SS Chungking
From Our Contribution
 SS Chungking at Fremantle AWM 303106 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | SS Chungking |
| Owner | China Navigation Company |
| Completed | 1914 |
| Fate | unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Cargo/few passengers |
| Tonnage | 2,171 tons |
| Depth | 15'1" (4.60m) |
| Propulsion | Coal fired boilers |
| Speed | 9 knots (16.7 kmh) |
Remarks
One of thirty two ships owned by the Hong Kong based China Navigation Company that escaped the Japanese. Most were requisitioned by the British and Australian governments for the duration of the war. Seven of these ships arrived within a few days. The Chungking, which escaped in 1941, arrived in Fremantle on 4 Jan 1942 and was subsequently chartered to the State Steam Ships, Western Australia.
Following their arrival in Fremantle an industrial dispute between the ship's masters and their Chinese crews led to 300 armed Australian troops boarding the vessels with live ammunition to remove the crew members who had mutinied over pay. In the melee that followed two crew were killed, one from the Chungking. At the Coroner's inquest held on 19 February before Stipendiary Magistrate H.J. Craig, it was recorded that Tong Youn Tong, a Quartermaster from the Chungking had died from a gun shot fired by a Lieutenant Albert McCracken who was deemed by the Magistrate to have acted "in course of his duty". [1]
Chungking was handed over to the Australian Shipping Control Board and was converted for use by an Australian crew. The ship was then managed by State Ships. The Chungking serviced the North West Coast ports carrying military and civilian cargoes until June 1946 when it was handed back to its original owner. While operating off the Australian coast it had been armed with an oerlikon anti aircraft gun and a 12 pound gun. The Chungking was sold in 1947 to Tai Ping SS Co, of Hong Kong who renamed her Taichungshan.
Soldiers carried
Fremantle to Exmouth (Onslow) 18 June - 1 July 1943
Sailed via Geraldton, Shark Bay, and Carnarvon.
- Albert Dawson Winstanley
- ↑ Fremantle 1939 to 1945: Extraordinary Events at the Port - Tony Fletcher. Accessed 9 May 2021.