14 Feb 1945, John Charter's wartime journal

There was a spot of excitement this afternoon. Mr Lammert came bustling into the room saying: “There’s a battleship inside the Lemas ((Jiapeng Liedao and Dan’gan Liedao islands)) going east”.

And we all rushed onto the verandah and there, sure enough was a big warship with the heavy superstructure, forward, of a battleship. It was some distance out but most people (including the merchantile mariners in camp) seemed pretty sure they were battleships. I say “battleships” because after a little while a second big fellow came into view. They were escorted by 5 destroyers and the rear was brought up by a cruiser. When they came abreast of Waglan they began to turn north. We all wonder from whence they came. It is quite evident that they are escaping north to join up with the main Jap fleet. I wonder if there has been a recent naval action and the Japs have lost some ships, because 5 destroyers and a cruiser seems a very small escort for two battleships. We could hear planes buzzing about overhead but could see nothing owing to the low cloud ceiling. They must have been the naval air escorts on the lookout for enemy planes. They passed out of sight without incident – unfortunately!