post date 5/29/00
Introduction:
Dear reader,
Reader seems kinda stuffy, how about Webizen!
The web's an irreverent place, and maybe irrelevant too at times, which is how I feel making things for it--an irreverent irrelevant! And I'm being more lighthearted here about a subject that is solemn than maybe I should. If you are familiar with the Panay Incident, and Nanking, and all that happened in China then, as a student of history you know what I'm hedging about.
Initially, I set out to write about the Panay as a subject for a project assignment at a local community college. My task was to make a four page booklet to familiarize myself with offset printing. My goal was to see how things go from computer to print. Those steps when the data becomes film, film becomes plate, plate goes through the printing machine, were something of a mystery. The subject of the project was unimportant, it could be anything a student chose. The focus was on the process. So out of the blue, sorta, I picked the Panay.
I had read about the Panay years before. What lodged in my head was the tale of a little ship that was bombed by the Japanese way before Pearl Harbor, and became notorious as a foreshadowing of World War 2. My mind's eye recalled the story happening in the harbor of some Chinese city that was being bombed by the Japanese, and an errant pilot, deliberately or accidentally, bombed the Panay.
Well, clearly I had forgotten a lot of the details of the story I read. It was Perry's magazine story in American Heritage. But the ghist I had was probably as much as anyone does who even knows about the Panay.
But in December of 1999 I saw in the newspaper a notation about the Panay, one of those "This day in history..." "On December 12, 1937, the USS Panay was bombed." And I thought, that's nice, some journalist remembering the Panay. And at the time I was following the war in Yugoslavia, and the bombing of the Chinese Embassy. That bombing, I thought, was a little like the Panay upside down. We made the mistake, we made the apology, we paid the retribution. But we, America, aren't the Japanese in 1930's China. I'm certain of that myself, but I can see where a billion Chinese might not agree. And if the machination of the CIA make you cringe, then don't feel alone, as there are likely many Americans in sympathy. Oddly, the CIA, according to one source, got its start in China of this time. But more on that later...
So, I announce to the class that my project subject was the Panay, and I went off to the library. I found Perry's book easy, and old microfilms of London Times telling the story easy. At 53 I still start fishing in the library catalog and Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature-- the old fashioned way. But in the library too were banks of computers and I'm familiar with going online, being an old GEnie webizen, and I started using the search engines. I hadn't really used the web since it's inception. What a marvel! Needless to say, my Panay subject took on new dimension.
Here, I might announce, anyone who has ever written about the Panay before needs to do it all over again! And you know, that may hold true for all the history stories. The web fills everything out. People who have the first hand stories, the old photos, the letters, the governments that have the archives, just all kinds of things, are being made available on the web.
Quickly, for me, the focus of my Panay project went from the process to the content. The class is over now, the four page booklet made (best I could anyway!), and I'm still studying the Panay.
Why is it so engrossing?, you might ask here. Well, I hadn't realized that that "Chinese city" was Nanking. As one author puts it, the fall of Nanking on December 12, 1937, dwarfed the bombing of the Panay. Heck, it dwarfs everything. It's Hiroshima, a Nagasaki, an Auschwitz--the fall of Nanking was a holocaust--China of the thirties and forties was a holocaust.
There has always been something disproportionate about America's story telling. The story of the Panay in the 1937 media far outweighs the story of Nanking. And that hasn't changed much, the story of one lost plane got more media coverage of the Yugoslavia raids then it likely deserved. And what I mean by "deserved" is that history needs to be told as proportionally as possible. Otherwise, no one knows what really happened. An unbalanced telling of history isn't lying, or covering up, the Japanese still don't want to talk or hear about Nanking and the rest, anymore than America wants Hiroshima presented as the wrong thing to have done. Nations do that sort of thing, just like individuals. Dwelling on the awful, is, well, awful, and folk everywhere avoid it if they can. And heroic stories of one downed pilot, or one small ship in a far away land, are, simply, what we recall on Memorial Day. But the truth, somehow, has to be available, and there in the history stories for those who seek it, as student's, as soldiers, as politicians, as anyone for whom truth matters. And it's never easy to find out what really happened for any event, no matter how recent.
