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| HMS Peterel |
In the 19th and 20th century, several China ports (including Shanghai) were open to foreign trade. As such, British merchants, banks, and shipping companies operated extensively in Shanghai, and thousands of British citizens lived there. In fact it was so popular to forcibly draft British and Commonwealth men into the navy that the word "shanghai" became a verb to mean "to be forcibly conscript".
River gunboats like HMS Peterel were stationed in Shanghai as they could traverse shallow rivers to support British influence in China.
1941
By 1941, Shanghai was under Japanese occupation. The Japanese did not touch the International Settlement, but most British ships were deployed to the Atlantic to combat the Germans.
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| Shanghai under Japanese Occupation |
Nevertheless, HMS Peterel was still stationed as the only British warship in Shanghai to give the appearance of British influence in Shanghai.
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 (Shanghai time), Japanese forces simultaneously moved against Allied positions throughout East Asia. This included the British, on whom the Japanese did not declare war on (yet).
HMS Peterel received demands for surrender and Lieutenant Stephen Polkinghorn (the commanding officer) refused. He delayed the Japanese long enough for his crew to destroy confidential information. Eventually the Japanese fired on the ship, sinking it. This act killed six crew members and the remaining twelve (including Polkinghorn) managed to board a neutral Panama vessel. The Japanese boarded that ship and arrested all twelve.
These were the first Royal Navy causalities of the Pacific War. (Hours earlier, the Japanese invaded Malaya, and inflicted the first British casualties of the war).
Interestingly, three of the crew were on land during the attack. Two were arrested quickly, but James Cumming , the telegraphist, remained uncaptured throughout the war. He later assisted in gathering intelligence for China and the United States.
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