SS Shinyō Maru


SS Shinyō Maru was a Japanese cargo-steamer and hellship sunk during the Second World War. She was originally named the SS Clan Mackay and was built by the Naval Construction & Armaments Company, Barrow-in-Furness for the Clan Line. She sailed with them until sold in 1913 to the Adelaide Steamship Company, which renamed her Ceduna. She was then sold, in 1924, to a company in Shanghai which renamed her Tung Tuck. In 1937, she was renamed Chang Teh, and was sold to Greece later that year. She sailed for her new owners under the name Pananis, until seized by the Japanese at Shanghai in 1941 and renamed Shinyō Maru.

Sinking

The Allies intercepted a message about Shinyō Maru and, thinking it was carrying enemy soldiers, attacked it on September 7, 1944, off the coast of Mindanao. There were 750 American prisoners of war aboard. Some Japanese guards shot prisoners as they struggled from the holds or were in the water;
688 died when the ship sank, leaving only 82 survivors;
47 of 52 Japanese guards died.
A December 1944 annotation in US military records indicates an intelligence failure helped contribute to the mistargeting of the Japanese transport ship filled with US POWs by the US submarine. " note was added to the message of September 6 that Fleet Radio Unit Pacific interpreted as "SHINYOO MARU gets 750 Ps/W"! FRUPAC misinterpreted this crucial part of the message with fatal consequences."
On September 7, 2000, 14 survivors gathered at Jacksonville Naval Air Station for the eighth, and final, formal survivors reunion.