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Capture of the Tuapse
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Capture of the Tuapse
The capture of the tanker Tuapse occurred on 23 June 1954, when a civilian Soviet ship was captured and confiscated by the Republic of China Navy in the high seas near the Philippines and the sailors were detained in Taiwan for various periods with three deaths, until the last four were released in 1988.
On 18 June 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) declared the Closed Port Policy to establish an actual aerial and naval blockade of trade with the People's Republic of China (PRC) along the Chinese coast from Liao River to Min River area, which was extended to include Guangdong on 12 February 1950. The Executive Yuan issued an emergency measure applying to domestic vessels, crews and companies to strengthen the trade ban on China on 16 August 1950, however the Kuomintang government extended the practice to foreign vessels and even in the international waters against the international law of the sea and the admiralty laws.
The New York Times reported that 67 foreign civilian ships were attacked by local pirates between September 1949 and October 1954, as half of them were British vessels, whereas actually 141 interference incidents were reported by the Royal Navy in the routine "Formosa Strait Patrol" operations since October 31, 1949, and recorded in 37 British diplomatic protestation documents, with each containing multiple protests up to seven attacks, showing the anti-British atmosphere within the ROC and the KMT high-rank circle, even on the armed intervention of the Royal Navy escorting the British vessels from ROCN warships. The Western Enterprise Incorporated (WEI), supported by the Office of Policy Coordination of the Central Intelligence Agency, assisted in the operations.
On 13 February 1951, a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers under the direct orders of ROC President Chiang Kai-shek captured the Norwegian civilian cargo ship Hoi Houw at 24°13'N 123°18'E within Japanese waters among the Yaeyama Islands. On 17–19 February, the British civilian mercantile Nigelock (former HMS Nigella K19, Flower-class corvette), full of fruits and vegetables, and the freighter Josephine Moller were attacked by ROC Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (ACNSA, under the command of General Hu Zongnan) gunboats near the Chekiang coast in the East China Sea, but both escaped. On 15 April 1951, the Panamanian civilian cargo ship Perico was captured by the ROC Navy at 25°31'N 123°48'E, north of Taketomi Island. By 7 December 1952, Captain Robert Adam was also killed by machine gun without warning even though his British freighter Rosita had cooperated in the full stop off the Fuzhou sea lane; then Rosita was hijacked and sailed to Matsu before being released. Nonetheless, she was attacked again next year, marking her thirteenth time since 1950.
Nevertheless, the piracy activities of attack, killing and confiscation known to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, British Hong Kong and Australian media coverages intensified in the summer of 1953 after Joseph Stalin's death and the Korean Armistice Agreement. On 26 July, the British freighter Inchkilda (former SS Fort Wilhelmus N3-S-A2) was attacked by 3 ROC-ACNSA gunboats south of the Wuqiu region, and was rescued by HMS Unicorn (I72, light aircraft carrier) after receiving the distress call; then Inchkilda was seized by the ROC Navy again on 24 October 1954, but received British and American diplomatic support to be released. On 16 August 1953, Nigelock was captured by the ROC Navy toward the Magong military port in Penghu, but was rescued by HMS St Brides Bay (K600, Bay-class frigate); it was intercepted again by ROCS Huangpu PC-105 (PC-461-class submarine chaser) and was rescued by the destroyer HMS Cockade (R34) on 24 August. The Italian civilian freighter Maribu was also attacked by gunboats on 31 July 1953, and the Danish civilian freighter Heinrich Jessen on 9 August - both were hijacked first to the Kinmen sea area to shift members, then formally confiscated in Keelung. At 18:00, 4 October, 2 ROCS destroyers captured the Polish civilian oil tanker Praca with 9,019 tons of cargo at 21°06'N 122°48'E in the West Pacific Ocean, 125 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan. 29 Polish sailors and 17 Chinese sailors from the PRC were transferred to a military detention center in Zuoying.
In early April 1954, the ROC Air Force and Navy conducted a carpet search for the Czechoslovak civilian cargo ship Julius Fucik, but failed to catch her in the Yaeyama sea area of the Pacific Ocean. At 14:20, 12 May, another Polish civilian cargo ship, the Prezydent Gottwald, carrying 7,066 tons of lathes and medicines, was shelled by a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers, at 20°30'N, 128°07'E, east of Batanes Islands and south of Okinawa Island. It was then attacked again at 15:20 and captured at 23°45'N 128°35'E. 33 Polish sailors and 12 Chinese sailors from the PRC were first detained in Keelung, then transferred to Zuoying together. The victim sailors' families of both Polish ships appealed to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Session 18 on ROC's piracy conducts on high sea obstructing international trade and cooperation.
