The Sinking of Arisan Maru

The sinking of Arisan Maru on 24 October 1944 stands as the deadliest maritime disaster in the history of American prisoners of war. More than 1,700 Allied POWs—primarily Americans captured in the Philippines after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor—were crowded aboard the Japanese transport as it sailed north from the Philippines toward Japan. When the ship was torpedoed in the South China Sea, nearly all of the prisoners aboard perished. The tragedy remains one of the most devastating events in the history of the Hellships.

Background: Prisoners from Bataan and Corregidor

After the surrender of American and Filipino forces in April 1942 during the Battle of Bataan and the subsequent fall of Corregidor, thousands of American soldiers became prisoners of the Japanese Army. Many endured the brutal Bataan Death March before being confined in prison camps across the Philippines.

By 1944, the strategic situation in the Pacific had changed dramatically. With Allied forces advancing across the region and American landings underway in the Philippines, Japanese authorities began evacuating prisoners from the islands. The plan was to transport POWs to Japan where they would be used as forced labor in mines, factories, and shipyards.

Boarding the Hellship

In October 1944, more than 1,700 prisoners were assembled at Manila and forced aboard Arisan Maru, a Japanese cargo ship pressed into service as a POW transport. The prisoners were packed into the ship’s cargo holds under appalling conditions.

The holds were dark, overcrowded, and poorly ventilated. Hundreds of men were confined in spaces designed for freight, with little room to move. Food and water were scarce, and sanitation was almost nonexistent. For many prisoners, the voyage aboard Arisan Maru quickly became a struggle simply to survive the suffocating heat and lack of air below deck.

The ship sailed as part of a Japanese convoy heading north through the South China Sea toward Japan.

The Torpedo Attack

On the evening of 24 October 1944, Arisan Maru was struck by a torpedo fired by an American submarine. The submarine, unaware that the ship carried Allied prisoners, was attacking what appeared to be an ordinary enemy transport vessel. Because Hellships were never marked as POW transports, Allied forces had no way of knowing that prisoners were aboard.

The torpedo struck the ship’s hull and caused severe flooding. As the vessel began to sink, the prisoners trapped in the cargo holds desperately attempted to escape. Some managed to break through the hatch covers and reach the deck, while others were unable to escape and were trapped below as the ship filled with water.

Chaos erupted as the ship listed heavily. Japanese guards and crew began abandoning the vessel, while many of the prisoners struggled to reach the water.

The Struggle for Survival

Hundreds of prisoners managed to jump into the sea as the ship went down. However, survival in the open ocean was extremely difficult. Many prisoners were weakened by months of captivity and the brutal conditions of the voyage.

Some survivors clung to floating debris or improvised rafts. Others attempted to swim toward Japanese escort ships in the convoy.

Tragically, most were not rescued. Japanese escort vessels focused primarily on recovering their own crew members and soldiers. Only a small number of prisoners were picked up by Japanese ships.

In total, only a handful of the POWs aboard Arisan Maru survived.

The Deadliest POW Maritime Disaster

The loss of Arisan Maru resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,700 prisoners of war. It remains the largest loss of American POW life in a single maritime disaster.

For many families, the fate of their loved ones remained uncertain for years after the war. Because records were incomplete and survivors were few, it took time for the full story of the sinking to become known.

Remembering the Tragedy

Today the sinking of Arisan Maru is remembered as one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the Hellships. The event illustrates the deadly consequences of Japan’s decision to transport prisoners in unmarked cargo vessels during wartime.

The tragedy also highlights the broader story of the Hellships system—a network of transport ships that carried tens of thousands of prisoners across the Pacific under brutal conditions. Through research, memorial efforts, and survivor testimony, the story of Arisan Maru continues to be told so that the men who perished during that voyage are never forgotten.