What is usually out of whack, is the proportions. We call the Panay bombing an Incident, Japan refers to the whole China campaign, as an Incident. And out of whack proportions can wreck havoc with history telling. Here I might refer to Robert Graves' poem, "The Persian Version". And America's storytelling, because of the disproportions, doesn't tell the truth. It just doesn't. America tells stories, very good ones, but they are not proportional to the history that made them.
And since I got started in on this Panay project, that has been my simplest goal, to get the proportions right.
So, now, let me leave off these ruminations for awhile, and here present just the text of the four page booklet. The illustrated text, if you haven't noticed, is a pict image. It's the booklet as it was printed. I had to go to pict because I couldn't get the font at home on my (borrowed) computer to the school's computers. Frustrating. The font I used was Papyrus (came with Corel draw I believe), and it's nice. And I would use it here, and dispense with an "illustrated text" but the web browser only supports a limited number of fonts. Arrgh.
Oh, one more thought I guess... Proportionally the Panay Incident may rank with the assassination of the arch duke in Bosnia that started WW1. But the Panay Incident didn't start WW2. The experience of WW1 made America shy away from retaliation. How shy were we?! Very very shy, and it's a trait I hope we never loose...
The Bombing of U.S.S. Panay
"Custom is king of all."—Herodotus
The diplomacy between nations is ritualistic, and each ritual shrouds events. In the day-to-day dealings between nations these rituals become customs, over time, they become "time honored customs". When a new or strange event occurs, diplomats scurry and try to deal with it. When an event portends war, it is a very serious matter.
During the pre World War Two invasion of China by the Japanese, it was customary for the Japanese to avoid conflict with the neutral nation’s gunboats patrolling the Yangtze River. Western nations with concessions in Shanghai, Nanking, and other Chinese towns along the Yangtze, patrolled the river to protect their interests. The presence of the gunboats of both Britain and America was a provocation to Japan as she fought the battle for Nanking.
At the time, civil war was being fought in China all the while Japan was invading. Indeed, the Japanese manipulated the conflict within China to further their interests. Clandestine aid was provided to the Chinese by America. The large scale foreign policy of America and Japan was not in agreement, and both sides had made contingency plans for war.
Neither was prepared for full-scale war, and an attack on neutral gunboats would be a mistake for Japan in that respect. Unprepared, Japan couldn’t afford to have America retaliate. In similar fashion, it would have been mistaken for America to launch an attack. America wasn’t ready for war either.
And it may have been shortsighted of America to even have the gunboats patrolling. Bombs and artillery fire had already struck near American ships in Shanghai harbor. Often it was difficult to determine who dropped the bombs or fired the artillery, as both the Chinese and Japanese were fighting close to the Shanghai city areas set apart for the foreign concessions. It seems foolhardy that America would risk having the Japanese bomb a gunboat in the Chinese/Japanese war zone.
On occasion, for safety, Chinese merchant ships would position themselves close to the gunboats. Japanese bombing pilots seeing the Stars and Stripes or the Union Jack, wouldn’t bomb the Chinese targets least they hit the Western gunboats.
War torn China was a tangle of conflicting motives, many hidden and secret. Open warfare between America and Japan was the risk everyone was taking, and everyone was tempting fate.
On Sunday, December 12, 1937, the Japanese did bomb the gunboat U.S.S Panay, and it was an open attack. The entire event was captured on film and not a month later shown all across America: Norman Alley’s Bombing of USS Panay. Alley and other newsman were taken aboard the Panay early that Sunday morning as refugees from Nanking. They had been covering the story there, a fierce battle being fought between the Chinese and Japanese, and were part of a small group of diplomats and newsmen trying to escape. The Panay steamed twenty-seven miles up river with them, and also escorted three merchant ships with refugees. In the afternoon the ships all anchored in mid-river, far enough away from shore, the Panay captain thought, to avoid artillery fire from either side. Then, a few crewmen happened to glance skyward and see a formation of high altitude bombers, and what appeared to be the black specks of bombs falling. Before they knew it, one bomb, a dud, had punched a hole all the way through the Panay, and another exploded nearby, caving in the hull plates and raking the boat with shrapnel.
