Bravery of fishermen remembered
Descendants of British POWs rescued by Chinese islanders gathered to commemorate the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and those who risked their lives trying to save them, Xing Wen reports in Zhoushan, Zhejiang.
By Xing Wen | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2026-06-01 07:59
Recently, she and her sister Pamela Allison traveled to Zhoushan with 18 other descendants of the Lisbon Maru prisoners of war to visit the very island where her great-uncle was rescued.
"I really want to say thank you for giving him a bed, food and clothes. Thank you for giving him 24 hours of hope," she says.
She compiled the materials she had gathered during her research on Joseph Duff into a folder and donated it to the Lisbon Maru Rescue Memorial Hall on the island.
James Murphy, approaching 78, is also the namesake of his father.
His father served with the Hong Kong Company of the Royal Corps of Signals and was among the survivors rescued by Chinese fishermen. Murphy recalls that the few days his father spent on the island gave him a lifelong love of Chinese food.
As a child, he was often taken to Chinese restaurants by his father.
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