Ahell ship is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation forcruelty among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by theImperial Japanese Navy andImperial Japanese Army to transportAllied prisoners of war (POWs) andrōmusha (Asian forced slave laborers) out of thePhilippines, theDutch East Indies,Hong Kong, andSingapore inWorld War II. These POWs were taken to theJapanese Islands,Formosa,Manchukuo,Korea, theMoluccas,Sumatra,Burma, orSiam to be used asforced labor.
During theAmerican Revolutionary War,Patriot prisoners of war sometimes referred to Britishprison ships they were held in using the terms "hell" and "hell ship". Captured Patriot military personnel who refused to swear allegiance tothe Crown during the conflict werekept by the British in prison ships, many of which were aging and dilapidated warships. Conditions onboard these ships were frequently abysmal, and outbreaks of diseases such asdysentery were rife among prisoners. The most infamous prison ship wasHMS Jersey, which was designed to hold a complement of 400 crewmen but held up to 1,000 prisoners of war during the conflict; when the war ended in 1783, it was abandoned and burnt inNew York Harbor.[1][2]
DuringWorld War II, the term "hell ship" was revived byAlliedprisoners of war (POWs) to refer to merchant vessels requisitioned by theEmpire of Japan to transport POWs andforced labourers to various locationsunder Japanese control. According to American historian Gregory F. Michno, during World War II 134 Japanese "hell ships" transported roughly 126,000 Allied POWs via more than 156 voyages. During the war, the Japanese engaged in the widespread use of forced labour, including from Allied POWs, to produce the vast quantities of materials needed to maintainmilitary operations. As such, these ships were used to transfer POWs to areas where they would forcibly produce material for Japan's war effort.[3]
Conditions onboard these vessels were abysmal, with passengers being frequently denied access to adequate food, drink and bathroom facilities while being placed into cramped conditions.Terminal dehydration,hyperthermia andstarvation along withsummary executions and excessive beatings led to the death of some, though the greatest cause of fatalities for POWs aboard these ships were Allied attacks, which unintentionally killed thousands of passengers. TheUnited States Navy carried out most of these attacks with the help of Allied intelligence services and theRoyal Navy'sBritish Pacific Fleet.[4]
The term "hell ship" was also used by theBritish press to refer to ships used byNazi Germany to transport Allied POWs, such as the oil tankerAltmark. The ship was transporting 300 British sailors picked up after being onmerchant ships sunk by theKriegsmarine cruiserAdmiral Graf Spee when it was boarded by the Royal Navy destroyerHMS Cossack, which rescued the sailors. When describing the rescue, which came to be known as theAltmark incident, British newspapers frequently describedAltmark with epithets such as "Hitler's hell-ship" or the "Nazi hell-ship".[5][6]
In May 1942, the Japanese began transferring its captured POWs by sea. Prisoners were often crammed into cargo holds with little air, ventilation, food, or water, for journeys that would last weeks. Many died due toasphyxia,starvation ordysentery. Some POWs became delirious and unresponsive in their environment of heat, humidity and lack of oxygen, food, and water. These transports carried a mixture of POWs and regular Japanese troops and cargo, and thus were not eligible to be marked as non-combatants. As a result, such vessels could be attacked by Alliedsubmarines and aircraft, meaning they were at risk of being sunk before they even reached their destination. More than 20,000 Allied POWs died at sea when the transport ships carrying them were attacked by Allied submarines and aircraft.
On October 24, 1944, theArisan Maru was transporting 1,781 U.S. and Allied military and civilian POWs when it was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine (either USSShark or USSSnook), at about 5:00 p.m.; it finally sank about 7:00 p.m. No POWs were killed by the torpedo strikes, and nearly all were able to escape from the ship's holds, but the Japanese did not attempt to rescue any of them from the sea. Only nine of the prisoners aboard survived the event. Five escaped and made their way to China in one of the ship's two life boats. They were reunited with U.S. forces and returned to the United States. The remaining four were later recaptured by Imperial Japanese naval vessels, with one of them dying shortly after they reached land.
