Ernest John Spooner

Rear-Admiral Ernest John Spooner, DSO (22 August 1887 – 15 April 1942) was one of the senior Royal Navy officers at Singapore during the World War II Japanese invasion of Malaya and the subsequent fall of Singapore.

Spooner died of exhaustion and malaria after his evacuation vessel was attacked by Japanese aircraft and ran aground on an uninhabited island.

Early career Educated at West Downs School in Winchester, Spooner joined the Royal Navy and served in the First World War. He became Deputy Director at the Operations Division of the Admiralty in 1932, commanding officer of the Navigation School at Portsmouth in 1934 and commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Vindictive in 1937 before becoming commanding officer of the battlecruiser HMS Repulse in 1938.

By the end of January, the Royal Navy had almost no real fighting strength left in Malaya, and the decision was taken to abandon Singapore in favour of Java. Most naval personnel were evacuated aboard the merchantman Empire Star on 12 February, but Spooner and a few others remained behind to assist in organizing the evacuation of civilians from the island, which was now just days away from surrender. Spooner's wife was one of those who was evacuated.

The evacuations were a dismal affair due to circumstances beyond Spooner's control. The situation had become so dire that anything more than rudimentary coordination was impossible. Furthermore, Japanese naval and air forces operating in the seas around Malaya destroyed many of the ships that left Singapore in the final days before the surrender on 15 February. One of the vessels caught up in the attempted escapes was the ML 310 transporting Spooner, Air Vice Marshal Conway Pulford and some 40 others. The vessel was attacked by Japanese aircraft and its passengers became stranded on a small island called Chibia (Tjibia, Tjebia). Chibia was part of the Juju group located north of Bangka Island, and was uninhabited. Even worse, there was almost no fresh water. Despite British search efforts, the stranded refugees remained on the island for two months before disease and starvation forced the survivors to surrender to the Japanese. By that time, both Spooner and Pulford had died of exhaustion and malaria.