Montevideo Maru
Montevideo Maru (Japanese: もんてびでお丸) was a merchant ship of the Empire of Japan. Launched in 1926, it was pressed into service as a military transport during World War II. It was sunk by the American submarine USS Sturgeon on 1 July 1942, drowning 1,054 people, mostly Australian prisoners of war and civilians who were being transported from Rabaul, the former Australian territory of New Guinea, to Hainan.[2] The sinking is considered the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history. The wreck of the Montevideo Maru was discovered on 18 April 2023.
Pre-war history[edit]
Montevideo Maru was one of three ships (along with Santos Maru and La Plata Maru) of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (OSK) shipping line built for their trans-Pacific service to South America. The 7,267-gross register ton (GRT) ship was constructed at the Mitsubishi Zosen Kakoki Kaisha shipyard at Nagasaki, and launched in 1926.[1] At 130 metres (430 feet) in length, and 17 m (56 ft) in the beam, it was powered by two Mitsubishi-Sulzer 6ST60 six-cylinder diesel engines delivering a total of 3,400 kilowatts (4,600 hp) and giving it a speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h).[1] Before the war, the ship operated as a passenger and cargo vessel, travelling mainly between Japan and Brazil carrying Japanese emigrants.[3]
Discovery of the wreck[edit]
In late January 2010, Federal Member of Parliament, Stuart Robert, called upon the then Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, to back the search for Montevideo Maru, in the same way that he had supported the search for AHS Centaur.[17]
On 18 April 2023, the wreck of the Montevideo Maru was discovered at a depth of over 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in the South China Sea, off the northwest coast of Luzon, using technology from Dutch underwater search specialist Fugro.[18] Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he hoped the news would bring a "measure of comfort to loved ones who have kept a long vigil".[19] Silentworld Foundation director John Mullens said in a statement that the site would not be disturbed because it is a war grave.[20][21]
Debated issues[edit]
Causes of deaths[edit]
Australian veteran Albert Speer (no relation to the wartime German official, Albert Speer) argued in an interview that some of the Australians survived, only for them to die later.[6] Speer, who served in New Guinea, claimed that survivors were transported to Sado Island, only to die days before the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, in August 1945. Professor Hank Nelson considers it unlikely that any Japanese ship would have stopped to rescue prisoners with a hostile submarine nearby.[6] Of the known Japanese survivors, the only one ever questioned was former merchant seaman Yoshiaki Yamaji. In a 2003 interview with The 7.30 Report, he stated that he was told that some of the POWs had been picked up and taken to Kobe.[6]
The Rabaul garrison has been described as a "sacrificial lamb" by David Day.[24] Lark Force was left without reinforcements, and instructed not to withdraw, in accordance with official War Cabinet policy at the time regarding small garrisons.[25] Harold Page, the senior government official in the territory, was instructed to evacuate only "unnecessary" civilians and was refused permission to evacuate any administrative staff. He was listed among those lost on the Montevideo Maru.[26]
Number of casualties[edit]
It has been difficult to determine a definitive number of the dead. As late as 2010, Australia's Minister for Defence Personnel, Alan Griffin, stated that "there is no absolutely confirmed roll".[7] Australian Army officer Major Harold S. Williams' 1945 list of the Australian dead was lost, along with the original Japanese list in katakana it had been compiled from; these challenges have been exacerbated by the forensic difficulties of recovering remains lost at sea.[27][28]
In 2012, the Japanese government handed over thousands of POW documents to the Australian government. The Montevideo Maru's manifest, which contained the names of all the Australians on board, was among them. The translation of the manifest was released in June 2012, confirming a total of 1,054 Australians, of whom 845 were from Lark Force.[29] The new translation corrected a longstanding historical error in the number of civilians who went down with the ship. There were 209, not 208 as previously thought. This is not an additional casualty. Rather, the previous number was simply inaccurate.[7]