January 27, 1949, is the day before the Lunar New Year's Eve, and the next day and night will be the Ji Chou New Year. On the banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the huge Taiping Wheel was crowded with dignitaries and slowly sailed away from the port.
Everyone never expected that this giant ship, which was originally going to Keelung Port in Taiwan, sank in the waters near Zhoushan Islands eight hours later, and nearly a thousand people were buried at the bottom of the sea.
Among them, the father of world detective Li Changyu Li Haomin !
一 The overwhelmed Taiping liner
This is a luxury cargo ship of China United Shipping Company. Its main business is Cai Tianduo (the father of Cai Kangyong ) and his friends. This Taiping ship was converted from a cargo ship and was divided into first-class, second-class, and third-class cabins. It was initially used as a transportation ship. Most of the passengers on board were businessmen, family members, and tourists traveling between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In the autumn of 1948, due to the tense situation in the civil war, this ship almost became an escape ship for dignitaries. A large number of wealthy people began to flee the mainland by boat, and it was even difficult to find a ticket.
Therefore, some people exchange gold bars for cabins, or ask relatives and friends to get a ship ticket. On the day of the incident, many people were still crowding onto the Taiping ferry, which was already full. The crew, either greedy for money or out of various circumstances, allowed those who had not bought tickets to get on board.
As a result, 508 ticketed passengers and about 300 people without tickets stayed on the ship, which was seriously overloaded.
What's even worse is that the originally overwhelmed passenger ship also carried other heavy cargo, including 600 tons of steel bars, more than 100 tons of printing equipment and newspapers, more than 1,000 boxes of central bank contents, and a large amount of silver, etc.
Due to too much cargo to be loaded on the ship, the original plan was to set sail on the morning of January 27th, but it was later changed to 2:00 pm. However, the Taiping was still loading cargo until before sailing. When the ship docked at the pier, you had to use a ladder to get on the ship, but now you can get on the ship by just lifting your feet - the deck is already level with the pier, which shows the draft and load of the tambour.
At that time, there was no open space in the whole ship, which was either cargo or people, so the draft was too deep. When the steel bars to be sent to Taiwan for construction projects were loaded onto the ship, the ship began to tilt gradually, but no one cared.
A girl who was preparing to board the ship later recalled: "I saw that the hull of the ship was crooked. I didn't dare to sit on it, so I sold the ticket." As a result, she luckily escaped.
It is precisely because of this that the hidden dangers were laid for this accident, which also directly led to the large number of victims.
2 Phantom of the Night, Both Ships Sinked
At four o'clock in the afternoon on January 27, before New Year's Eve, the Taiping finally set sail with its heavy body. This was its 35th voyage, but it became its last!
The weather conditions were excellent on this day, with no wind, no rain, and no fog. The days are short in winter, and it gets dark soon after setting sail. But the boat moved very quickly because everyone on the boat was looking forward to going to Taiwan to reunite with their families.
In order to avoid the government's curfew, the ship did not turn on its navigation lights and sailed forward in the dark at high speed. At about 11:45, near Baijie Mountain (30°25' north latitude, 122° east longitude) in the waters of Zhoushan Islands, disaster suddenly struck!
A "Jianyuan Ship" carrying 2,700 tons of coal and timber was also sailing at night with its lights turned off. As a result, the two ships collided. With a dull bang on the sea surface, the Jianyuan ship sank immediately within a minute. 72 people on board drowned, and 3 people were rescued by the Taiping crew.
At that time, the crew on the Taiping ship thought that their ship was not seriously injured, and no one took it seriously. According to the survivor Ge Ke's later statement:
"After the bang, the waiter told the passengers that the Jianyuan ship had sunk and the Taiping ship was safe. There was no need to panic. But I was no longer worried, so I took my wife and children on the deck. At that time, the lower cabin was flooded with water, and I saw two lifeboats crowded with people, but there was no crew member on the ship to untie the lifeboats into the sea."
In fact, the hull of the ship had been damaged at that time, and seawater continued to pour into the cabin. Unprepared, this giant ship weighing 10,000 tons floating on the sea quickly sank into the sea. The huge whirlpool caused by the sinking of the hull swept many escape boats into the seabed.
The screams and wails of those who fell into the water echoed on the dark sea. It was winter, and the sea water was cold and biting. Whether you could swim or not, you would freeze to death as long as you soaked in the water for a while. Many victims did not even drown to death at all, but were frozen to death by the cold sea water.
At the end, only sporadic screams and cries echoed on the sea, and finally it gradually became calm...
The next morning, an Australian warship came to the rescue after receiving the distress signal. Only 36 people were saved in the Taiping ship with nearly a thousand people.
According to the Australian crew members, there were many bodies of adults and children floating on the sea, as well as Buddhist statues, tablets, wooden boxes and documents.
Taken together on the two ships, 1,000 living lives ended. Those relatives who were waiting eagerly and eagerly did not know anything at this time.
三 Victims and Survivors
There were many famous people on the ship at that time, such as Wu Bochao, president of Nanjing Conservatory of Music, Deng Lianxi, editor-in-chief of " Times and Trends", Lu Shuying, president of "Southeast Daily", General Wang Yi, representative of Hainan's surrender, and others.
In addition, 11 members of Taipei Mosque founder Chang Zichun's family, Shanxi-born National Congress Representative Qiu Yangjun, Gong Yunlong, the father of Gong Xinru, once the "richest woman in Asia", and the two sons of Mao Qingxiang, director of the Confidential Office of the Presidential Palace, were also killed.
Yuan Shikai's great-granddaughter Yuan Jiashian rushed to the hospital after receiving the news of the sinking of the Taiping Wheel, because her father Yuan Jiayi was also on the Taiping Wheel. In the hospital, Yuan Jiaxian was disappointed - she could not find her father's shadow.