Alley, and his fellow newsman, had the presence of mind to grab their film cameras, and still cameras, load them, and film the bombing which had only just begun. A squadron of Japanese bi-wing dive bombers for the next twenty minutes strafed and bombed the Pansy and the three merchants ships near it. The weather was clear and the pilots could see the flags on the Panay. For just this purpose, large American flags lay flat on the Panay’s sunshade canopies, easily seen from above.
Within a week the President was viewing the film. The bombing, in the language of diplomacy, had become an incident. It was interpreted and spoken about with diplomatic terms. Warships of the Pacific Fleet in San Diego left harbor for maneuvers.
The Japanese, at first, denied their aircraft had attacked, but the evidence was overwhelming. The crew had managed to get ashore, the Panay taking several hours to sink, and after several days hiding out in the countryside aided by the Chinese, they managed to return to the U.S.S Augusta, flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. So there were many eyewitness accounts, to go with the film.
The bombing quickly became known as the Panay Incident. Its resolution was for the Emperor of Japan to make public apology, and pay retribution. And America accepted it. Both were being diplomatic, in the sardonic sense.
For one brief moment, America and Japan had taken one another’s measure. War between the two was inevitable, and in the aftermath of the Panay Incident the secret plans and preparations for World War were intensified.
NOTE: That's it for the text only version of the illustrated text. This was an early version, and it might be of some interest to compare the differences. The Nanking part I have to, at this date May 29, 2000, recopy, as I wrote it in Photoshop and flattened it! Soon as I do that, I'll put it here, and the bit about the USS Panay too. In the meantime, have a look at these sources. Both MELVL and the National Archive give a nice account just as part of their cataloging of the Norman Alley film. And the next part of the dispatches is from Perry's "The Panay Incident". For awhile, that's all I had in mind for the booklet. The 911 immediacy is pretty good! And at the end are the sources for the pictures from the Library of Congress/American Memory. I have more books, more things to list, and will as time goes on..
VIDEORECORDING
Title: News of the day. [Vol. 9, no. 230], The bombing of the Panay!
Publisher: United States : [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1937-12-29]
Notes: Newsreel.
Volume and issue numbers and distributor from synopsis sheet; release date (date of distribution to theater) from Hearst index cards.
Story title on Hearst synopsis sheet: The bombing of the U.S.S. Panay. Story titles on some Hearst index cards: Bombardment and evacuation, Nanking, China.
Hearst index cards list the footage sources as Fox; Mayell is listed as cameraman on the evacuation footage. The Panay footage was shot by Universal's Norman Alley and Fox Movietone's Eric Mayell, according to: The American newsreel, 1911-1967 / Raymond Fielding. 1972.
Credit: Photographed by Eric Mayell and Newsreel Wong.
Performers: Commentary by Paul Alley and Jean Paul King.
Subject: "Pictures made under fire aboard U.S.S. Panay when it was sunk by Japanese! Films rushed by gunboat to Shanghai, by destroyer to Manila and then via China Clipper to America!"
Shot description: A reporter (Alley or King) introduces the footage, telling of the courage and devotion of the newsreel cameraman. Nanking under bombardment (long shots). A dead man lies in rubble. A woman, with baby on lap, sits sobbing on the ground beside her husband, who was killed by a bomb. A crying child tries to pull her up. The U.S. Embassy building, Nanking. Embassy staff evacuates; men load belongings into cars. Cars exit out the Embassy (?) gates. The waterfront, where the Panay lies offshore while waiting to move refugees to a point 28 miles up the Yangtze River. Men in a shoreboat approach the ship (medium closeup). The shoreboat is tied up to the Panay. Sailors transfer cargo to the Panay. The Panay (long shot). From aboard the Panay, a Japanese launch is seen approaching. The U.S. flag marking the ship (closeup). Bombs hitting the water. Damage to the Panay's deck (closeup). A crewman stands amidst wreckage. Bombs hit the water. Machine gunners aboard the Panay fire ..., cont.
