On October 4, an unveiling ceremony was held in Wales, U.K., for a cenotaph honoring the sailors of Hirano Maru.
What happened?
In 1918, exactly 100 years ago on October 4, the cargo-passenger ship ‘Hirano Maru’ was sunk by a German U-boat, a month before the armistice.
The vessel was built in 1908 and was deployed as a cargo-passenger service between Yokohama and Liverpool. While sailing off the coast of Wales in 1918, the vessel was torpedoed by a German U-boat, killing 210 crew members and passengers.
Dead sailors honored
The bodies which washed ashore in Wales were given burials by locals and their graves were marked by wooden sticks. The wooden markers are to be replaced by the cenotaph.
Keiji Kubota, executive vice president, chief operating officer of NYK Group Europe Ltd. attended the event and offered his deepest compassion for the repose of the souls of all those who perished, and his gratitude to a local maritime volunteer group for its efforts to establish the cenotaph to convey the tragedy of war and honor the victims.
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Source: NYK
