BAAG records of shipping in HK during 1944-45 – the Kainan Maru No.374 + No.375

Elizabeth Ride has British Army Aid Group (BAAG) records of shipping movements for 1944-45 in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two.

These provide information not only about the ships themselves but what cargo was being brought into and out of Hong Kong during the latter stages of WW2, passengers carried, and of godowns, docks etc that were being utilised.

The Kainan Maru No 375 a Formosan fishing vessel converted cargo boat,was seen on 21 Aug 1944

Arrived on 20 Aug 1944

Inward cargo: 110 c/s gasoline

Repairs: On 23 Aug 1944 admitted into Kowloon Docks slipway for painting

Departed on 30 August 1944 for Canton

An image of this ship would be helpful

baag-kwiz-70-kainain-maru-no-375

The Kainan Maru No.374, a Formosan fishing vessel converted cargo boat,was seen on 24 Aug 1944

Arrived on 20 Aug 1944

Inward cargo: 7 old motors, over 100 lumber logs taken to Kowloon Docks

Repairs: On 26 Aug 1944 admitted into Kowloon Docks for painting

Departed on 2 Sep 1944 for Formosa

An image of this ship would be helpful

This article was first posted on 24th December 2016

baag-kwiz-70-kainain-maru-no-374

Further information:

  1. For general information about the Elizabeth Ride collection, her father Sir Lindsay Ride, and the British Army Aid group during WW2 a very useful introduction is through http://gwulo.com/node/13968
  2. The BAAG papers are kept at the Hong Kong Heritage Project – Elizabeth M Ride Collection

One comment

  • Peter Cundall

    Something of a mystery here. The references to 374 and 375 seem to refer to official numbers. Taiwan had two fishing boats with this kanji:

    Kainan Maru No.1 built 1939, 89 tons Official number Taiwan 371
    Kainan Maru No.2 built 1939 87 tons Official number Taiwan 372

    Both ships were Navy requisitioned and could have been converted to small cargo ships and fit the dimensions above. Kainan Maru No.2 is shown in some sources as sunk 7/9/44 Katsuura Wan, Chiba Ken (ie Japan) but this could be an error.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *