The Hell Ships
|
|
Page 1 |
We boarded the Noto Maru in
WRITER'S NOTE: Research showed that the word "maru"
was the equivalent to the SS prefix of American ships and the word
"fortress."
What kind of ship was the Noto Maru?
She had been an inter-island freighter before the war. The ship would sail from
The Noto Maru was one of the "hell ships?"
Yes.
When you boarded, how many ships were in the harbor picking up prisoners?
They took us by ferries to the middle of the harbor. The Noto
Maru was the only one loading American prisoners. The
harbor was quite congested with ships. I don't know the reason they were there.
We boarded the Noto Maru by
walking up a big old gangplank. Then
the Japanese ran us down into the ship's hot hold. It was in the middle of the
day. It was hotter than Billy Blazes!
How big was the hold?
It was about 1,000 square feet and rectangular in shape. It sure wasn't much
for five companies totaling 1,162 men. Each company had an officer in charge.
Some companies were more than 200 men, some were less. We boarded the ship in
companies and stayed in these companies throughout our captivity. Company One was the first to board way back in the hold.
Company Two boarded and got a little bit closer to the opening, Company Three
got closer yet, Company Four closer yet, and Company Five was right in front. I
was in Company Four, which was relatively close to the hatch. We went through boarding and disembarking three times
before we finally sailed. We would go there, get on the ship,
get in the hold, and the next day they would take us all off. I don't know why.
There probably was submarines around or some reason
not to sail. We finally boarded on August 13, two days before we sailed and
left
During those two days you
were confined to that hot hold?
Yes.
Were there other holds in the ship besides the one you were in?
I'm sure there were others but we stayed in the same one for the entire voyage.
Did the Japanese give you water?
They sent it down once a day in a big
old bucket. If you were lucky, you got some. If not, too bad. Maybe a friend
would give you some. He would if he got some.
How much water did you get? (Jane)
I got a cup every once in a while.
A cupful a day? (Jane)
Yes.
Did you get food?
They sent down a big bucket of food once a day. They designated some Americans
to dole it out to us.
You were fortunate to get
a cup of water and Lugao, that soupy rice, once a
day?
Yes.
It must have been
something, crammed in there in the heat with all those people.
It was hell!
The Hell Ships
|
Page 2 |
What are the seasons like in the
Their seasons are reversed from ours. It is spring there in August and the
beginning of the dry season. The fields get big cracks, six feet deep just from
the dryness. It is hot there all the time, spring, winter, summer, and fall.
The rainy season would follow?
Yes. There were two rainy seasons and two dry seasons.
You were in the harbor in the hold on that ship for two days. Did you have
any idea what was going on? Were you able to communicate with the Japanese?
We had no idea what was going on. When we were loaded in the hold, they hauled
up the ladder. There was no way to get out of that place or communicate with
anyone.
They just left you down there in that stifling hold?
Yes.
What were you wearing at the time?
We wore whatever we had on when we were
captured! I had a pair of khaki pants, a khaki shirt, and
underwear, which I kept the whole damned time.
This was over a year and
one half since capture! They didn't give you guys anything else to wear?
No, we didn't get anything else.
What would happen if you got a rash from being hot and sweaty in dirty
clothes for such as long time? Did you get sick or have any medical problems
during the voyage?
I didn't have any medical problems during the voyage.
What happened if, for instance you got something in your eye? What would
you do if you had injured yourself in some way?
Tough! We had nothing to treat anything
with. We had no medication whatsoever on the voyage or in the prison camps, for
that matter. Fortunately, I had my illnesses prior to being in
captivity except for malaria.
You didn't have any medication in the camps either?
No.
How did you sleep?
There wasn't enough room for anyone to
stretch out. There wasn't any room to sit. You either stood or squatted.
You were really packed in there.
We were packed in there like sardines.
Was there fighting because of the close quarters?
Surprisingly, after we got settled in, there was very little. Tempers would
flare once in a while, but that was short lived. Everybody was in the absolute
same boat as everyone else.
How did you go to the bathroom?
Ha! The latrine was a big tub about six feet across and about three feet deep.
It was located directly below the opening above on deck. To get there you had
to crawl over everyone. When you did, you lost your place. If you were lucky
you could get it back. I was in Company Four, which was next to the last to get
down into the hold. It wasn't so bad for me because I was close to the middle
of the hold. The hatch was open but didn't provide much ventilation. The Japanese were not too careful when they raised
the tub and some of the contents would spill down on some of the prisoners.
