How a search for a lost fighter plane solved an 80-year-old Hellship mystery.

The positive identification of the Hōfuku Maru was achieved through a multi-stage process that combined local diving reports, an archival breakthrough in Japanese wartime records, and modern marine archaeological surveys.

1. Initial Local Knowledge (2016–2017)

For decades after World War II, official histories and records mistakenly listed the sinking location of the Hōfuku Maru as being off Masinloc, roughly 35 to 80 miles north of its actual position.

Meanwhile, local fishermen and divers off the coast of La Paz in San Narciso, Zambales Province, were aware of a large, unidentified steel shipwreck lying at a depth of 52 meters (approx. 150 feet), referring to it simply as a "Maru". In 2016–2017, local resort owner Matt Gillan and the Sea Scan Survey team conducted preliminary side-scan sonar imaging and reconnaissance dives on the target. They documented a large cargo ship split into two sections and buried in volcanic silt, though its identity could not be established at the time.

2. The Archival Breakthrough (June 2025)

The critical turning point occurred in June 2025 during an unrelated project by the Hellships Memorial Foundation team (composed of Gerald "Randy" Anderson, Timothy Beckensall, John Duresky, Kevin Hamdorf, and Rhonie Dela Cruz).

While seeking information on downed F6F Hellcat of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. John Frank Thompson, researcher John Duresky searched the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) archives for wartime naval logs.

What Duresky uncovered was unexpected: a declassified Japanese after-action report filed on September 21, 1944, by Kaibōkan No. 1 (CD-1), the lead escort warship for Convoy MATA-27. The report included battle sketches, convoy lineups, and an exact timeline showing that the Hōfuku Maru—positioned second in the merchant line—was hit by aerial bombs and torpedoes and sank almost immediately just north of Capones Island off the La Paz shoreline. This placed the actual sinking site 35 nautical miles south of where wartime accounts had claimed.

3. Connecting Records to Coordinates

Duresky immediately alerted Randy Anderson and Tim Becensall, who recognized that the coordinates and coastal landmarks in the Japanese after-action report lined up directly with the unidentified "La Paz wreck" scanned by Sea Scan Survey years earlier. Within days, the research team correlated the archival location with the physical GPS coordinates on the seafloor.

4. Forensic & Archaeological Verification (2025–2026)

To confirm the site scientifically, the Helllships Memorial Foundation—supported by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE)—conducted detailed field investigations in late 2025 and early 2026 using side-scan sonar, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), diver documentation, and 3D photogrammetry. Identification was established by the convergence of multiple independent lines of evidence:

• Blueprint & Dimensional Concordance: Physical measurements of the wreck (~377 ft length, 51.85 ft beam, hold coamings, and 2-foot internal rib spacing) yielded a near-exact match to original Kawasaki Shipbuilding plans for a Dai-ichi Taifuku-class freighter.

• Damage Pattern Analysis: Sonar and dive models showed the ship split into two principal sections separated by a 50-meter gap amidships with severe stern damage, mirroring U.S. Navy Aircraft Action Reports (from USS Bunker Hill Helldivers and Avengers) and survivor testimonies describing a bomb hit astern followed by a catastrophic torpedo strike amidships.

• Declassified POW Registration Cards: Japanese POW death records for British and Dutch victims recorded the coordinates of death at placing the location within 175 meters of the physical wreck.

• Process of Elimination: Convoy records verified that Hōfuku Maru was the only Dai-ichi Taifuku-class vessel—and the sole POW transport—present in Convoy MATA-27, and no other candidate wrecks of that era exist along that section of the Zambales coast.

After nearly eight decades of uncertainty, the positive identification of the Hōfuku Maru off the coast of San Narciso, Zambales, brings long-awaited truth and closure to the families of the more than 1,000 British and Dutch servicemen who perished in its holds.

By transforming what was once an unconfirmed shadow beneath the waves into a formally recognized, protected maritime war grave, this international effort ensures that the site remains an undisturbed sanctuary and a solemn military cemetery for the fallen.

Ultimately, preserving the site in situ fulfills a sacred obligation to truth, dignity, and remembrance—ensuring that future generations will learn from this tragedy and that the men trapped aboard the Hōfuku Maru are never forgotten