Photo/Illutration The Hitachi Maru (Provided by NYK Maritime Museum)

FUKUOKA—Volunteer divers started a full-scale search off Fukuoka Prefecture on Aug. 19 for remains and belongings from a large passenger-cargo ship that was sunk during the Russo-Japanese War over 120 years ago.

The Hitachi Maru went down with more than 1,000 Imperial Japanese Army personnel after heavy bombardment from a Russian warship on June 15, 1904.

It was discovered at a depth of 80 meters on the seafloor about 70 kilometers off the coast of Hakata Port in Fukuoka Prefecture in 2023.

The search project is intended to pass on a message of peace to future generations, organizers said.

According to the ship’s original owner, NYK Line, the Hitachi Maru was about 135 meters in length and was requisitioned by the Japanese army after the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904.

The Asahi Shimbun edition dated June 19, 1904, reported accounts by surviving sergeants who said the ship was sailing through thick fog off Okinoshima island when it was suddenly confronted by a Russian warship.

The Hitachi Maru refused to comply with the Russian warship’s demand to halt. The Japanese vessel was subsequently shelled, according to the article.

The engine room was damaged, and “the fatal blow came from around 10 shells hitting below the waterline.”

The report also noted, “None of the crew members was taken as a prisoner of war.”

The exact location of the sunken Hitachi Maru remained unknown until the wreckage was identified in a television station’s investigation in 2023.

In response to requests from bereaved families, volunteers, including underwater explorer Yoshitaka Isaji, 37, from Osaka Prefecture, organized the search project.

“There were instances of suicide by disembowelment, handgun or jumping into the sea inside the sinking ship,” according to materials obtained from the volunteers. “These were considered part of the Imperial Japanese Army personnel’s ideal of a noble death.”

On Aug. 19, Isaji and Junji Terasawa, a 48-year-old diver from Fukuoka Prefecture, departed from a port in Fukuoka on a diving vessel and photographed and surveyed the shipwreck.

Keiko Takeuchi, 73, who lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, said her great-grandfather was a soldier who died aboard the Hitachi Maru.

“It must have been very hard for the families left behind. We need to pass on the story of the Hitachi Maru to future generations,” she said.

She also expressed mixed emotions about the research project.

“If the ship, belongings or remains are found, I wonder how I’ll feel,” Takeuchi said.

The investigation is scheduled to continue until Aug. 21, with plans to enter the ship and film the interior.

“This is a historically important vessel, spoken of both positively and negatively in terms of how the soldiers faced death. I want to help ensure that the families can view the records and belongings when they wish,” Isaji said.

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