Last Ship from Rangoon

On March 7, 1942, in the midst of WWII, a British merchant ship fled Burma (now Myanmar) only minutes ahead of the invading Japanese army. This vessel, the last ship from Rangoon, acts as the starting point for an engrossing account of escape, suspense, hope and courage. In this period largely undocumented by American literature, fear and desperation invade the lives of British Merchant seamen as violence threatens their welfare, their ships, and their livelihoods. Last Ship from Rangoon recounts a harrowing tale of 132 seamen’s arduous efforts to return to England; imprisoned by the Senegalese, these men must flee from an inescapable French prison and hack their way through dense jungle toward the English colony of Gambia. Based upon the story of a retired British Merchant Marine seaman, whom he met whilst traveling in South East Asia, John Van Wyck Gould has crafted a tale of adventure, courage, hardship, and survival.