Seafloor study started at the East China Sea regarding private ships sunk during wartime

Recently the NHK News On-line reported the following:

戦時中に撃沈された民間船 東シナ海で海底調査始まる

2018年8月25日 0時15分

太平洋戦争中、アメリカ軍に撃沈され、800人余りの民間人が犠牲になった客船「大洋丸」など、東シナ海の海底に沈んでいると見られる４隻の民間船を確認するため、専門家らのグループによる調査が始まりました。

調査を始めたのは九州工業大学の浦環特別教授らのグループで、24日午後９時ごろ、長崎県の女島の南西およそ170キロの東シナ海に到着し、ソナーを海中に降ろして深さ100メートル余りの海底の様子を調べ始めました。

確認を目指すのは４隻の民間の船です。このうち「大洋丸」はドイツ製の大型客船で、昭和17年に、東南アジアの占領地に商社などの企業の社員らを運ぶ途中、アメリカ軍の潜水艦に撃沈され、817人が犠牲になりました。船を所有していた日本郵船の記録などから、「大洋丸」は調査地点付近に沈んでいると見られています。

ソナーで船の存在が確認されれば無人の潜水機で撮影に挑む予定で、「大洋丸」のほか、昭和19年に旧陸軍の兵士らを運ぶ途中に撃沈され、2700人余りが死亡した「りま丸」と同じ年に撃沈されおよそ130人が死亡した「錫蘭（せいろん）丸」、そして、昭和18年に沈んだ「富生（ふせい）丸」の３隻の撮影も試みます。

太平洋戦争で撃沈された民間の船はおよそ2500隻とされ、漁船なども合わせると６万人を超える船員が犠牲になったほか、船員以外の民間人の死者もおよそ６万人に上るという記録がありますが、軍事上の秘密とされたことなどから、詳しい実態が明らかになっていないケースも多いといいます。

海底の調査は５日間程度行われる予定で、その後、映像の詳しい分析を行うということです。

浦特別教授は「遺族などの要請を受け調査することになった。全貌がほとんど知られていない悲劇の一端を伝える機会になれば」と話しています。

Translation

  

About 800 private citizens in the passenger ship " Taiyō Maru" died when it was sunk by U.S. forces during the Pacific War together with other ships; in order to identity the 4 private ships which were found to be sunk in the bottom of the East China Sea, a specialist group had started an investigation.

The investigation was begun by a group consisting of Tamaki Ura the special professor of Kyushu Institute of Technology, they arrived at the East China Sea approximately 170 kilometers southwest of Meshima in Nagasaki-ken at around 9:00pm on the 24^th. They lowered sonar into the sea and began checking the situation at about 100 meters deep.

The aim was to confirm 4 private ships. Among these was " Taiyō Maru " which was a large passenger carrier made in Germany, it carried staff of different trading companies from various enterprises to an occupied area in Southeast Asia in 1942 and was sunk by a submarine of the U.S. forces, with 817 people perished. Based on a record of the Nippon Yusen which possessed "Taiyō Maru", the ship was thought to be sunk around the investigation spot.

When the existence of a ship was confirmed by sonar, it was expected to be checked by taking photos with an unmanned diving machine. In addition to "Taiyo Maru”, they would also try to photo "Rima Maru" the old army ship which was sunk in 1944 on its way carrying soldiers with about 2700 onboard killed. Also sunk in the same year was the "Seiron Maru” with approximately 130 people dead, and the ship "Fusei Maru" which was sunk in 1943.

The number of private ships sunk in the Pacific War was set at approximately 2500, and when sailors from fishing boats etc. were add up together, the record reached beyond 60,000 people. Besides sailors, there were records showing that the private citizen's death also reached approximately 60,000 people, but because it was being regarded as a military secret, it was say that the detailed reality of many cases could not be made clear.

It was decided to investigate the bottom of the sea for about 5 days, and after that it was said that pictures taken would be analyzed in great details.

Special professor Ura said that "I was invited by the family of the deceased and I'm going to investigate. May be it comes as a chance to tell something about a tragedy which almost no one have learned about its whole picture".

          The research result would become an interesting piece of information on Japan’s WWII history.