Shot description continues: ... View from the Panay of another ship; bombs hit. Machine gunners fire. A man "felled by flying steel" is pulled below. Lieutenant Arthur F. Anders, the wounded, the crew, and passengers take to the lifeboats (several shots). A pan of the abandoned ship ends with a shot of the silent batteries. The shore boat departs. A lone swimmer. Lifeboats take people ashore as the Panay settles (several long shots). Scenes of the lifeboats' arrival onshore. Standard Oil boats afire (long shot). Ashore, the casualties are attended to. Cameraman Eric Mayell films the foundering Panay. The Panay (long shot). Ashore, emergency first aid is given to the wounded. The sinking Panay. The casualties, including Commander Hughes, "who carried on despite a broken leg," are attended to. The Panay. The wounded. Luigi Barzini comforts his fatally wounded countryman, journalist Sandro Sandri. Men carry a stretcher through the reeds, attempting to reach the nearest road ..., cont.
Shot description continues: ... A wounded sailor is helped along. The sinking Panay. Survivors walk along the road to Ho-sin (?), "five miles distant," with Chinese carriers bearing the injured. In Ho-sin, Chinese doctors treat the wounded in a yard. Lieutenant Anders, who continued to direct the defense of the ship even after being gravely wounded by a shot in the throat, is tended to; smoking a cigarette, he looks over to the camera and smiles. Another wounded person is tended to. Survivors embark on junks for a canal trip to Han-sham (?), approximately 12 miles inland (several medium shots). The rescue flotilla, including the U.S. gunboat Oahu and the British gunboat Ladybird. Damage to the ship. The rescue flotilla arrives in Shanghai (view of the shore from the ship). The Oahu (medium long shots, medium shot). The Oahu alongside the Augusta. A flag-draped coffin is transported aboard a small boat. Another flag-draped coffin is hoisted aboard ship (several shots), then carried by pallbearers ..., cont.
Shot description continues: ... Survivors, many of them wounded, disembark as night falls. (May include shots of cameramen Norman Alley, Eric Mayell, and Arthur Menken, and of Eric Mayell and Admiral Yarnell, according to the Hearst index card.) Aboard ship, an American flag waves.
Released sound track version.
Language: English
Subjects: Mayell, Eric
Hughes, James Joseph
Barzini, Luigi Giorgio,--1908-
Sandri, Sandro,--1895-1937--Death and burial.
Anders, Arthur
Menken, Arthur,--d. 1973
Yarnell, Harry E.--(Harry Ervin),--1875-1959
Alley, Norman
Panay (Gunboat)
Oahu (Gunboat)
Ladybird (Gunboat)
Augusta (Cruiser)
United States.--Navy--Gunners.
News photographers
Battle casualties
Evacuation of civilians--China--Nan-ching shih
Embassy buildings--China--Nan-ching shih
Embassy buildings--United States
Refugees--China
Bombing, Aerial--China--Yangtze River
First aid in illness and injury--China
Transport of sick and wounded--China
United States--Relations--Japan.
Japan--Relations--United States.
Nan-ching shih (China)--Bombardment.
Newsreels
Shorts
UCLA preservation
Other entries: Mayell, Eric camera
Wong, Hai-Sheng camera
Alley, Paul narration
King, Jean Paul narration
Alley, Norman camera
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Bombing of the Panay!
News of the day. Vol. 9, no. 230, The bombing of the U.S.S. Panay!
News of the day. Vol. 9, no. 230, Bombardment and evacuation, Nanking, China.
To locate: Holdings for:
UCLA
GOVERNMENT STATE PRIORITY: AMERICAN CONSUL SHANGHAI.
AMERICAN EMBASSY PEKING. ROUTINE SECRETARY WASHINGTON.
AMERICAN EMBASSY HANKOW.
DECEMBER ELEVEN FIVE PM
AT TWO FORTY FIVE PM TODAY SHELLS BEGAN FALLING ON THE NEAR
SHORE NOT FAR UP RIVER FROM THE PANAY. RELUCTANT TO LEAVE SAN
CHIA HO AND POSSIBILITY OF FURTHER CONTACT WITH AMERICANS.
PANAY DELAYED MOVING UNTIL SHELLS WERE FALLING IN THE WATER
AHEAD AND ON THE OPPOSITES BANK, AND THEN PROCEEDED UP THE
RIVER ABOUT TWELVE MILES FROM NANKING TO MILEAGE TWO
HUNDRED EIGHT ABOVE WOOSUNG WHERE VESSEL IS NOW ANCHORED.
