HMAS Chinampa was used primarily for general harbour duties in Darwin.
On 28 July, Chinampa and the 300 tonne motor vessel HMAS Southern Cross, embarked Australian troops for passage to Saumlaki on Yamdena Island, some 520 kilometres almost directly north of Darwin. By an unfortunate coincidence, their arrival at Saumlaki was preceded by a Japanese landing force which arrived before dawn on the 30th. Saumlaki’s defending force consisted of 13 Dutch soldiers armed with Tommy guns, a Lewis gun and hand grenades. The Dutch soldiers were expecting Chinampa and Southern Cross so the arrival of 2 ships in the harbour just after 04:00 was not unexpected. Around 300 Japanese soldiers alighted from the ships in boats and landed on the jetty. The tiny force of Dutch soldiers repelled the initial landing inflicting heavy Japanese casualties. Subsequent enemy landings, however, were made elsewhere while the Japanese ships opened fire on the defenders’ position. Six of the gallant Dutch soldiers were killed and the survivors were driven into the bush. By 06:00 the town was in Japanese hands and the supporting ships departed shortly afterwards.
Chinampa and Southern Cross, meanwhile, were still some distance from Saumlaki and unaware that the town was now in enemy hands. At around 09:30 Southern Cross suffered an engine breakdown and Chinampa continued on independently. It anchored in the harbour that day and, expecting the small Dutch force to still be in control, its Commanding Officer, Commissioned Warrant Officer Frederick Henderson, RANR, went ashore but after being fired upon, rejoined his ship. When the more heavily armed Southern Cross arrived the next day, 31 July 1942, Chinampa proceeded to the jetty to attempt to land its troops but was forced to withdraw after coming under heavy fire which killed the 34-year-old Henderson and wounded 2 others. Chinampa and Southern Cross consequently withdrew without landing their troops and returned to Darwin where they arrived on 2 August. 1942.
