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Wreck of Australia’s worst maritime disaster found after 80 years

This photo taken on July 2, 2011, shows Peter Garrett, Australian minister for school education, early childhood and youth and patron of the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society whose grandfather perished on the Montevideo Maru, passing the national flag of Papua New Guinea as he arrives to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the sinking of the Japanese ship Montevideo Maru off the Philippines on July 1, 1942. The ship was carrying hundreds of POWs and civilian internees captured by the Japanese in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. (Drina Thurston/AFP/Getty Images/TNS) (DRINA THURSTON/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS)
By Stephen Lowman German Press Agency

SYDNEY – The wreck of the worst maritime disaster in Australia’s history has been discovered more than 80 years after the ship was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine during World War II, killing about 1,060 people, search organizers and the government said on Saturday.

The SS Montevideo Maru, a Japanese transport ship, was found off the coast of the Philippines at a depth of more than 13,000 feet, the not-for-profit Silentworld Foundation said in a statement.

“The location of the Japanese transport ship has been an enduring mystery since it was torpedoed on July 1, 1942, by the USS Sturgeon,” the maritime archaeology group said.

U.S. officers on the submarine did not know the Montevideo Maru was carrying prisoners of war and civilians.

Of the 1,060 to perish, about 980 were Australians – at least 850 of them service members. In total, it was carrying people from 16 countries.

The Japanese ship was transporting the Australians and citizens of several other nations to Hainan Island from Rabaul, in present-day Papua New Guinea, after the Australian-administered town fell to Japanese forces.

“At long last, the resting place of the lost souls of the Montevideo Maru has been found,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “We hope today’s news brings a measure of comfort to loved ones who have kept a long vigil.”

The director of Silentworld, John Mullen, said the discovery “closes a terrible chapter in Australian military and maritime history.”

The Montevideo Maru was found on April 18 after just 12 days of searching. The effort was led by the Silentworld Foundation, deep-sea survey specialists Fugro, and supported by Australia’s Defence Department.

The wreck was detected with the help of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle north-west of the Philippine island of Luzon in the South China Sea.

The remains rest at a depth greater than that of the wreck of the Titanic.

“Today we remember their service, and the loss of all those aboard, including the 20 Japanese guards and crew, the Norwegian sailors and the hundreds of civilians from many nations,” said the Australian army chief, Lt Gen. Simon Stuart.

“A loss like this reaches down through the decades and reminds us all of the human cost of conflict.”