 Only twenty men from the 21st Special Base Force were left as a garrison.Isolated acts of sabotage and the torpedoing of the "Nissei Maru" at the wharf on 17 November 1942 meant that only small amounts of phosphate were exported to Japan during the occupation.In November 1943, over 60% of the island's population was evacuated to Surabaya prison camps, leaving a total population of just under 500 Chinese and Malays and 15 Japanese to survive as best they could.