As they pulled out to sea, the crew and passengers on all the ships looked back at the Gibraltar of the East. Huge flames shot up from the oil reserves kept offshore, now exploded to keep them from the Japanese. Black smoke rose over the shattered city. Occasionally, a searchlight swept over the coastline, picking out attacking bombers in the dark skies. It was a scene from Dante’s “Inferno,” one that none of the survivors would or could ever forget.

Frank took note of the carnage he was leaving behind. He re-created the scene to Dutch authors H. Neumann and E. van Witsen years later:

The red glow of the burning harbor installations and barracks, the fires in the cities and the thick smoke clouds illuminated by the continuous fire beams of the artillery and exploding grenades, provided a ghostlike scenery that was visible miles away. When we slowly sailed past the oil and gasoline supply tanks that were set on fire on the island of Pulau Boekoem, every detail of our ship was clearly visible because of the heavy glow caused by the burning of the enormous supplies in contrast to the dark night sky. It was a great relief to feel the chilly wind of the sea when we left this inferno.