The tragic and incredible story of the ship "Montevideo Maru"
- George Henrique
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
July 1, 1942, Philippine Sea, Pacific Ocean.
Aboard the MV Montevideu Maru, a Japanese merchant ship, are over a thousand prisoners of war, mostly Australian soldiers and officers. They had been captured by the Japanese during the first months of battles that followed the start of Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia in late 1941 and early 1942.
These Australians had been made prisoners after the fall of the city of Rabaul (New Britain) in early 1942. The prisoner ship then headed for China, where it hoped to disembark the prisoners on Hainan Island. However, it was spotted by the American submarine USS Sturgeon, near the north coast of the Philippines on June 30. Pursuing the Japanese ship, the submarine was initially unable to carry out an attack due to the merchantman's speed. However, the Montevideo Maru reduced speed shortly after midnight, expecting to rendezvous with escorts. It was sailing alone.
It was at this moment that the USS Sturgeon fired four torpedoes, one of which hit the target squarely. There was no time to escape: the Montevideu Maru sank in just 11 minutes, and few had a chance to save themselves. At that moment, the crew of the American submarine had no idea that it was a ship packed with Allied prisoners of war. The tragedy would only be noticed later: 1054 members of the Australian army sank with the ship, in what became known as the greatest maritime tragedy in Australian history.
On April 18, 2023, the discovery of its wreck in the Philippine Sea, near Luzon Island, was announced. The vessel is at a depth of 4,000 meters (4 km). The discovery was announced by a Dutch underwater exploration team, Frugo.
The Ship
The Montevideo Maru was built in 1926 by the Mitsubishi Zosen shipyards in Osaka, Japan. It belonged to the "Santos" class and sailed under the administration of the Japanese shipping company OSK (Osaka Shosen K.). It had a tonnage of 7,267 tons, was 113 meters long by 17 meters wide, had two Diesel engines, and reached a speed of 12 knots.
The Montevideo Maru in Brazil: another tragic episode
In peacetime, the Japanese ship was in Brazil on different occasions, docking in the ports of Santos and Rio de Janeiro, conducting commercial exchange and helping to bring Japanese immigrants.
Once World War II began, the Japanese ship began to act as a transport vessel for refugees and for repatriation and diplomatic exchange, a subject already addressed here on the virtual maritime museum EXEA blog. A news item from the newspaper A BATALHA, dated January 14, 1941, shows a very interesting fact about the ship. At the beginning of that year, the Montevideo Maru was expected in the port of Rio de Janeiro, and with it, there was an expectation for the disembarkation of Jews fleeing the war.
Called "wandering Jews" in the report, they were, according to the report, about 300 Germans and Poles. The ship had sailed from Kobe in Japan, and its arrival was eagerly awaited in Rio. The newspaper says they had been "forbidden to disembark in all ports touched by the "Montevideo Maru". In addition to them, there were Greek crew members from another ship, the Carmar, whose ship had been seized by the Japanese in the Pacific. The Montevideo Maru had already docked in Balboa, Panama, where the disembarkation of the Jews had been prohibited.
Unfortunately, the same press organ stated that they had been forbidden to disembark in Rio de Janeiro, and that the "same would happen in Montevideo and Buenos Aires", forcing them to return to Japan. The Rio Maritime Police prohibited the Japanese ship from leaving, interdicting it. Only a few were able to disembark in Brazil, including a Japanese trade mission that would stay here for two weeks.
Meanwhile, the German and Polish Jews were crowded into the 3rd class of the Montevideo Maru, hoping for a turnaround in their conditions at that moment. These were people who had escaped the horrors of Nazi persecution in Europe. One of the interviewed Jews stated that, in an incredible odyssey worthy of Hollywood films, they had crossed the entire Asian continent, passing through the Soviet Union, Mongolia, China, and finally arriving in Japan, where they hoped to go to America where they would be safe. The hopeful ship voyage, however, had become a nightmare for the Jews.
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