Survivors of theOryoku Maru, which sank on 15 December 1944, were loaded on theEnoura Maru and theBrazil Maru. Both ships reached Takao (Kaohsiung) harbor inTaiwan on New Year's Day. On 6 January 1945, the smaller group of prisoners were transferred fromBrazil Maru toEnoura Maru. However, on January 9, theEnoura Maru was bombed and disabled by U.S. aircraft.[7]Brazil Maru transported the last surviving Allied POWs toMoji, Japan, on 29 January 1945. There the Japanese medics were shocked at the wasted condition of the POWs and usedtriage to divide them. The 110 most severe cases were taken to a primitive military hospital inKokura where 73 died within a month. Four other groups were sent toFukuoka POW camps 1, 3, 4 and 17. Of 549 men alive when the ship docked, only 372 survived the war. Some eventually went to a POW camp inJinsen, Korea, where they were given light duty, mainly sewing garments for the Japanese Army.[8]
Buyo Maru was a 5,446 tonYoshida Maru No.1-classtransport[9][10] carrying mainlyIndian POWs.[11] It was torpedoed byUSS Wahoo (SS-238), commanded by CDRDudley W. Morton, on 26 January 1943. Morton then ordered the ship's lifeboats to be fired upon withsmall arms fire.[12][13][14] TheHague Convention of 1907 bans the killing of shipwreck survivors under any circumstances.[15] Morton and his executive officerRichard O'Kane also reported that they had misidentified the survivors as Japanese. O'Kane further explained that the fire fromWahoo was intended to force the troops to abandon their boats and no troops were deliberately targeted.[14] Vice AdmiralCharles A. Lockwood, theCommander of the Submarine Force for the U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), asserted that the survivors were army troops and turned machine gun and rifle fire onWahoo while she maneuvered on the surface and that such resistance was common in submarine warfare. It was reported that many of the lifeboat occupants were Indian POWs of the 2nd Battalion,16th Punjab Regiment, plus escorts from the Japanese 26th Field Ordnance Depot.[16] Of 1,126 men aboardBuyo Maru, 195 Indians and 87 Japanese died in all,[17] between the shooting incident and the initial sinking, (the exact number of dead varied according to sources). On the next day, 27 January 1943, theChoku Maru (No. 2) rescued the remaining survivors and took them toPalau.[9]
About 1,000 of the survivors of theOryoku Maru, which sank on 15 December 1944, were loaded on theEnoura Maru while the rest boarded the smallerBrazil Maru. Both ships reached Takao (Kaohsiung) harbor inTaiwan on New Year's Day. On 6 January 1945, the smaller group of prisoners was transferred fromBrazil Maru toEnoura Maru, and 37 British and Dutch were taken ashore. However, on January 9, theEnoura Maru was bombed and disabled by aircraft fromUSSHornet while in harbor, killing about 350 men.[7]
TheHofuku Maru, also known asHohuku Maru (豊福丸 (Kyūjitai: 豐福丸), Hōfuku Maru), was a Japanese cargo ship, sunk on 21 September 1944 by American aircraft, while carrying 1,289 British and Dutch prisoners of war; 1,047 of them died.
The 5,065-tontramp steamerJun'yō Maru sailed fromTandjoeng Priok (Batavia) on 16 September 1944 with about 4,200romusha slave labourers and 2,300 POWs aboard. These Dutch POWs included 1,600 from the 10th Battalion camp and 700 from theKampong Makassar camp. This 23rd transport of POWs from Java was called Java Party 23. Java Party 23 included about 6,500 men bound forPadang on the west coast of Sumatra to work on theSumatra Railway (Mid-Sumatra). On 18 September 1944 the ship was 15 miles off the west coast of Sumatra nearBenkoelen whenHMS Tradewind hit her with two torpedoes, one in the bow and one in the stern. About 4,000romushas and 1,626 POWs died when the ship sank in 20 minutes. About 200romushas and 674 POWs were rescued by Japanese ships and taken to the prison in Padang, where eight prisoners died.[18][19]
On 12 September 1944,SS Kachidoki Maru with 950 British POWs on board, was sunk byUSS Pampanito. 431 of them were killed.Kachidoki Maru was traveling in a convoy withRakuyo Maru (see below), which was sunk the same day byUSS Sealion.[20][21]
Lisbon Maru was carrying 2,000 British POWs fromHong Kong to Japan in appalling conditions when torpedoed byUSSGrouper on 1 October 1942. 800 POWs died when the ship sank the following day. Many were shot or otherwise killed by the ship's Japanese guards.
