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John Collier Gransden
Malayan Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
John marked with an ‘X’
In 1935 John was commissioned into the SSNVR and in 1939 enlisted in the RNVR, the following photographs taken at the Singapore Naval Base in December 1941 shortly after the arrival in Singapore of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.
Admirals Phillips, Spooner and Palliser in Singapore December 1941
John marked with a ‘X’
Malay Ratings accompanied by an RNVR Officer
Taken on the deck of HMS Dragonfly
In early 1941 my father was serving on HMS Dragonfly (confirmed in a letter he wrote in March 1941 to my mother who was by then back in England after my grandfather, Air Commodore H.F. Fuller CB CBE was recalled to Britain in 1939).
My father left Singapore on Black Friday 13th February 1942, it is believed on the Pulau Soegi which was sunk near Banka Island on 15th. (I haven't been able to find definite confirmation of whether he did in fact leave on the Pulau Soegi and if not, which ship he left on - these pieces of the puzzle do eventually surface - I hope, if one is patient!) He did tell me his ship had been torpedoed and sunk and that he had swum to an island but little else in the way of detail. On his Liberation Form he has given HMML 1093 but I haven't found anything relating to that. Should anyone recognise HMML 1093, I would be interested in hearing from them.
He was subsequently taken aboard a British minesweeper, HMS Tapah, and is recorded in the last log by Tapah's Commanding Officer Lt. J.N.C Hancock as being a passenger but Lt Hancock noted in the log that “Lt Gransden did not leave Singapore with them”. (I know that Tapah rescued a number of survivors from the Redang and Giang Bee two of some 40-50 ships which had left Singapore just prior to surrender, most of which were sunk by the Japanese in the hundreds of miles of sea between Singapore and Sumatra. On 17th February Tapah was intercepted by a Japanese warship and ordered to Muntok where on Wednesday, 18th February, all those on board were taken prisoner.
Last Log before the capture of HMS Tapah
February 1942 by the Japanese
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