AS FROM THIS EMBASSY PLEASE COMMUNICATE POSITION TO JAPANESE
EMBASSY WITH REQUEST THAT APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTIONS BE ISSUED
TO JAPANESE FORCES INCLUDING AIR FORCE, SINCE JAPANESE BOMBING
PLANES HAVE FLOWN DAILY OVER THE PANAY AT THE SAN CHIA HO AS
WELL AS FORMER HSIAKUAN ANCHORAGE.
BRITISH VESSELS ALSO PROCEEDED UP RIVER.
SENT TO SHANGHAI, REPEATED TO DEPARTMENT HANKOW, PEKING.
PEKING PLEASE REPEAT TO TOKYO WITH REQUEST THAT EMBASSY
TOKYO KINDLY TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION WITH RESPECT TO LAST
SENTENCE FIRST PARAGRAPH ABOVE.
GEORGE ATCHESON
SECRETARY, NANKING EMBASSY
TO: AMERICAN CONSUL, SHANGHAI
DECEMBER TWELVE ELEVEN AM
SHELL FIRE AT NINE OCLOCK THIS MORNING CAUSED THE PANAY TO
MOVE FARTHER UPSTREAM AND VESSEL IS NOW ANCHORED TWENTY
SEVEN MILES ABOVE NANKING AT MILAGE TWO TWENTY ONE ABOVE
WOOSUNG. STANDARD OIL COMPANY'S STEAMERS MEIPING, MEIAN, AND
MEIHISIA ARE ANCHORED NEARBY.
AS FROM THIS EMBASSY PLEASE INFORM JAPANESE EMBASSY OF
PRESENT POSITION OF PANAY AND AMERICAN MERCHANT VESSELS
NAMED, AND REQUEST THAT APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTIONS BE ISSUED TO
JAPANESE FORCES. PLEASE ADD THAT CIRCUMSTANCES MAY AGAIN
CAUSE PANAY TO MOVE EITHER UP OR DOWN RIVER AND THAT PANAY
EXPECTS TO RETURN DOWN RIVER TO NANKING AS SOON AS FEASIBLE IN
ORDER TO REESTABLISH COMMUNICATION WITH AMERICANS WHO
REMAINED IN NANKING AND IN ORDER THAT THIS EMBASSY MAY AS
SOON AS PRACTICABLE RESUME ITS FUNCTIONS ASHORE. PLEASE STATE
THAT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY HOPES THAT APPROPRIATE STEPS TO
FACILITATE THIS PLAN WILL BE TAKEN ALL AUTHORITIES WHO MAY BE
CONCERNED.
SENT TO SHANGHAI, REPEATED TO DEPARTMENT HANKOW, PEKING.
PEKING PLEASE PLEASE REPEAT TO TOKYO WITH REQUEST THAT
EMBASSY TOKYO COMMUNICATE TO JAPANESE FOREIGN OFFICE.
ATCHESON
FROM: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
TO: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL 12 DECEMBER 4:35 P.M.
PANAY UNHEARD SINCE 1342. WHAT IS NATURE CASUALTY.
ARE YOU TO CONTACT PANAY VIA BRITISH.
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
TO: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET 12 DECEMBER 5:05 P.M.
NO COMMUNICATION SINCE 1335 WHEN DURING PANAY TRANSMISSION NITE DISPATCH
SIGNAL CEASED. BRITISH ENDEAVORING DETERMINE NATURE CAUSALITY.
BUT BELIEVE NO BRITISH NOW WITHIN SIGHT.
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL.
TO: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
12 DECEMBER 8:10 P.M.
LAST REPORT PANAY ANCHORED MILEAGE TWO TWENTY ONE ABOVE WOOSUNG. BRITISH
HAVE NOTIFIED THEIR GUNBOATS THAT VICINITY CONTACT VESSEL IF PRACTICAL.
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL.
TO: OPNAV
FOR INFORMATION TO: 2ND MARINE BRIGADE, ALL YANGTZE PATROL SHIPS. COMMANDER
SUBMARINE SQUADRON FIVE, COMMANDER DESTROYER SQUADRON FIVE, COMMANDER
IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET, COMMANDER SOUTH PACIFIC AUXILIARY TRANSPORTS, AMERICAN AMBASSADOR
CHINA, U.S.S. MARBLEHEAD, AMERICAN EMBASSY NANKING, ALL U.S. NAVY PEKING.