The 600-tonMaros Maru (TheSS Maros was renamedHaruyoshi Maru by the Japanese) sailed from Ambon on 17 September 1944 routed along the south-coast ofCelebes with about 500 British and Dutch POWs bound for Surabaya. On 21 September 1944 the ship arrived atMuna Island (south of Celebes) to embark 150 POWs. The ship required engine repairs upon arrival inMakassar. Here 159 POWs died in the holds in the 40 days required to complete repairs. They got a seaman's grave in the harbour of Makassar. Only 327 POWs survived when the ship reached Surabaya on 26 November 1944. They were transported by train to the Kampong Makassar camp in Batavia (Meester Cornelis), and arrived on 28 November 1944.
Montevideo Maru was a Japanese auxiliary ship that was sunk inWorld War II by the submarineUSS Sturgeon, resulting in the drowning of 1,054 Australian prisoners of war and civilians being transported fromRabaul. Prior to the war, it operated as a passenger and cargo vessel, traveling mainly between Asia and South America.
Oryoku Maru was a 7,363-ton passengercargo liner transporting 1,620 survivors of theBataan Death March,Corregidor, and other battles, mostly American, packed in the holds, and 1,900 Japanese civilians and military personnel in the cabins.[22] She leftManila on 13 December 1944, and over the next two days was bombed andstrafed by U.S. airplanes. As she neared the naval base atOlongapo inSubic Bay, U.S. Navy planes fromUSS Hornet attacked the unmarked ship, causing it to sink on December 15. About 270 died aboard the ship. Some died from suffocation or dehydration. Others were killed in the attack, drowned or were shot while escaping the ship as it sank inSubic Bay, where the 'Hell Ship Memorial' is located. A colonel, in his official report, wrote:
Many men lost their minds and crawled about in the absolute darkness armed with knives, attempting to kill people in order to drink their blood or armed with canteens filled with urine and swinging them in the dark. The hold was so crowded and everyone so interlocked with one another that the only movement possible was over the heads and bodies of others.[23]
Rakuyo Maru was torpedoed on 12 September 1944 byUSS Sealion which later realized the ship carried 1,317Australian andBritish prisoners of war from Singapore to Formosa (Taiwan). A total of 1,159 POWs died. The 350 who were in lifeboats were bombarded and all killed by a Japanese navy vessel the next day when they were rowing towards land.[20] On 15 September,Sealion, along withUSS Growler andUSS Pampanito, returned to the area and rescued 63 surviving POWs who were on rafts. Four of them died before they could be landed atTanapag Harbor,Saipan, in theMariana Islands.[20][21]Rakuyo Maru was travelling in a convoy withSS Kachidoki Maru (see above), which was sunk the same day byPampanito.
Shinyo Maru wasattacked by the submarineUSS Paddle on 7 September 1944. Two torpedo hits sank the ship and killed several hundred US,Dutch and Filipino servicemen. Japanese guarding the prisoners opened fire on them while they were trying to abandon ship or swim to the nearby island ofMindanao. 47 Japanese and 687 Allied POWs were killed.[24][25]
Suez Maru was a 4,645-ton freighter with passenger accommodation. She sailed on 25 November 1943 with 548 POWs (415 British and 133 Dutch) fromAmbon bound forSurabaya. The POWs were all sick men from the work-camps on the Moluccas and Ambon. Twenty were stretcher cases. On 29 November 1943 the ship was torpedoed byUSS Bonefish nearKangean Island east ofMadoera Island. Most of the POWs drowned in the holds of the ship. The crew ofBonefish was unaware thatSuez Maru was carrying POWs. Those who escaped from the holds and left the ship were shot by the Japanese.MinesweeperW-12 picked up the Japanese survivors although recently released documents state thatW-12 machine-gunned the surviving POWs (a minimum of 250) in the water.[26] There were no POW survivors.
In 2012 film producer Jan Thompson created a film documentary on the hell ships, Death March, and POW camps titledNever the Same: The Prisoner-of-War Experience. The film reproduced scenes of the camps and ships, showed drawings and writings of the prisoners, and featuredLoretta Swit as the narrator.[27][28] TheMidnight Oil songIn the Valley mentions the sinking ofMontevideo Maru, where the narrator's grandfather drowned: "the Rising Sun sent him floating to his rest".
