Lisbon Maru

Troopship/prison ship Lisbon Maru was sunk about 70 miles southeast of Shanghai in October 1942, taking an estimated 828 British Servicemen with her.

Although largely regarded as a tragedy for the Army, 139 sailors – many from HMS Tamar, the naval base in Hong Kong – and eight Royal Marines also went down in the converted cargo vessel.

With the 80th anniversary of the tragedy approaching, former soldier Christopher Allanson, whose artilleryman uncle was lost in the Lisbon Maru, is leading the drive with the Queen’s Regimental Association to erect a granite monument at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, close to the Far East Prisoners of War building.

The ship had been ferrying 1,800 British and Commonwealth prisoners of war from Hong Kong to Japan, where they were to work in labour camps to support Tokyo’s war effort.