MV Eastern Moon and MV Danny Rose

[Peter Copley]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know anything about two ships I met the crew of, in Japan, back around 1967-68, the ‘MV Danny Rose’ and the ‘MV Eastern Moon’?

The Danny Rose was fully crewed by Scots, with the exception of one man who was from York. I remember joking with him being the only Englishman among Scots and me being the only Englishman amongst a crew of Greeks. I heard later that the Danny Rose had sank in a typhoon with the loss of all hands. I could never verify that. I recon the loss of a British ship with all hands would make the news similar to the ‘MV Devonshire’. Has anyone further knowledge of the Danny Rose?

The Eastern Moon, registered in Hong Kong, traded around China and the Far East. I met up with the Chief Officer and a couple of other officers in a Japanese bar, we had a good long chat, exchanging stories and lots of laughs.

The skipper and mate of the Eastern Moon were later arrested in a Chinese port and spent a good long time in a Chinese prison. I followed their misadventures on the BBC World Service Merchant Navy News as British officials tried unsuccessfully to get their release.
It was during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards boarded the Eastern Moon and began to paint anti-American/anti-capitalist slogans on the white paintwork. The Mate, none too pleased at seeing little communist soldiers painting graffiti on the newly painted superstructure, picked up one of the red guards, complete with a paint-pot in his hand, and threw him overboard. For that crime he and the skipper were arrested and sent to jail. I think they must have been in prison for over two years. I never did find out what was the outcome for the skipper and mate. Does anyone know anything about the captain and chief officer of the Eastern Moon? Thanks, and kindest regards from PC - R710198.

[Ivan Cloherty]

having been in China in the 50/60's again in the 80's and 90's you would be foolish to go against any of their laws, your Embassies would be powerless to help you, they are a law unto themselves. On my 22 month trip in the 60's we spent most of our time in China, you did as you were told, you cannot argue with rifles and bayonets and every foreign ship had scores of them aboard, whether you wanted them or not. I was shot at by a guard for not opening a forepeak vertical man hole in the tank, it was full!. I later had to apologise to him for upsetting him by making him shoot at me. There are many on here who can confirm a low profile is an asset in China, the best place to be in China, is leaving their territorial waters

[Peter Copley]

#2, Hello Ivan, yes I remember being in Whampoa and all hands, including the captain, being forced to sit out on the hatches in the freezing cold for what seemed like three hours, while the Chinese army searched the ship for 'forbidden items' such as Reader's Digest magazines and News of the World maps showing Formosa not belonging to China, and so on. We were all given Mao Zedong badges and the Little Red Book, I now regret throwing them overboard as we left China. PC

[Graham Shaw]

Peter,that ship was the DENNY ROSE ! ON 180976 6,656 grt Cargo vessel,single screw diesel,11.5kts. built 1946 as mv MARJATA by Connell and Co;Glasgow for James Nourse Ltd;London., 1963, Sold to and owned by Red Anchor Line Ltd;Hong Kong


'All 42 men aboard the British motor vessel Denny Rose ,comprising of the New Zealand master Capt.Collin W.Williams Ireland,Chief Officer John Kennedy from Hong Kong ,38 Hong Kong Chinese,an Indian and a Singapore national were lost with their vessel when she disappeared south of Japan during heavy weather in mid September 1967.
Loaded with 9,500 tonnes of iron ore and powdered magnesite ,Denny Rose sailed from Toledo,Cebu Island,Phillippines on Sept.4th 1967 bound for Chiba,Japan. While at Toledo she had reported grounding damage at the loading berth , causing buckling on her amidships deck plating.
The last position message ever received from the vessel was dispatched by the master at 0448 am on Sept.13th advising his noon position on September 12th to be Lat.25-15N,Long.134-23E-about 75 nm SW of Tokyo,which was within the fringe of typhoon "Opal".He advised that he was due to arrive Chiba three days later. An extensive search was mounted,but all that was found was an oil slick,seven miles long and half a mile wide,sighted about 180 nm SE of the southern tip of Kyushu Island, but it could not be determined whether or not this was from the overdue vessel.
It was assumed that the Denny Rose ,which was officially posted as a Missing Vessel at Lloyds,sank due to the heavy seas caused by the typhoon.'


[Extract from Lloyd's List]
Photo below of Marjata,later Denny Rose

MARJATA- later DENNY ROSE 1946-1967.jpg Courtesy of PhotoShips-Clydebuilt Ships Database

[Graham Shaw]

m.v.DENNY ROSE

Just another item from the databases in my creaking hard drive.....about the Denny Rose. I believe it was from a thread on the SN site,and is rather poignant....




