Echoes of War: The Untold Story of the Lisbon Maru

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The director of the hit documentary “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” shares the tears and triumphs he experienced in resurfacing a World War II tragedy. In late September 1942, 1,816 Allied prisoners of war were imprisoned on a Japanese military cargo liner, the Lisbon Maru , to be transported from Hong Kong to Japan. After three days of smooth sailing, the vessel was torpedoed by the USS Grouper off Dongji Island, part of the Zhoushan archipelago in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. After the torpedo strike, the Japanese troops onboard locked the POWs — mostly British soldiers and airmen — inside the cargo hold, nailing wood planks and canvas sheets across the entrance. Over the next 25 hours, as the Lisbon Maru was sinking, the POWs did everything they could to save themselves. After finally breaking free from the hold, they jumped into the sea, where they came under fire from their Japanese captors. Zhoushan fishermen sailed to the rescue in their sampans, saving 384 ………………………………