History and culture enthusiasts in Kaohsiung have petitioned to keep three tombs in Fudingjin Public Cemetery (覆鼎金), as they provide a glimpse into the history of the city’s international marine transportation industry.
The cemetery in Sanmin District (三民) has been around since the Japanese colonial era, one of many reasons local history enthusiasts protested against the city government’s plans to relocate it to make room for a park.
A group they formed, Kaohsiung’s Underworld: The Tomb Sweeping Group for Fudingjin, was notified by the city government that the tomb of a foreigner named John William Crawford was found in the area where Japanese are buried.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
While the group initially thought Crawford was the son of Reverend Hugh Ritchie, the first Presbyterian priest to arrive in Kaohsiung, an inscription was uncovered that showed he was the chief engineer on the French steamship SS Dumont d’Urville, named after French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville.
The ship’s keel was laid down at Hong Kong’s Whampoa Dock in 1918. Initially named the SS Hermelin by its British owner, the ship changed hands several times before it was sunk on July 3, 1944, by a US torpedo.
The group found that Crawford was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1881 and died in Kaohsiung in 1935.
As the ship was sold several times — changing hands between Norwegian, Japanese and French owners, as well as its original British owner — and was built in Hong Kong, the group said it “connects” the international shipping culture of those nations and is a part of the history of World War II.
The group has contacted media in Scotland and hopes to find descendants of Crawford or others who sailed on the ship who can provide more information so that its history can be uncovered.
The group has also called on the Kaohsiung City Government to preserve Crawford’s tomb as a “testimony to the rich historical records of Kaohsiung residents.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS