Can anyone assist.......
I have been retracing my mother and grandmothers evacuation from Singapore aboard the Felix Roussel. I am presently in New Delhi where they eventually resided following their arrival in Bombay. Do you happen to know where they entered in Bombay? I will be there in about a week and would like to retrace as much as possible. Gratefully - Marianne Bouldin.
16 comments:
My family and myself age 7 was also on the Free French MV Felix Roussel. The ship left Keppel Harbour after we boarded at about 5 p.m. The Japanese Imperial Guards landed the same night at midnight. Australian War Reports recorded 17 Mitsubishi Betty bombers bombed it the following morning in the Banka Straits. Of course, they missed. I remember seeing a dark blue and grey warship and another steamer, Devonshire accompanies us. We arrived at the Bombay harbour but was not permitted to disembark for sometime. My family then took up residence at a former Japanese hotel at the foot of the Malabar hill near the Tower of Silence.
Hello, sorry, I realise over a year has gone by since the original post! My grandfather, A.E. Snowling, was the Master of the Felix Roussel at that time and I have his papers relating to that visit to Singapore. Among the papers are many letters and notes he received from the passengers evacuated from Singapore to India, as well as a number of letters and reports relating to the Japanese aerial bombardment, subsequent repairs etc. I'd be happy to look through these letters and see if there is one from your mother or grandmother..
Robin Hutchinson
Hello Robin my father and his mother were evacuated from Singapore in 1942. His mother was known as Mrs May Fox and my dad was 2 years old. He was known as Casey. I originally thought they went to Karachi but they definitely lived in Bombay. His mum was Malaysian and married to Bdr Arthur Thomas Neville Fox who was taken prisoner in the fall of Singapore. Do your father's papers contain any information about them? Jo Fox.
My mother, brother and me were onboard the Felix Roussel when it left Singapore for Bombay on 8 Feb 1942 via the Banka Strait and Sunda Strait. We were attacked by Japanese bombers but did not incur a direct strike. We arrived in Bombay 10 days later. We spent the war years in Naini Tal in The Himalayas where I attended preschool classes. Later we went to Bombay where I was enrolled is St Mary's High School as a boarder and spent 4 years there (1946-49). We returned to Singapore in Dec 1949 and I enrolled at St Joseph's Institution (1950-59). Went to University in KL (1959-64) and MIT in Massachusetts (1979-80) to do my Masters degree in Transportation. Worked in National Electricity Board, Kuala Lumpur (1964-1971) and Port of Singapore Authority, Singapore (1971-2001). Am now retired.--Donald Distant.
My grandmother, Dr Mah (nee Teh) Nya Sim escaped Singapore on the Felix Roussel with her children, George (my father) and Phyllis. She was pregnant at the time, and her second daughter, Evelyn, was born in India. They too spent the war years at the camp in Naini Tal. Amazingly, I've come to learn that some friends of mine also had family on the same ship.
Hello Robin
My Mother ( then aged 13) was on board the Felix Roussel with her Mother and three siblings, when it left Singapore. My Grandfather was then a POW in Sime Road
Their name was Shuttleworth, but there is a family story that they might have travelled under the name Abercrombie!
Do your papers include any information about them?
Thank you
Alan Watkins
I hope someone can help, a elderly friend of ours was evacuated from singapore to india on the M.V DEVONSHIRE IN 1942 AGED 9,With her mother, father was pow, then escaped. She is interested to find out if there are any other living persons that may have been on that ship. The lady is also willing to tell the full story of the evacuation first hand, i will keep my fingers crossed. My email is sbbiggsy@googlemail.com. telephone 07715566613.
My late mother and her sisters were evacuated on the ship sailing to India. There they split and sail to scotland via The cape where she served in the British Army. She returned to Singapore in 46 where I was born in 47
My father has only recently passed away, but I can remember his account of escaping Singapore on the Felix Roussel.
His father's name was William Sawyer and was a prison officer at Changi.. He was later captured by the Japanese and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner, but he managed to get his wife (my grandmother), my father, his younger brother and 2 sisters out on the Felix Roussel.
He recalled the aerial bombardment and finally landing in Bombay, where they made their way to South Africa and on to Scotland, finally arriving in London amidst the Blitz.
According to historical records, the convoy of Felix Roussel, Devonshire, INS Sutlej and an Australian destroyer left Keppel Harbour at mid-night 6 February 1942. When the convoy was bombed in the Banka Straits the following morning, the heavy flak from the destroyers forced the 17 Mitsubishi Betty bombers to miss.
My parents were on the Felix Roussel with my three sisters and embarked in Bombay, where two of my other siblings were born. My father’s name was Jacob Isaac Elias and my mom was Koh Sim Jua. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Katie Edgington
Many years ago my father-in-law told me that he sailed on the Felix Rouselle to service in North Africa with RAF Regiment. He was originally on HMS Letitia, a requisitioned troopship which left Liverpool on 9th January 1942 bound for Singapore but was delayed in South Africa for engine repairs so was close to Singapore just as it fell. The ship then turned back to India where he transferred to the Felix Roselle. Thanks to this blog, I can now assume that this transfer took place in Bombay in mid-late February 1942.
If anyone has any information about this journey from Bombay to Port Taufiq, Egypt, I would love to hear it.
Many thanks,
Glynis
My mother (Inge Kayser) boarded Felix Roussel the 6. of february 1942 from Singapore to Bombay. She was a danish 9 years old girl, and followed by the eurasian Lyford family.
Only women and children where alowed to boarder F.R., and the father of the family was on another ship to Bombay. So my mother was follwed by the Lyford mother and 4 daughters. One daughter was a nurse, and functioned as nurse on this trip on the ship.
My mother had been on a bording School in Malaysia. When the japanese bombed, the border closed to Thailand, where her father worked. She lost contact to her father and the Lyfords took care of my mother.
After they arived to Bombay, my mother stayed with this family for 4-5 years.
My mother is still alive, but lost contact to the Lyford family.
I am fascinated by these accounts. My mother, from Germany, sailed at age 19 on the Félix Roussel in August, 1936, to work in Shanghai as an interpreter. We just found a FR menu from August 6th, 1936. In 1937 she was evacuated from Shanghai and helped establish an office for her firm, Otto Wolfe, in Hong Kong, to substitute for the closed office in Shanghai. She met my British father in Dalat in 1938. He was organist and music director at the Anglican Cathedral in HK. They came to the US in 1939. My father served in the US Navy.
I am currently researching my husbands grandfathers career in the french merchant Navy and according to his log book he was a "garson" on the Felix Rousell between 1939-1945 during the evacuation of singapore. he has a Crois de Guerre which we believe was awarded for this mission, as were 9 other ships crew. we have no other information so reading your comments has been a great help.
Charley Chan.
I am writing my autobiography. Records have shown that the 'Felix Roussel' departed from Singapore on the night of 6th February 1942 after arriving in the morning of the 5th. I was there. Many wrong versions have been written on this last convoy out of beleaguered Singapore.
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