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PROJECT E.O.A.

Divers unearth finds from wreck

A huge find for salvage workers preparing to bring a
four-tonne anchor, which belongs to the Empress of Asia,
on board - ALPHONSO CHAN

WWII CRUISER FOUND OFF TUAS

By CHANG AI-LIEN

A SUNKEN empress has given up a host of historical treasures from her watery tomb near the Sultan Shoal lighthouse off Tuas.

Army uniforms, machine guns, china cups and plates and a four-tonne anchor were among the finds taken from the wreck of Empress of Asia, an armed merchant cruiser which was sunk by Japanese bombers during World War II in Singapore waters.

Twelve divers worked for two weeks to gather the items from the 180 m ship which was carrying 2,200 British soldiers to Singapore from Bombay on Feb 5, 1942, when it was bombed.

Mr Felix Paul Monteiro, 71, said he was keeping watch at the Raffles Lighthouse at the time, and saw the attack.

He recalled: "The ship had nowhere to hide, the planes kept dropping their bombs and smoke was billowing from the ship.

"All the soldiers jumped overboard and swam to the Sultan Shoal lighthouse."

Sixteen people died in the incident.

Mr Michael Lim, 32, director of Technical Diving International, who found the wreck in 1994, led the salvage operation.

He said that 80 per cent of the wreck was buried in the seabed at a depth of 21 m. The operation, the first known salvage of a ship in Singapore waters, cost $250,000, but the objects found have only historical value, said Mr Lim.

All the artefacts will be donated to the Singapore History Museum, which plans to display them together with other World War II historical collections.

Explaining why he had taken four years to mount the operation, Mr Lim said that he had needed the time to explore the wreck and determine if there were items worth salvaging.

He said he had spent several fruitless months before that searching for the wreck.

He finally located it in October 1994 by fluke. The group of divers he was with had decided to dive in the area only after another dive at Raffles Lighthouse had been cancelled.

He recalled: "When I went into the water, the current was so strong that the underwater scooter I was riding was swept backwards and I hit the wreck.

"So the Empress finally allowed me to find her."