In addition, there is Li Haomin, the father of the famous detective Li Changyu!
Li Haomin is a large landowner in Rugao, Jiangsu, and owns a large area of land near Rugao . He opened the "Maoji Wuyang Hao" in Tangjia Lane, Rugao, selling daily necessities such as foreign kerosene, foreign matches, and foreign soap, which was very popular among consumers in Gaocheng . After the civil war broke out, Li Haomin sized up the situation and considered moving his family and business to Taiwan, so he first went to Taiwan to run a fishery.
But the sudden " Taiping Wheel Incident " unfortunately caused him to be buried at the bottom of the sea.
Li Changyu’s motherWang Shuzhen
Li Changyu later recalled that the family had already laid out the dishes and chopsticks, and the children were happily waiting for their father to come back to celebrate the New Year, but his father never came back.
It is worth mentioning that Li Haomin’s wife Wang Shuzhen gave birth to 13 children. She raised these children alone with extraordinary perseverance. Later, all of them became Ph.D.s and performed outstandingly in their respective industries.
Master Hsing Yun
There are also many people who did not sit on the wheel of death due to one or other reasons, such as Master Hsing Yun.
He was also a passenger on the "Taiping Ferry", but he was short of time and missed it, so he luckily escaped the disaster. Later, Master Hsing Yun once said: "I was short of time and could not catch the ship in time, so I was spared."
Master Hsing Yun said, this should be the fate of life!
and scholar and writer Zheng Peikai . At that time, Zheng Peikai's family had already purchased tickets for the Taiping Ferry. However, because Zheng Peikai vomited milk, his family canceled the tickets and bought air tickets.
三 Cause of the accident
After the accident, the Kuomintang authorities conducted a detailed investigation into the matter and established a case trial team composed of professionals. After detailed investigation, the cause of the accident is probably as follows:
1, improper handling
After the collision between the two ships, the Jianyuan ship sank instantly. However, the Taiping ship did not show any major problems at this time, and two people who fell into the water on the Jianyuan ship were rescued.
At this moment, it is said that the Taiping should have inspected the hull to prevent the risk of water leakage, but the captain of the Taiping did not take it seriously. Later, when the captain discovered that there was water in the front cabin, he hurriedly ordered to sail to a nearby island at full speed, but it was too late.
As more and more water entered, the ship's hull began to lose its balance. The ship's hull gradually tilted to the right, and the ship's speed became slower and slower.At this time, the boiler on the ship exploded again, and the seawater after the explosion poured back into faster and faster. 45 minutes after the sinking of the Jianyuan ship, it also sank into the cold sea.
Survivors and relatives of the victims pay homage to the deceased
2 Severely overloaded
The Taiping Ship was transformed from a transport ship. The ship was designed to carry only more than 500 passengers. However, at that time, many passengers wanted to take the Taiping Ferry to Keelung, making it difficult to get a ticket. These passengers were either dignitaries or their family members. The operator of the Taiping Ferry had no choice but to load more than 300 passengers without tickets.
Passengers plus more than 100 crew members, the total number is close to 1,000, the overcapacity is nearly doubled.
In addition, as mentioned just now, the Taiping wheel also carried 600 tons of steel, more than 100 tons of military supplies, etc., which made the overload of the Taiping wheel even more serious.
Before leaving the port, the ship had tilted. If the captain had paid more attention, he would not have risked setting sail.
Photos before the Taiping accident
3 Blind sailing
Under normal circumstances, all ships sailing at night must turn on their navigation lights to indicate their position and direction of travel to facilitate mutual avoidance and identification. However, because it was wartime, the Songhu Garrison Command prohibited ships from turning on their lights.
Therefore, when the Taiping was sailing at night, it did not turn on the navigation lights and sailed in the dark, which led to the accident.
4 The crew was slack
That day was the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, the day before New Year's Eve, and many crew members drank alcohol that night. The first officer drank too much that night, so the third officer took charge of the driving.
Not only the first mate, but also almost all the crew members behaved carelessly during the night voyage. They were only looking forward to celebrating the New Year and failed to detect the danger in time during the voyage.
5 The ship's hull is too thin
Taiping was designed and manufactured by the US military. It is a transport ship only used for short distances, with a displacement of 2,489 tons. During the Second World War, the main task of this kind of transport ship was to supply China's rear war preparations and life needs. However, in order to cut off supplies, Japan often concentrates its firepower on sinking such transport and supply ships. Therefore, the US military deliberately designed the hull of this type of ship to be light and thin to facilitate faster sailing.
So, when hit, the hull quickly fractured.
Owner Cai Tianduo, on the right is his wife
4 Follow-up processing
The passengers of the Taiping ship are either rich or expensive, and the ship carries too many confidential documents and some goods with unpredictable loss prices. So after the insurance company learned that the Taiping sank, they chose to go bankrupt without hesitation. They just didn't want to pay any compensation for the accident - and they really couldn't afford it!
Helpless, Cai Tianduo, as the ship owner, had to shoulder this huge responsibility. He brought his family to Taiwan and started an endless lawsuit. Later, the court ruled that Taiping should bear the main responsibility and compensate for all the astronomical losses of persons, property, etc.
Cai Tianduo and others could not afford to pay compensation, so the matter was left undisturbed. From then on, the family immediately fell into trouble and had to engage in their old profession in Taiwan as a lawyer to litigate lawsuits to support the family.
Later, the destroyer "Taiping" of the Kuomintang Navy, perhaps because the name of this destroyer was exactly the same as the Taiping, was hit by a torpedo by our People's Liberation Army and sank into the ocean...
Memorial to the Passengers of the Taiping Ferry
Thank you for reading, the pictures are from the Internet.
