British Seamen on Japanese ships at start of WW2

[Byron Jones]

Just before Japan entered WW2 a British Merchant Navy rating was serving onboard a Japanese merchant ship that sailed from Cardiff. A few months later Japan entered the War by bombing Pear Harbour. The British War Office tried to contact all the ships that had left British Ports to no avail and no word was ever heard again from the rating. It is a tall order I know but is there anyone out there who can shed some light on what may have happened to these Merchant Seamen - apart from the obvious of course.

[Jim R Christie]

The usual form would have been for him to be interned as a civilian upon whenever the ship reached a Japanese controlled port. Of course the attrition rate for civilians was no better than POW's so it's entirely possible he survived into captivity and then perished.

Turning things the other way round, at the time of Pearl Harbour the old fellow was the regular Bosun in an east coast collier (Dona Flora, Donkins of Middlebrough) and in that ship the 2nd Engineer and Donkeyman were both Japanese.
As soon as Japan declared war they were both arrested for the usual questioning and checks etc. The 2nd Engineer (who nobody particularly liked) spent the rest of the war in an internment camp.
The Donkeyman was permitted to return to the ship a few weeks later and remained in her for some years. One of the conditions for his release was that he was subject to occasional checks by the authorities and his finances were one of those things under scrutiny. Consequently he was told he had to have a bank account, which back then was virtually unknown for a working man. My Grandfather was one of those who had to provide a reference for him and also wrote letters etc on his behalf as he couldn't do so in English, he also usually accompanied him ashore lest there be any negative attention from the locals. He was a well liked old fellow who'd started off in British deepwater sail and they kept in touch once they went their seperate ways until time inevitably caught up with him.