PANAY ENDANGERED BY ARTILLERY FIRE FORCED MOVE ANCHORAGE FARTHER UP RIVER. BRITISH GUNBOATS AND FOREIGN MERCHANT VESSELS BETWEEN WUHU AND NANKING SUBJECTED DIRECT ARTILLERY AND AIR ATTACKS THROUGHOUT DAY. HMS LADYBIRD STRUCK FOUR TIMES BY JAP SHELLS AT WUHU. ONE SEAMAN KILLED, SEVERAL WOUNDED. SITUATION NANKING UNCERTAIN BUT CHINESE APPARENTLY STILL HOLD CITY.
FROM: U.S.S. LUZON
TO: SECSTATE WASINGTON, AMERICAN EMBASSY PEIKING
12 DECEMBER 10 P. M.
COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL HAS BEEN UNABLE TO CONTACT PANAY SINCE 1335 TODAY. AM INFORMED THAT JAPANESE ARMY FORCES HAVE ORDERS TO FIRE UPON ALL SHIPS ON RIVER. IN VIEW OF WHAT HAPPENED TO BRITISH NAVAL VESSELS NEAR NANKING AND AT WUHU TODAY, PLEASE ASK TOKYO TO MAKE URGENT REPRESENTATIONS TO FOREIGN OFFICE AND TO NOTIFY IT OF WHEREABOUTS OF PANAY AND STANDARD OIL COMPANY SHIPS LOADED WITH AMERICAN REFUGEES, LAST REPORTED ANCHORED AT MILEAGE TWO TWENTY ONE ABOVE WOOSUNG. PEKING REPEAT URGENT TO TOKYO. SENT TO DEPARTMENT PEKING AND INFORMATION COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET.
NELSON T. JOHNSON
U.S. AMBASSADOR
FROM; U.S.S LUZON
TO: SECSTATE WASHINGTON, EMBASSY PEKING
AMERICAN CONSUL, SHANGHAI 12 DECEMBER 10 PM
BRITISH GUNBOATS SCARAB AND CRICKET WITH JARDINE HULK AND MERCHANT SHIP WHANGPOO LOADED WITH FOREIGN REFUGEES WERE DELIBERATELY BOMBED THIS AFTERNOON. NO CASUALTIES REPORTED BUT AS THERE ARE AMERICAN REFUGEES FROM NANKING ON HULK, I HOPE DEPARTMENT WILL URGENTLY INSTRUCT TOKYO TO PRESS THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT TO ISSUE INSTRUCTIONS WHICH WILL PREVENT THIS IN FUTURE. JAPANESE INFORMED BRITISH AT WUHU TODAY THAT JAPANESE MILITARY FORCES HAD ORDERS TO FIRE ON ALL SHIPS ON YANGTZE. UNLESS JAPAN CAN BE MADE TO REALIZE THAT THESE SHIPS ARE FRIENDLY AND ARE ONLY REFUGE AVAILABLE TO AMERICAN AND OTHER FOREIGNERS, A TERRIBLE DISASTER IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN. SENT TO THE DEPARTMENT. REPEATED TO PEKING, SHANGHAI, INFORMATION OF COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET.
NELSON T. JOHNSON
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
TO; COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
12 DECEMBER 10:48 PM
BRITISH REPORT NONE OF THEIR VESSELS WITHIN VISUAL DISTANCE PANAY. LAST REPORT PANAY ANCHORED 221 ABOVE WOOSUNG AT 1100 IN COMPANY WITH THREE STANDARD OIL VESSELS.
