoyed bringing leis of frangipani, hibiscus and my favourite bedus (jasmine). There were tears and I still recall that deep feeling of foreboding and sorrow as we moved away from my lovely Island. Of course, it could never be the same. The ravages of war, the Japanese destroyed the villages and then postwar, mining completed the job. It had been so lush.

As we sailed down the bay to Auckland with the coast in sight a couple of us, who were on the bridge (we had the run of the ship), sighted about six boats ahead and Morse lamps were really flickering. The message was to stop immediately as we had sailed into a minefield which was just laid.

Eventually, a naval vessel sailed right up behind us, in our path as it were, and passed at a very slow speed about fifty yards away, and then an unreal episode took place. The two captains bellowing at each other and at one stage each putting the loudspeaker to their ears at the same time. It just about cracked us up, however when standing in life jackets surrounded by angry cold grey sea, it's not amusing.

Our dear Captain John von Dale spoke fractured English with an American accent and was angry. The Royal New Zealand (RNZ) Navy Captain was, of course, embarrassed, and also angry. We got the message to reverse back out of the area, not straying from our original path and then to hug the shoreline.

We eventually arrived in Auckland to be met by a delegation of Naval Officials doing the next best thing to bearing sheaves of flowers. Fortunately, no harm was done. I may not have been so fortunate on a second shipwreck.

We boarded the Matson Liner, AMS MONTERAY, a luxury line with a fair quota of American millionaires on board. We had to make do with our limited wardrobes. Dressing for dinner, we managed a win on the daily mileage by one of the men in our little party, ensuring there was money for liquid refreshments. It was an elegant last trip to Australia on both the MONTERAY and MARIPOSA. As passenger liners, they were converted into troop ships.

The familiar trip on the Spirit of Progress from Sydney landed in Melbourne to join the main evacuees coming from the East so another chapter was to begin.

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Get the Book!

Read more about the epic history of Banaba (Ocean Island) and the Banaban people (the Forgotten People of the Pacific) as they seek justice to save their island, their culture, their future. Te Rii ni Banaba- Backbone of Banaba, by Raobeia Ken Sigrah and Stacey King, available on Amazon here

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1. Banaba/Ocean Island News Issue No. 8, March-April 1994 is available at Banaban Vision Publications.

2. Emirau Island, also called Emira, is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago located at 1°38.5′S 149°58.5′E. It is currently part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirau_Island

3. On the 20th March 1943 SS NORTON, when on route from Busreh & Table Bay for Bahia, Trinidad & Philadelphia she was torpedoed by German submarine U-516 and sunk. 10 crew lost from 47. Read more at wrecksite: https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?17741

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For more stories on the Japanese Invasion and Occupation of Ocean Island /Banaba:

The evacuation of Banaba: Escaping War on Ocean Island (Banaba), Prior to the epic battle of Tarawa

The Japanese Occupation of Banaba: Arthur Mercer WWII Mystery. Why did he ‘jump ship’ only to be captured by the Japanese on Ocean Island (Banaba)?

Maureen White survived the sinking of BPC ship, the TRIENZA by German Raiders and evacuation from Ocean Island. Imminent Peril: Ocean Island on the Brink of Invasion, Farewell Banaba

Firsthand accounts from those who survived Japanese Occupation World War II. War Atrocities Banaba (Ocean Island)

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