Still at anchor and miraculously unscathed

22 January 1942 

Smoke hanging over Singapore docks end of January.
(photo by C. Yates McDaniel, Associated Press)

And so we just floated around a bit. Every day the bombardments were getting heavier and the smoke of the fires ashore now continued to billow up all day. And all those planes continued to fly exactly over our ship. If there was anyone who wanted to get rid of this dangerous cargo it was the crew but everybody could see a mile off that there was never going to be someone to unload our cargo. Yet it was destined for Singapore, but chaos reigned all over the city and nobody cared about any of the ships at anchor. The Japanese came closer and closer to Singapore and the English Army retreated slowly towards this city.
Ass engineer Adriaan Kik

Master Wijker took several trip ashore in a motor boat trying to find a way to get the cargo unloaded. Without succes. There are no more barges arriving to unload and the holds are still more than half full. After that he tried to contact Batavia to get permission to leave. Also unsuccessful.

And so the unhappy crew has to watch yet more ships escape Singapore, sometimes in convoy, sometimes alone but all of them filled to the brim with refugees. Very soon it becomes obvious that the Japanese try to intercept these vessels and are very successful in doing so. Many of the locale smaller vessels are totally unarmed and the Japanese submarines – for which it is not honourable to use a torpedo on a freighter- have no trouble at all destroying them at the surface with their deck cannon.

Merchant shipping losses in the area
 20 January
Eidsvold (Norway): The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, Australia by I-59. All crew were rescued.[64]

21 January
Zannis L Cambanis (Greece): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Strait of Malacca with the loss of two crew.

22 January
Lemantang (Dutch): The cargo ship was bombed and sunk at Belawan, Dutch East Indies by Japanese aircraft.

Van Overstraten (Dutch): The cargo ship was torpoedoed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by I-64 with the loss of all hands.[64]

24 January
Tai Sang (British): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Strait of Malacca with the loss of 33 of the 35 people aboard.