It must have just smelled terrible especially with the latrine right there!
It reeked and it was hot! There was
very little ventilation.
Was there any electric light in the hold?
No way! There wasn't any light at all.
During the day, the hatch was open. But it was dark most of the time. It was
open at night but that didn't change anything. In the tropics,
nighttime is like pulling a shade over everything. There is nothing blacker
than a tropical sky at night! We sailed in the China Sea to Takao, a port at
The Hell Ships
|
Page 3 |
When you arrived, did you realize you were in
No. After the war, I found out we had been in
How did you get up on deck?
We climbed up a wooden ladder. When we
got on deck, they sprayed us down with ice-cold salt water from pressure hoses.
After about ten minutes, they ran us down into the hold. We never left that
hole again until we reached
You didn't get some fresh air and have time to look around a bit?
No. You ran up, they put the hose on
you, and back down you went!
Was it far from the deck into the hold?
I would say about fifteen feet. You
couldn't begin to reach up and touch the deck from the floor of the hold. The
B-17s came on the second day. We couldn't hear them coming and didn't know they
were there until bombs started falling.
They probably were doing high-altitude bombing. How long did the bombing
raid last?
I guess about forty-five minutes. The bombers didn't hit anything in the
harbor. Their aiming was atrocious,
thank goodness!
They had no idea American prisoners
of war were in that ship?
None at all! The Japanese didn't mark
their ships with Red Crosses or any markings whatsoever!
Besides prisoners, our ship carried Japanese troops, civilians, and who knows
what else. We stayed in Takao harbor for two days. We set sail the day after
the bombing.
What did you do in that hold during the voyage?
We just sat there in that in that dark,
smelly, hot hold.
Would you take turns and try to lie down?
Nobody could lie down. There were some
people that were sick. They stayed in the very front of the hold where the
"Benjo Bucket" was. We called the latrine
the "Benjo Bucket." They could lie down there.
The rest of us either stood or squatted and tried to be comfortable.
Couldn't you sit instead of squat? (Jane).
There were eleven hundred and some
people in that small hold. There was no room! You would sit there with your
knees up to your chin. You were leaning on the other guy's legs behind you.
That had to be very uncomfortable. You couldn't lay or sit down for all
that time! You had to squat?
That's right.
Good Lord! (Jane)
Did anyone go insane while you were in there?
No one went insane on our ship. But, there was no perception of time.
The Hell Ships
|
Page 4 |
|
Were there any sea battles?
Not when we sailed from the
What happened when the attack began?
The Japanese had a machine gun on deck they brandished at us. It was like they
were saying, "You better not try and come up!"
Did the attack happen during the day or at night?
The hatch on our hold was open and it was dark. We knew for sure that something
was happening. The Japanese were running around up on deck and were very
excited. We started to hear and feel a lot of "thuds." We later
learned these "thuds" were exploding depth charges.
What was the mood of the prisoners?
We were getting desperate. Many people
were saying, "Hit us!" "Hit us!"
Do you recall what you were thinking during this attack?
I was thinking, "Hit us."
You felt that way too? Were you afraid?
Surprisingly, no. I would say 99% of us were calm during the attack.
There wasn't a mass panic of trying to climb out?
No. I don't know what would have happened had we been hit. But, there was no
panic.
Where was the rope ladder?
They had pulled it up out of the hold.
We heard and felt one tremendous explosion and saw a big glare in the sky. This
had to have happened when a Japanese tanker was hit. Since we were in the hold,
we couldn't see any actual fire.
Did everyone get excited?
Yes! When we saw the glare, everybody
hollered, "Yeah!" Right after that, the Japanese
closed the hatch so we couldn't see anything.
How long did that attack last?
I would guess it lasted several hours. We continued to zigzag. The submarines
chased us for quite a while. I don't know if any other ships were hit. After
the attack was over, they peeled off the hatch. Shortly after that, it was
daylight. They figured we might try to riot or cause trouble, which we didn't.
The crew stayed up there anyway with the machine gun just in case. Nothing else
happened on the voyage except the awful time we spent in that hot, stinking
hold. We headed for
Except the unspeakable conditions in the hold, the major incidents of the
hell ship's voyage to Japan was the bombing in Formosa by US B-17s and the
submarine attack?
Yes. We left the
WRITER'S NOTE: Out of the approximately eleven "Hell Ships"
which left the