Description

Title: Lost at Sea – Found at Fukushima

Author: Millar, Andy

Condition: Mint

Edition: 1st Edition

Publication Date: 2012

ISBN: 9781921941528

Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 251 pages

Comments: On a calm, tropical afternoon in the South Atlantic Ocean in April 1942, a British tramp steamer, the SS Willesden, was shelled, torpedoed and sunk by a German raider, the KMS Thor. The Willesden was carrying 47 officers and crew, and a cargo of vital war supplies destined for Britain’s 8th Army in North Africa. Five of Willesden’s crew were killed in the attack.

Among the survivors was Second Mate David Millar, who – along with his crewmen – was rescued by the Germans and interned on a succession of prison ships, before being handed over to the Japanese. Badly wounded, David spent the rest of the war as a POW in a camp at Fukushima, north of Tokyo. Lost at Sea tells the little-known story of the 130 survivors, remarkably listed “Missing at Sea” for months and in some cases years. It is a tale of honour between enemy naval commanders; of suffering, courage and endurance, as months of imprisonment turned to years; and of the powerful relationships that form when people are forced together in life-threatening circumstances.

About the Author

Andy Millar is a retired Navy Commander, having served 26 years in the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and 14 years in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The David Millar who features in the book was his father. Andy was born in the UK in 1939. His family emigrated to New Zealand after World War Two, upon his father’s return from enduring three years as a POW in Japan.

Joining the RNZN in 1959, Andy trained as an officer at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, UK. Over the next 26 years he rose to the rank of Commander, before transferring to the RAN to take up a position with the Collins Class submarine project.

A highlight of his career was a secondment to the Royal Malaysian Navy from 1966–68, during ‘The Confrontation’ with Indonesia. During this time, he commanded a Fast Patrol Boat of similar size and capability to the German E-boats that feature in Lost at Sea.  Andy retired from the RAN in 1999 and now lives in Canberra.