Documentary of Second World War ship sinking survived by Warwickshire man given UK premiere

IT is one of the lesser known tragedies of the Second World War, but the sinking of the Japanese ship the Lisbon Maru is a tale that is only recently and finally being properly told.

Although this event took place thousands of miles away in the South China Sea, it has a connection to south Warwickshire in the form of a man born and raised in Shipston.

The disaster had light shed on it last year with the release of a documentary on the event. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, directed by Fang Li, was selected for China’s entry in the best international feature category at the 2025 Academy Awards.

However, the film failed to meet the criteria of having 50 per cent of predominantly non-English dialogue.

The film has now, after a long wait due to being unable to find a distributor, had its UK premiere at the Regent Street Theatre, in London, on Monday.

The story that has been brought to life is one that Shipston man Cyril Mace was a part of. One of 1,816 British prisoners of war on board the Lisbon Maru, an unmarked Japanese freighter, in October 1942, Cyril and his comrades were being transported from Hong Kong to Japan when the ship was hit with torpedoes fired from an American submarine – the Americans were unaware there were Allied prisoners on board.

Japanese troops escaped and a small number of crew remained behind to seal exits and make escape for the prisoners almost impossible. It would later be discovered that 828 prisoners died.

As the ship sank into the depths below, Cyril was one of several survivors who fought all night to try to drain water away. By the next morning the ship had sunk and hundreds drowned as a result.

Cyril was one of the fortunate ones who was able to swim away from the ship, and the survivors did so with Japanese soldiers watching on and not intervening – there were reports that some shots were fired at the escaping survivors.

Cyril saved himself by clinging onto a piece of wood, and fastening himself to it with a belt, which his son-in-law Phillip Harris showed to the Herald. This saved Cyril’s life, and he was picked up by Chinese fishermen who hid him and another
soldier when Japanese forces came searching – they would stay there for around three months.

This belt has taken pride of place on display in Phillip’s family home, and years later, following a meal, a toast given to the belt was followed with it falling down from its spot in the family home. Phillip told the Herald that it never fell off before and it hasn’t fallen off since.

After these months of being given sanctuary by the fishermen, both Cyril and his fellow soldier were eventually captured and sent to Shanghai, which was occupied by Japanese forces at the time.

After initially being imprisoned on suspicion of being spies, the two were then transported to a POW camp in the city. It was there that they came across other survivors of the Lisbon Maru, but sadly many of these would die over the next two
years.

Cyril’s time as a prisoner of war would end in Japan via Korea. After arriving in Hokkaido, Japan, he was put to work in a coal mine and endured the hard labour of working underground.

By the summer of 1945 it had started to become clear to Cyril and the other prisoners that the war was not going well for Japan. By the middle of August they realised Japan had lost the war, and days later Allied planes started dropping food parcels from the skies above them.

The journey back to Shipston wouldn’t take place until November, and this trip took him through several more countries. Manila in the Philippines, Vancouver in Canada and a short stay in New York brought Cyril onto the final leg back
to England – a trip in luxury on the Queen Mary. His time in the military wasn’t over, remaining in the armed forces until 1957, by which time he was a regimental sergeant major.

After over 20 years serving his country, surviving a sinking ship and an extended period as a prisoner of war, Cyril returned to Shipston to start work as a postman. Far from the dangers of war-time life, Cyril became a feature of the postal service.

Last month, Cyril’s daughter Barbara Harris gave a speech at the Chinese Embassy in London. Addressing the embassy, she talked about her father’s journey through Asia and also gave thanks to the fishermen who saved him.

The story of Cyril’s life was first told in the pages of FocusLife back in December 1979 shortly after his death.

Cyril is survived by his daughters Susan Butler and Barbara.

Barbara said: “When I was a little girl, I noticed there was this belt hanging in the cupboard and I can remember saying to my mum, ‘What’s that?’ and she just said, ‘That’s what your dad had when he was during the war’.

“I said to my sister that I wanted the belt and it’s been here since. Dad never really talked much about the belt, but it’s always been something we’ve been aware of.”

Barbara said that it was only after retirement when Cyril really opened up about his wartime experiences.

“When my sister was about 14 or 15 he told her different things and she wrote it all down,” she said. “I didn’t really get involved with that, but it wasn’t until he retired from the post office when he spoke about what happened.”

As for the new documentary, it includes interviews with two remaining survivors, Dennis Morley and William Beningfield, who have since died, as well as tracking down the American who pulled the trigger to fire the torpedos.

It was reviewed this week by The Guardian who gave it four stars and described it as a “British wartime tragedy told with potent empathy”.

You may, however, have to search long and hard to find a local cinema showing the film – the nearest the Herald could find was the Everyman in Cheltenham.