ROBERT HAMMILL
Daring Victory
Oil on canvas
46 x 92cm
On 2 September 1943 a small motorised fishing vessel left Exmouth in Western Australia bound for Singapore, the name of the boat was the Krait. On board were 14 commandos made up of Australian, British Army and Navy personnel. The mission was called “Operation Jaywick”. It was led by Major Ivan Lyon, a British serviceman who had escaped Singapore before it fell to the Japanese. The plan was to park the Krait off Singapore, then paddle into Keppel Harbour in three 2-man collapsible canoes under the cover of darkness, and place limpet mines on time-delayed charges on Japanese ships before slipping away. My painting depicts the men boarding the canoes from the Krait.
It was an audacious and extremely dangerous plan, these men had to sail through Japanese controlled waters knowing, if caught, they would face death as they were sailing under a Japanese ensign and dressed as Malay fishermen. Apart from dangers posed by Japanese patrols, the strong currents in Lombok Strait posed significant navigation problems for Krait. Progress was excruciatingly slow, at one stage the current forcing the boat backwards for an hour. It was nearly 24 hours later before Krait left Lombok Strait behind and entered the Java Sea on 9 September.
The mines were placed on the night of 26 September 1943. The following day, 7 ships, or some 39,000 tonnes of Japanese shipping were sunk or severely damaged. The 6 men then returned to the Krait and all 14 men arrived safety in Exmouth WA, on 19 October 1943 to tell of their 48-day voyage.