The tanker Praca was renamed ROCS Helan (AOG-305, 賀蘭) and the transport Prezydent Gottwald was renamed ROCS Tianzhu (AK-313, 天竺), and both were commissioned into the ROC Navy. 61 out of 62 Polish sailors were released through Polish and United States diplomatic intervention, while one was found dead in a park with signs of torture, while the 29 Chinese sailors were imprisoned in the Green Island Prison. 11 were rescued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1956, 3 staff leaders were executed, 1 died in prison, and 5 died due to sickness or accidents. Eventually 5 survivors were released and returned to the PRC after martial law was lifted in 1987, and 4 chose to stay in Taiwan.
On 21 June 1954, the civilian tanker Tuapse with 49 crew members, which sailed from Odessa and was loaded with 11,702 tons of Romanian kerosene from Constanța in the Black Sea with the scheduled delivery to Shanghai and Vladivostok, arrived in Victoria Harbour in British Hong Kong to resupply. On 23 June it passed through the international seaway of Balintang Channel in Bashi Straits, eastbound toward the west Pacific Ocean. It was intercepted at 19°35′00″N 120°39′00″E / 19.58333°N 120.65000°E north of Luzon Island by a ROC taskforce led by Admiral Ma Ji-zhuang (馬紀壯上將), Commander-in-Chief of the ROC Navy, in charge on board the flagship Tan Yang DD-12 (former Japanese Imperial Navy Yukikaze, transferred to ROCS after WWII), with the permission of President Chiang Kai-shek to sink the target if encountering resistance. Three rounds of 127 mm naval DP gun shots were fired near the bow to force the oil tanker in full stop, then an assault team led by Captain Chiu Zhong-ming (邱仲明上校, who had also led the assault on the Prezydent Gottwald two months earlier) with over 100 seamen and marines boarded to seize the ship, then Admiral Ma himself moved to Tuapse in command. Three sailors trying to save the Soviet flag ripped off by soldiers were struck down by rifle butts, and two engineers proceeding the mechanical self-destruction sequence were beat up hard by seamen breaking into the engineering room. The ship with its oil content was towed to the Port of Kaohsiung for intelligence examination with samples collected for chemical analysis in Okinawa, and the oil was immediately pumped out to the military storage. The crew, including the only female crew, bartender Olga Popov, were divided in 3 groups roughly by age to be transported to different locations for interrogation with no cross contact to each other allowed, and Captain Vitaly A. Kalinin was denied permission to visit the other groups. ROC military later claimed that such isolation measures as the required humanitarian help due to the captain ordering the crew in hunger strike protest.
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Capture of the Tuapse
The capture of the tanker Tuapse occurred on 23 June 1954, when a civilian Soviet ship was captured and confiscated by the Republic of China Navy in the high seas near the Philippines and the sailors were detained in Taiwan for various periods with three deaths, until the last four were released in 1988.
On 18 June 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) declared the Closed Port Policy to establish an actual aerial and naval blockade of trade with the People's Republic of China (PRC) along the Chinese coast from Liao River to Min River area, which was extended to include Guangdong on 12 February 1950. The Executive Yuan issued an emergency measure applying to domestic vessels, crews and companies to strengthen the trade ban on China on 16 August 1950, however the Kuomintang government extended the practice to foreign vessels and even in the international waters against the international law of the sea and the admiralty laws.
The New York Times reported that 67 foreign civilian ships were attacked by local pirates between September 1949 and October 1954, as half of them were British vessels, whereas actually 141 interference incidents were reported by the Royal Navy in the routine "Formosa Strait Patrol" operations since October 31, 1949, and recorded in 37 British diplomatic protestation documents, with each containing multiple protests up to seven attacks, showing the anti-British atmosphere within the ROC and the KMT high-rank circle, even on the armed intervention of the Royal Navy escorting the British vessels from ROCN warships. The Western Enterprise Incorporated (WEI), supported by the Office of Policy Coordination of the Central Intelligence Agency, assisted in the operations.
On 13 February 1951, a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers under the direct orders of ROC President Chiang Kai-shek captured the Norwegian civilian cargo ship Hoi Houw at 24°13'N 123°18'E within Japanese waters among the Yaeyama Islands. On 17–19 February, the British civilian mercantile Nigelock (former HMS Nigella K19, Flower-class corvette), full of fruits and vegetables, and the freighter Josephine Moller were attacked by ROC Anti-Communist National Salvation Army (ACNSA, under the command of General Hu Zongnan) gunboats near the Chekiang coast in the East China Sea, but both escaped. On 15 April 1951, the Panamanian civilian cargo ship Perico was captured by the ROC Navy at 25°31'N 123°48'E, north of Taketomi Island. By 7 December 1952, Captain Robert Adam was also killed by machine gun without warning even though his British freighter Rosita had cooperated in the full stop off the Fuzhou sea lane; then Rosita was hijacked and sailed to Matsu before being released. Nonetheless, she was attacked again next year, marking her thirteenth time since 1950.
