Poster Depicting the Hospital Ship Centaur Being Attacked
A poster depicting the Hospital ship Centaur being attacked and sunk by the Japanese off the coast of Queensland, on this day in 1943, when 286 lives were lost, including 11 out of 12 nurses. The poster depicts moments after the ship was torpedoed.
The Japanese had demonstrated on many occasions that the international Conventions meant little to them. The most likely culprit was submarine I-177 under the command of Hajime Nakagawa which was one of three submarines on patrol in the area and the only one to record a sinking on May 14th.
The torpedo tore a large hole in the hull of Centaur and set fire to the fuel tanks. This combination of events was to cause heavy casualties. The ship quickly caught fire and then sank rapidly.
There was no time to send an SOS message. Of the 332 persons on board only 64 survived….
A post war War Crimes investigation failed to conclusively link I-177 and Hajime Nakagawa with the crime, although subsequent evidence has pointed more firmly in this direction. Nakagawa died in 1991 without making any further comment on the issue.