LIFE AS A FEPOW · HELLSHIPS, 1944

 

The Tamahoko Maru

 

In June 1944 the Tamahoko Maru was torpedoed within sight of Japan. She sank in under two minutes, and 560 of the 772 prisoners on board were lost.

 

 

 

Leaving Java

 

In May 1944 a draft of around 800 Allied prisoners of war was moved from Java to Singapore. They included British, Australian, American and Dutch men — about 200 British, 258 Australians, 42 Americans and nearly 300 Dutch.

 

In early June they sailed north from Singapore in convoy HO-02, carrying bauxite and copper ore for Japan’s war industries. The voyage was slow and dangerous. Within days the convoy was attacked by an American submarine; it called at Manila, rode out a typhoon, and reached Takao, in Taiwan, on 18 June.

 

 

 

 

The Last Leg

 

At Takao the prisoners were moved into two holds of the Tamahoko Maru, an old cargo ship of 6,780 tons built in 1919, which sailed for Japan on 20 June. Around 500 Japanese soldiers were also on board. Unlike on earlier voyages, the prisoners were given no lifebelts, and their protests were ignored.

 

 

 

 

Torpedoed off Nagasaki

 

Just before midnight on 24 June 1944, in the Koshiki Strait about 40 miles south-west of Nagasaki, the convoy was attacked by the American submarine USS Tang. The Tamahoko Maru was hit on the starboard side and sank in less than two minutes. The men in the holds had almost no chance to escape.

 

A Japanese escort picked up the Japanese survivors and left the prisoners in the water. The next morning a small whaling boat arrived and took 212 prisoners to Nagasaki. Of the 772 prisoners on board, 560 had died.

 

 

 

 

After the Sinking

 

The survivors were taken to the Fukuoka 14 prisoner of war camp at the Mitsubishi works in Nagasaki, where they were made to work for the rest of the war. They were still in the city when it was struck by the atomic bomb on 9 August 1945.

 

 

 

 

Remembering the Tamahoko Maru

 

The Tamahoko Maru is one of the least remembered of the hellships, yet she was lost within sight of Japan with more than 500 men. British, Australian, American and Dutch, they have no grave but the sea, and their sacrifice must never be forgotten.

 

Their story is one of many told on our Hellships page.