11.5cm (4.5in) x 21.5cm (8.5in) x 14.5cm (5.7in)
Silver mounted oak table box made from the ship’s timbers of the merchantman Fukui Maru which was sunk as a blockship at Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War (1904), the hinged lid applied with an silver cartouche inscribed in English and Japanese ‘Made of wood belonging to the S.S. / “Fukui Maru” sunk to block the entrance / of Port Arthur on the 27th March 1904 by / the hero Hirose who was killed after / having achieved his gallant deed.’ Maker’s mark to the hinges of Luen Hing, 231 Szechuen Road, Shanghai, (fl.1875-1930).
Lieutenant-Commander Hirose Takeo IJN (1868-1904) is remembered for his heroic death during the opening stages of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. On 27th March that year a Japanese naval force surprised the Russian Fleet at anchor in Port Arthur, Manchuria. Takeo, serving aboard the battleship Asahi volunteered to command the aging merchantman Fukui Maru and sink it as a blockship in the harbour entrance. In the event he was sunk by shore batteries before he could attain his objective. The Fukui Maru blew up and, although seriously wounded, Takeo refused to abandon his post and continued to direct his men to safety, dying before he could escape. He soon became a national hero being posthumously promoted to commander and deified as a ‘military god’.