U-R-G-E-N-T
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
T0: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
INFORMATION: U.S.S. OAHU 13 DECEMBER 10:03 AM
MESSAGE RECEIVED BY TELEPHONE FROM NANKING. PANAY BOMBED AND SUNK AT MILEAGE 221 ABOVE WOOSUNG. FIFTY FOUR SURVIVORS, MANY BADLY WOUNDED, NOW ASHORE AT HOHSIEN ANHWEL. HMS BEE WILL PROCEED THIS POINT TO ASSIST AND BRING SURVIVORS TO WUHU. WSS OAHU FUELING KIUKIANG PREPARATORY DEPARTING WUHU. NAMES OF PERSONNEL LOST NOT KNOWN. ATCHESON SAFE. CAPTAIN HAS BROKEN LEG. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE FORWARDED WHEN RECEIVED.
FROM: AMBASSADOR CHINA
TO: AMERICAN CONSUL, SHANGHAI, SECSTATE
AMEROCAM EMBASSY PEKING 13 DECEMBER 11 AM
I HAVE JUST HAD THE FOLLOWING TELEPHONE MESSAGE FROM DOCTOR TAYLOR AT NANKING QUOTE DOCTOR TAYLOR SAID THAT HE HAD A FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH MISTER ATCHESON. ATCHESON REPORTED THAT THE STAFF OF THE GUNBOAT WERE SAFE. ALTHOUGH ONE SAILOR HAD DIED, AND THE CAPTAIN AND EXECUTIVE OFFICER HAD BEEN WOUNDED.
DOCTOR TAYLOR STATED THAT ATCHESON WAS AFRAID THAT THEY COULD NOT GO TO THE RIVER AS THE JAPANESE WERE MACHINE GUNNING HOHSIEN. HE SAID THAT HE HAD TOLD ATCHESON TO REMAIN IN HOHSIEN FOR THE TIME BEING. HE SAID THAT ATCHESON ASKED THAT THE JAPANESE BE ASKED NOT TO ATTACK HOHSIEN, AS JAPANESE PATROLS WERE ON THE NORTH BANK OF RIVER AND WERE ABOUT TO, OR HAD ALREADY ATTACKED HOHSIEN UNQUOTE.
IMMEDIATELY COMMUNICATE THIS INFORMATION TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITIES. SENT TO SHANGHAI, REPEATED TO DEPARTMENT PEKING.
JOHNSON
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
TO: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
INFORMATION: U.S.S OAHU 13 DECEMBER 11:32 AM
FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM ATCHESON BY TELEPHONE FROM DR. TAYLOR. NANKING EMBASSY STAFF SAFE. ONE SAILOR DIED. CAPT AND EXECUTIVE OFFICER WOUNDED. SURVIVORS UNABLE TO GO TO RIVER AS JAPANESE NOW MACHINE GUNNING THE TOWN. DR. TAYLOR ADVISED EVERYONE REMAIN HOHSIEN. REQUEST JAPANESE BE ASKED NOT TO ATTACK HOHSIEN. JAPANES PATROLS NOW ON NORTH BANK OF RIVER AND APPEAR TO BE ABOUT TO ATTACK THE TOWN.
FROM: VICE ADMIRAL BRITISH YANGTZE PATROL
TO: HMS BEE, ALL SHIP'S BRITISH YANGTZE PATROL,
BRITISH COMMANDER IN CHIEF SHANGHAI
13 DECEMBER
COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL INFORMS THE USS PANAY SUNK BY BOMBS PM YESTERDAY 12 DEC. FIFTY FOUR SURVIVORS AMERICAN AND BRITISH. MANY WOUNDED NOW AT HSIA SHAN. EVERYTHING POSSIBLE SHOULD BE DONE TO ASSIST AND YOU SHOULD ATTEMPT TO BRING WOUNDED TO WUHU., ANY INFORMATION YOU CAN GATHER OF THIS OCCURRENCE SENT TO ME AT ONCE FOR INFORMATION OF COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL.
FROM: COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
TO: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
13 DECEMBER 12:47 P.M.
HAVE URGED HASHIMOTO THROUGH BRITISH AT WUHU NOT ATTACK HOHSIEN UNTIL AMERICAN AND OTHER FOREIGN REFUGEES HAVE BEEN EMBARKED. EXPECT OAHU ARRIVE WUHU EARLY TOMORROW MORNING AND REQUESTED BRITISH CONVEY THIS INFORMATION TO LOCAL JAP AUTHORITIES.
