Arisan Maru was constructed by Mitsui at their yard in
Tamano, Japan with the
yard number 376. The freighter was completed on 22 June 1944 and owned by Mitsui Senpaku. The vessel was named for a mountain in
Formosa and was first assigned to transport 6,000 troops of the
Kwantung Army from
Pusan, Korea to Okinawa. The vessel was then ordered to transport POWs from the
Philippines to
Manchuria, China, or Japan. Three tiers of bunks were installed that were separated by . On October 11, 1944,
Arisan Maru embarked 1,782
Allied POWs at
Manila, a mix of military personnel and civilian detainees. Detained Allied personnel were being evacuated from the Philippines and due to Allied air raids, they were quickly loaded onto the ship, with more people placed in the one hold than could be reasonably accommodated. Each POW was given eight five-gallon oil cans for their waste, which quickly overflowed due to a number of men afflicted by
dysentery. The POWs suffered through unsanitary conditions, extreme heat within the hold () and a lack of water.
Arisan Maru then departed Manila and sailed south to the west coast of
Palawan. During this time an escape attempt led to a POW death, and four other POWs died of sickness. There, along the Palawan coast,
Arisan Maru waited for several days while Allied air raids hit Manila. Then, on October 20, the freighter returned to Manila.
Final voyage On October 21,
Arisan Maru departed Manila for the final time, joining convoy MATA-30 heading for
Takao. The convoy was composed of 13 merchant vessels, three
destroyers as escorts and one fleet supply ship.
Arisan Maru was one of the slowest ships in the convoy, capable of making no more than . On October 23, the destroyers began picking up signals from American submarines. Roughly west of Cape Bojeador,
Luzon, the convoy was ordered to break up due to the sheer number and to sail at fastest possible speed for Takao (modern day Kaohsiung Taiwan) due to the American submarine threat. On October 24, 1944,
Arisan Maru, by then traveling alone, was steaming in the
Bashi Channel between the Philippines and Taiwan with 1,781 POWs, mostly Americans. Being an unmarked ship - which was not obliged, Japan as well as the Allies had rejected in 1942 the proposal of the International Red Cross to mark ships with POW's - it was hit by a
torpedo from , at about 5 p.m. in the No.3 hold. The ship buckled amidships, the engines stopped and the aft
mast fell, but the freighter stayed afloat. She finally sank around 7:40 p.m at . In response to the torpedo, the destroyers and attacked and sank
Shark. After dealing with the American submarine, the two destroyers returned to
Arisan Maru to look for survivors. No POWs were killed by the torpedo strikes and nearly all were able to leave the ship's holds but the Japanese did not rescue any of the POWs that day, only Japanese. Only nine of the prisoners aboard survived the event. Five escaped and made their way to China in one of the ship's two lifeboats. They were reunited with U.S. Forces and returned to the United States. The four others were later recaptured by Imperial Japanese naval vessels, where one died shortly after reaching land. The
Arisan Maru tragedy resulted to the greatest loss of American life in maritime history. ==See also==