SS Hong Moh

SS "Hong Moh" was a passenger steamship owned by the Hong Kong Steamship Company which was wrecked on 3 March 1921 with the loss of about 1,000 lives.

The "Hong Moh" was registered in Singapore and had a tonnage of 3,954 tons. She was en route from Singapore to Amoy (Xiamen), China, when she struck the White Rocks on Lamock Island, near Swatow (Shantou) on the southern coast of China. She was carrying about 1,100 passengers, most of them Chinese. She broke in two and most of the passengers and crew were lost before help arrived.

The Royal Navy light cruiser HMS "Carlisle" was anchored at Bako (Makung) in the Pescadores and immediately ordered to give assistance. She arrived on 6 March, by which time there were only about 350 survivors clinging to the wreck. The "Carlisle" was unable to get within a mile of the wreck due to the heavy seas, but a motorboat under Lieutenant-Commander Ion Tower DSC and a cutter under Gunner John G. Dewar DSC worked continuously to save as many as they could. The "Carlisle"'s captain, Captain Edward Evans CB DSO, himself swam to the wreck to assist the survivors into the boats. Altogether, the "Carlisle" saved 221 people, taking them to Swatow. HMS "Foxglove" also took off 28 survivors and SS "Shansi" (Captain Reginald Turnbull) took off 45.

Captain H. W. Holmes of the "Hong Moh" was among those lost.

In October 1929 the Board of Trade Silver Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea was awarded to Evans, Tower and Dewar, and the Bronze Medal to Leading Seaman W. G. Eldrett and Able Seaman A. E. Whitehead.

References

*"Wreck of Hong-Kong Steamer", "The Times", 9 March 1921
*"Gallantry at Sea", "The Times", 29 October 1921
*Medal Citation for Evans and Dewar, "The Times", 16 February 1923