Nevertheless, the piracy activities of attack, killing and confiscation known to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, British Hong Kong and Australian media coverages intensified in the summer of 1953 after Joseph Stalin's death and the Korean Armistice Agreement. On 26 July, the British freighter Inchkilda (former SS Fort Wilhelmus N3-S-A2) was attacked by 3 ROC-ACNSA gunboats south of the Wuqiu region, and was rescued by HMS Unicorn (I72, light aircraft carrier) after receiving the distress call; then Inchkilda was seized by the ROC Navy again on 24 October 1954, but received British and American diplomatic support to be released. On 16 August 1953, Nigelock was captured by the ROC Navy toward the Magong military port in Penghu, but was rescued by HMS St Brides Bay (K600, Bay-class frigate); it was intercepted again by ROCS Huangpu PC-105 (PC-461-class submarine chaser) and was rescued by the destroyer HMS Cockade (R34) on 24 August. The Italian civilian freighter Maribu was also attacked by gunboats on 31 July 1953, and the Danish civilian freighter Heinrich Jessen on 9 August - both were hijacked first to the Kinmen sea area to shift members, then formally confiscated in Keelung. At 18:00, 4 October, 2 ROCS destroyers captured the Polish civilian oil tanker Praca with 9,019 tons of cargo at 21°06'N 122°48'E in the West Pacific Ocean, 125 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan. 29 Polish sailors and 17 Chinese sailors from the PRC were transferred to a military detention center in Zuoying.
In early April 1954, the ROC Air Force and Navy conducted a carpet search for the Czechoslovak civilian cargo ship Julius Fucik, but failed to catch her in the Yaeyama sea area of the Pacific Ocean. At 14:20, 12 May, another Polish civilian cargo ship, the Prezydent Gottwald, carrying 7,066 tons of lathes and medicines, was shelled by a fleet of 3 ROCS destroyers, at 20°30'N, 128°07'E, east of Batanes Islands and south of Okinawa Island. It was then attacked again at 15:20 and captured at 23°45'N 128°35'E. 33 Polish sailors and 12 Chinese sailors from the PRC were first detained in Keelung, then transferred to Zuoying together. The victim sailors' families of both Polish ships appealed to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Session 18 on ROC's piracy conducts on high sea obstructing international trade and cooperation.
The tanker Praca was renamed ROCS Helan (AOG-305, 賀蘭) and the transport Prezydent Gottwald was renamed ROCS Tianzhu (AK-313, 天竺), and both were commissioned into the ROC Navy. 61 out of 62 Polish sailors were released through Polish and United States diplomatic intervention, while one was found dead in a park with signs of torture, while the 29 Chinese sailors were imprisoned in the Green Island Prison. 11 were rescued by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1956, 3 staff leaders were executed, 1 died in prison, and 5 died due to sickness or accidents. Eventually 5 survivors were released and returned to the PRC after martial law was lifted in 1987, and 4 chose to stay in Taiwan.
On 21 June 1954, the civilian tanker Tuapse with 49 crew members, which sailed from Odessa and was loaded with 11,702 tons of Romanian kerosene from Constanța in the Black Sea with the scheduled delivery to Shanghai and Vladivostok, arrived in Victoria Harbour in British Hong Kong to resupply. On 23 June it passed through the international seaway of Balintang Channel in Bashi Straits, eastbound toward the west Pacific Ocean. It was intercepted at 19°35′00″N 120°39′00″E / 19.58333°N 120.65000°E north of Luzon Island by a ROC taskforce led by Admiral Ma Ji-zhuang (馬紀壯上將), Commander-in-Chief of the ROC Navy, in charge on board the flagship Tan Yang DD-12 (former Japanese Imperial Navy Yukikaze, transferred to ROCS after WWII), with the permission of President Chiang Kai-shek to sink the target if encountering resistance. Three rounds of 127 mm naval DP gun shots were fired near the bow to force the oil tanker in full stop, then an assault team led by Captain Chiu Zhong-ming (邱仲明上校, who had also led the assault on the Prezydent Gottwald two months earlier) with over 100 seamen and marines boarded to seize the ship, then Admiral Ma himself moved to Tuapse in command. Three sailors trying to save the Soviet flag ripped off by soldiers were struck down by rifle butts, and two engineers proceeding the mechanical self-destruction sequence were beat up hard by seamen breaking into the engineering room. The ship with its oil content was towed to the Port of Kaohsiung for intelligence examination with samples collected for chemical analysis in Okinawa, and the oil was immediately pumped out to the military storage. The crew, including the only female crew, bartender Olga Popov, were divided in 3 groups roughly by age to be transported to different locations for interrogation with no cross contact to each other allowed, and Captain Vitaly A. Kalinin was denied permission to visit the other groups. ROC military later claimed that such isolation measures as the required humanitarian help due to the captain ordering the crew in hunger strike protest.