Liu Yongfu
On 19 October, realising that the war was lost, Liu Yongfu decided to leave for the Chinese mainland. Accompanied by around a hundred officers of the Tainan garrison, he left the city during the night on the pretence of going to inspect the defences of Anping. He then disguised himself as a coolie and boarded the British merchant ship "Thales", bound for Amoy, on the morning of 20 October. The Japanese only got wind of Liu's flight on the following morning, after they marched into Anping and Tainan, and on 21 October the "Thales" was pursued by the cruiser "Yaeyama", halted fifteen miles from Amoy, and boarded by Japanese sailors. The Japanese sailors did not recognise Liu Yongfu, but announced that they intended to arrest seven supposed Chinese labourers aboard the British vessel who were unable to give a satisfactory account of themselves. Although the Japanese did not know it, one of the seven labourers was Liu Yongfu. He owed his escape to the intervention of the British captain. Indignant at being boarded on the high seas, the captain protested vigorously at this illegal search, and when the merchant ship reached Amoy all its passengers, including Liu Yongfu, were allowed to go ashore without further hindrance. Admiral Arichi Shinanojo, the Japanese fleet commander in the invasion of Formosa, was shortly afterwards forced to resign as a result of a subsequent British complaint to Japan. Only later did the Japanese realise how close they had come to capturing Liu Yongfu.