Két magyar gőzös elkobzása az orosz–japán háború idején
The seizure of two Hungarian steamships during the Russo-Japanese War

Summary/Abstract: Prior to World War I, the only military losses of the Hungarian navy were two steamers called Burma and Siam seized by the Japanese war prize court. The story of these two ships has never been discussed in Hungarian historiography yet. The ships belonged to the Orient Hungarian Maritime Transport Company founded in 1893. The company was founded by local entrepreneurs in the town of Fiume, which had been the part of Hungary again since 1870. Both steamships were built for long-distance transport of goods, and were plying primarily to Far Eastern ports. The ships were part of the independent Hungarian merchant marine, which was independent of Austria, and operated in the free shipping market, that is, their owner, Orient focused on the most profitable cargoes, as opposed to booked shipments according to timetable. On the basis of a lease contract with the English Mann George Co. signed in London on 11 November 1904, the ships transported coal to the Russian side during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Both ships picked up about 4000 tons of good-quality coal that could be used by ships as well in Cardiff. In the lease contract as well as in the bill of lading the destinations indicated for both ships were Hong Kong, Shanghai and Qingdao. Burma left the port of Cardiff on 19 November, and Siam followed on 23 November. After the several-week-long journey, both ships sailed into Hong Kong within a few days of each other, but abandoning their planned route they set off for Japan. The ships wanted to get to Vladivostok through the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido, but a Japenese torpedo ship (No. 30) guarding the strait captured Burma, then a few days later an Asama class cruiser caught Siam as well. On 28 April 1905, the Supreme Prize Court in Yokosuka declared the two steamers war prizes. A long legal dispute followed, but in the end Burma was put to use as Esan Maru while Siam as Erimo Maru in Japan. While the story was only briefly discussed in the Hungarian press at the time, the Japanese sources made it possible to precisely reconstruct the events.

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