FROM; COMMANDER YANGTZE PATROL
TO: COMMANDER IN CHIEF ASIATIC FLEET
13 DECEMBER 11:56 P.M.
FOLLOWING RECEIVED FROM BEE. QUOTE FOLLOWING ARE NOW ON BOARD BEE: SHERWOOD, PICKERING, AND GOLDIE OF SOCONY, JORGENSON OF MEI HSIA, MENDY AND BLASINA OF MEI PING, PUCKET, HOYLE COLEMAN, GRANES, BONKOSKI, DIRNOFFER, BROWNING ALL OF PANAY. ALL MOVING INTO STREAM FOR THE NIGHT TO AVOID DANGER FROM BURNING HULKS OF MEI PING AND MIA HSIA. SURVIVORS ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED FOLLOWS. I AM SIGNALING OVER NORTH BANK WITH SEMAPHORE LIGHT SAYING BEE WILL BE OFF HOHSEIN AGAIN IN THE MORNING UNQUOTE.
Ding Hao
America’s Air War in China 1937-1945
by Wanda Cornelius and Thayne Short
ISBN 0-88289-253-3
Pelican 1980
(Fallbrook Library)
______________________
The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-1945
Michael Schaller
ISBN 0-231-04454-2
Columbia University Press 1979
(Fallbrook Library
Japan’s Imperial Conspiracy
by David Bergman
ISBN
William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York 1971
"To Jack, a U.S. Marine, and Kino-san, a Japanese nursemaid, who both perished in a clash of cultures and aspirations which might have been averted but for the proud deceptions and lazy ignorance of many on both sides."
On July 14, Washington time, when the allied leaders were all in transit to Potsdam, the first A-bomb was hoisted atop a tower in the New Mexico desert for a test. Early on July 17, the morning of the Potsdam Conference, Truman heard the first news of the results: "Baby satisfactorily born."... ...After reading the full report of the test, (Winston) Churchill on July 22 leaned forward in his chair, waved his cigar in emphasis, and rumbled oracularly: "Stimson! What was gunpowder? Trivial. What was electricity? Meaningless. This atomic bomb is the Second Coming in wrath."
p79
Item 1 of 500
Watercolor by George R. West of the Buddhist Temple of the
Goddess of Mercy, Macao, China, where the first Sino-American treaty was signed
in 1844.
(Caleb Cushing Papers)
The Buddhist Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, located in the settlement of Wang-Hsia on the island of Macao, the Portuguese colony lying off the delta of the Canton River, was the site of the signing of the Treaty of Wang-Hsia. Caleb Cushing (1800-1879), of Newburyport, Massachusetts, a United States representative prior to his mission to China, successfully negotiated this first treaty between the United States and China. Signed on 3 July 1844, it won the same concessions that the British had gained in the Treaty of Nanking following the conclusion of the Opium War in 1842. Five treaty ports were to be opened to United States trade, and the principle of extraterritoriality was set forth, whereby United States citizens living in China would be tried by the United States consul in accordance with the laws of the United States. The watercolor on paper of the Buddhist Temple at Wang-Hsia was painted by George R. West (1811-1877), who was included in Cushing's diplomatic entourage as an official painter. It is one of many paintings in the Cushing Papers relating to the 1844 mission.
John J. McDonough, Manuscript Division
University of Nanking.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
1920
SUMMARY
Possible graduation ceremony and procession.
NOTES
Photographer's address: Nanking, China.
Source unknown.
SUBJECTS
Sunset on river; houseboat flying large U.S. flag.
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
[1895]
NOTES
Gift; William P. Meeker; 1971.
SUBJECTS
Flags--American.
Sunrises
& sunsets.
Houseboats.
China.
Lantern
slides--Hand colored.
MEDIUM
1 slide : lantern, hand colored ; 3.25 x 4 in.
CALL NUMBER
W7-911 <P&P>
COLLECTION
World's Transportation
Commission Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID
(original)
wtc 4a03242
Note: I suppose I'll get woofed at for copyright infringement, though the LofC pictures are being it seems given, and the rest was all at one time a government document, and so copyright free. I try to source everything. The blue type seems to indicate I've snagged the LofC's bookmarks too!
And what, for goodness sake, Sir Winston, is the WEB?
5/29/2000 top