THE wreck of the Montevideo Maru, which sank in 1942 with more than 1000 Australian civilians and soldiers on board, has been discovered in deep waters of the South China Sea.
In January Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and family and friends celebrated the opening of a plaque and seat at the Mornington Memorial Park in honour of those lost.
Mornington resident Gillian Nikakis, whose father was believed to be on the ship when it was torpedoed mistakenly by a US submarine 120 kilometres off the northern Philippines, said the discovery of the vessel last week brought “a kind of closure” to the sad wartime chapter.
“Yes, it’s some kind of closure of course, because it’s a war grave, but it won’t ever be real closure because we don’t really know who was on board,” Nikakis said.
The Japanese ship was carrying mainly prisoners of war who had been held in Rabaul on the island of New Britain and were being taken to the island of Hainan in the South China Sea when it sank.
It is believed the ship will be filmed extensively to try to learn more about what happened to those on board, but no recovery attempts will be made as the vessel is 4000 metres under water.
Nikakis said that for the families of loved ones who had been in the region but never came home, the frustration of not really knowing if they were on the ship or had befallen some other fate would remain.
Nikakis, who gave a talk at Mornington Library about the sinking the day before Anzac Day, said it was important the men were remembered and not forgotten.
She will now ask the US government for an apology for the sinking and is in the process of writing to the daughter of former US president John F Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, who is now the US ambassador to Australia.
First published in the Mornington News – 2 May 2023
