A party comprising Commander J. Petrie, Lieutenant Colonel Goodfellow, Captain Morgan, Second Lieutenant Hemby, Sergeant Lamb and from the Ministry of Economic Warfare were ordered by Rear Admiral Ernest John Spooner of the Naval H.Q Singapore Base to establish an escape route from Singapore when its fall to the Japanese became inevitable. They planned to go to Sumatra, then overland to Padang, on Sumatra's west coast. The SS "Hong Chuen" was chartered for this assignment.