Territory Stories

For Lam

Details:

Title

For Lam,

Name

For Lam,

Also known as

Lam, For,

Collection

WWII Roll of Honour, HistoryNT, Second World War, 1939-1945,

Date

0000-00-00,

Occupation

1st Engineman,

Unit

MV Neptuna,

Date of death

1942-02-19,

Place of death

MV Neptuna,

Memorial

Hong Kong Memorial, China,

Biographical notes

Lam For was a 42 year old 1st Engineman on the MV Neptuna. Further information on his life has yet to be discovered. The Neptuna had a Hong Kong registration, and had been doing the Hong Kong - Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) run, which explains her predominantly Chinese crew. She arrived in Darwin Harbour loaded with two hundred depth charges and a very large quantity of anti-aircraft shells for the Navy and Army. When the Japanese air attack began the Neptuna was berthed alongside the main wharf awaiting maintenance. The first bomb hit the ship below the waterline and she began taking on water; she then received a direct hit causing her to catch on fire. When the fire entered No. 3 and No. 4 hatches, the Neptuna blew apart, creating a huge mushroom cloud caused by the explosion of the ammunition she was carrying. Most of the surviving ship's company were rescued from the wharf and the harbour and taken aboard HMAS Platypus, a depot ship being used as a casualty clearing station. Thirty-six of the ship's crew were killed, including the Master, Captain William Michie.,

Notes

Metadata: Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0,

Language

English,

Subject

Second World War, 1939-1945, Bombing of Darwin, Roll of Honour, Northern Territory history, MV Neptuna,

File type

image/tiff,

Use

No known copyright,

Copyright owner

Library & Archives NT, Library & Archives NT,