1 This cablegram was transmitted by a small handset located at the
point where the cable line entered the water. Late that night
Bowden, A. N. Wootton (Commercial Secretary) and J. P. Quinn
(Political Secretary), knowing that capitulation was very near,
left Singapore for Palembang, Sumatra, with a group of senior
military officers on the motor launch Mary Rose. On 17 February,
at the entrance to Banka Strait, the Mary Rose was forced to
surrender to two Japanese patrol boats, and the group landed on
Banka Island. There Bowden attempted to make known his diplomatic
status, but was assaulted by Japanesc guards. He was subsequently
forced to dig his own grave and was shot by the guards. Wootton
and Quinn were interned in Sumatra for the duration of the war.

See Lionel Wigmore, The Japanese Thrust, Australian War Memorial,
Canberra, 1957, PP. 385-6.

Lt Gen A. E. Percival, U.K. General Officer Commanding Malaya,
surrendered British, Indian and Australian forces in Singapore to
the Japanese, led by Lt Gen Tomoyuki Yamashita, at 5.15 p.m.

(local time) on 15 February. Some fifteen thousand Australian
troops of the Eighth Division were taken prisoner, most interned
initially at Changi, on Singapore Island.