"Laura / I knew Denny Rose well in 1967 and can tell you something about her loss. I was Chief Mate of Universal Skipper which was a vessel, owned in Hong Kong and very similar to Denny Rose in size and construction. At the time both vessels were chartered to carry iron ore to Japan by the same Japanese charterer and consequently the two ships would often meet in the same loading port - when I would take the opportunity to go aboard Denny Rose to exchange news, and books. Both ships had European Masters and Mates , the remainder being Chinese. More importantly both ships had Singaporean Radio Operators (Sparks) and as they had been at school together would regularly "chat" over the radio in morse, exchanging positions and weather information. We Universal Skipper) were loading iron ore in Kuala Dungan in Malaysia,while Denny Rose had completed loading at another Malaysian port ( it might have been Port Swettenham , now known as Port Klang. ) So when we sailed we were about two or three days behind Denny Rose, and both bound for the same area in Japan ( I think somewhere in Tokyo Bay)As usual our Sparks got updates of Denny Rose's position and as we were in the midde of the China Sea, & Denny Rose was that much closer to Japan. Our Sparks told me one morning that he had intercepted a message from the Owners to Denny Rose advising that " excessive hog could be due to poor distribution of the cargo" (Hog is the bending of the ship because of weights concentrated at the ends of the ship instead of even across the length) Sparks heard no reply from Denny Rose; and two days later he heard that a search had been instigated by the Japanese Self Defence Airforce, and also by an American warship. As Universal Skipper reached the area we were of course keeping a very sharp lookout at all times. The weather, I remember, was not severe and I dont recall there being a typhoon in the area, but I could be wrong.Later in Japan, we learnt with sorrow that no trace had been found of the ship. In those days ships did not carry inflatable life rafts, but having been aboard Denny Rose many times I knew that her decks, like ours, were cluttered with full and empty drums of lubricating oil, spare wooden hatchboards, and assorted bundles of timber and I was most surprised that of all those buoyant items, nothing was found floating. I knew many of the crew, if not by name, at least by sight and can only say that, with the nature of the cargo, the loss of the ship and the fortytwo seamen must have been very sudden. I cannot recall a distress call being sent, and in those days radio distress calls were limited in range, and subject to disturbance from the atmosphere. I believe it was only after the ship was considered over due at her arrival port, or at least over due with her daily report to the charterers that a search was started.I hope that this can help, in a small way, to ease the loss of your father

With regards,John Bardsley "


'

[Graham Shaw]

m.v. EASTERN MOON (IMO 5096107)
Cargo Ship 5,107 grt,Single Screw Diesel ,15 kts, Compl. 12/47 as HOEGH SILVERMOON for Hoegh Lines,Oslo,Norway by Burmeister & Wain Shipbuilders,Copenhagen,Denmark.
1960.Sold to Indo China SN Co, Ltd;Hong Kong.Renamed EASTERN MOON.
1971.Resold to Hong Kong Islands S.Co Ltd.Panama.Renamed LAMTONG CHAU
10/1978 Broken Up Shanghai,RC

1947 -EASTERN MOON ex Hoegh Silvermoon Nagoya 1960s.jpgPhoto by 'hiromaru'-Nagoya,Japan 1960's.Courtesy of ShipSpotting

[Peter Copley]

#4 and 5. Thank you Graham for that information. I obviously got the name of the ship with the Scottish crew wrong. I must have misheard the ship’s name, possibly sounding like Denny Rose and for years I thought the Scots and one Yorkshire man were on the Denny Rose. At the time, my ship was on a 12-month time-charter to Nippon Yusen Tokyo and we traded around Japan and the Pacific returning to Japan. I met the Scottish lads in a bar, but can’t remember which port it was. I remember the Denny Rose going missing, and the search for her, I always thought it went down in the same typhoon that nearly overwhelmed my ship around September 1967. PC

[happy daze john in oz]

Had a similar experience on the Paproa with a one day call at a port in China, just to drop off a fozen items.
Had to take down all Western items such as girly calendars, all port holes closed and covered and guards all along the quay side and the decks.
Had to stay inboard for all the time we were in port, thankfully only about 12 hours or so.

It was not the sort of place any one would chose to go to then, but times and conditions thankfully have changed, now they welcome visitors from the West.