What's left to learn about the post-war forced repatriation of Chinese seamen from Liverpool?

I had the pleasure, yesterday, of meeting Yvonne and Charles Foley, who have carried out detailed research into the post-war forced repatriation of Chinese seamen from Liverpool. I would encourage anyone interested in the repatriation to visit their website: https://dragonsandlions.co.uk/. A really good summary of the story can be read in Dan Hancox's article for The Guardian last year: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/may/25/chinese-merchant-seamen-liverpool-deportations.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the repatriation is the survival, or not, of documentary evidence. Other than the files in the National Archives, relatively little remains, despite this being a significant effort that would have required planning, research, manpower, logistics, and inter-agency cooperation. I will briefly explore some of the difficulties in obtaining documentary evidence below.

Ocean Archives

The archives of Blue Funnel Line, the Liverpool shipping company that employed Chinese seamen, are held in Merseyside Maritime Museum, having been transferred there in the 1980s. Although there are files about the employment of Chinese seamen, those covering the Second World War and after contain many conspicuous absences, including very few direct references to repatriation, no mention of working with the police or the Ministry of War Transport, of the 1942 strike, or of individual casework.

Shell Archives

Anglo-Saxon Petroleum, owned by Royal Dutch Shell, was the only other British shipping line systematically employing large numbers of Chinese crew. Their archives are, presumably, with the other Shell Archives, in the Hague, and are effectively inaccessible. Royal Dutch Shell are apparently very protective of their archives and allow very few people access.

Police Archives

The archives of Liverpool City Police (later Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary, and then Merseyside Police) have not been deposited with a record office and remain under the control of Merseyside Police's records manager. I have thus far had difficulty in arranging access, but I intend to write to the Chief Constable and I have also enquired with the Police History Society for advice. It may be fruitless, however, as I understand that Special Branch files were destroyed, possibly in the 1970s when Merseyside Police was formed.

MI5 Archives

On the tail of Special Branch files, there is a suggestion that they maintained a close contact with MI5 about their activities. It goes without saying that these are not easy files to get access to, and in any case may have been routinely destroyed. I intend to write to MI5 to ask.

Other repositories

• There are the National Union of Seamen files at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, and the John Swire & Sons files at the School of Oriental and African Studies, which are both of varying degrees of usefulness.
• I believe that any routine Home Office files generated by immigration officials in Liverpool at the time will now have been routinely destroyed, if they haven't been deposited in the National Archives.
• It may be that Liverpool City Police Special Branch communicated with the Metropolitan Police Special Branch over the repatriation. There was a practice of provincial police forces calling on the Met for advice. I have sent an FOI request to them to see what exists, if anything.
• One source may be found closer to home, as it has come to my attention that the Liverpool university settlement operated in or around Chinatown, and their files are in the Sydney Jones Library. I intend to follow this up at work.

In answer to the question posed in my title, there is certainly more to be learnt about the repatriation, but whether or not we'll be allowed to learn it is another matter! If anyone has any other ideas about useful archives or files, don't hesitate to get in touch.