I was surprised to get correspondence from so many interested parties.
The most interesting of all was from the unofficial Ben Line website. They were in contact with Ronald Hayter an shipmate of my uncle Valentine on the Ben Nevis and a fellow inmate of the Japanese POW camp. Mr Hayter survived to tell his tale and a fascinating tale it is.
I found the pictures taken of the crew together with their Japanese captors particularly interesting (link: http://www.ben-line.org.uk/hainan%20island%20web.jpeg ) as was the story of how The Japanese nearly released the ship because they thought it was Scottish and could not find Scotland of their list of countries at war with Japan.
You can read Ronald Hayter�s story by following this link:
http://www.ben-line.org.uk/Ronald%20Hayter.htm
Another interesting account of the prison camp and its liberation can be found in Tom Pledger�s POW Diary which is on line here
