Hirano Maru (ship, 1908)
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Hirano Maru (ship, 1908) | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | ship, shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Sea / ocean | Bristol Channel | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Wales | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 24 km from land |
| Position | 51.4169, -5.0058 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Hirano Maru was a Japanese transport ship operated by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha shipping line. She was built by the Mitsubishi Dockyard and Engine Works in Nagasaki, Japan, and operated on the Yokohama-Liverpool route from 1908. On 4 October 1918 she was travelling through the Celtic Sea, having just left Liverpool, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-91. She sank with the loss of 291 of her 320 passengers and crew. Memorials to those who died were erected in Welsh churchyards where some of the dead were buried.
Diving & visiting
A wooden memorial with an inscription in Japanese to ten unknown sailors was erected in the Churchyard of St Mary's in Angle, Pembrokeshire, 11 days after the sinking to mark their graves. The memorial had rotted away by 2018 and was replaced by a granite memorial, paid for by local residents, in time for the centenary of the sinking. The new memorial includes an inscription in Japanese, Welsh and English to Shiro Okosie and nine unknown shipmates. It was unveiled by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester at an event attended by staff of the Japanese embassy in London, descendants of those lost in the sinking and representatives of NYK.
Another memorial to those who died in the sinking stands in the churchyard at St Ishmaels in Pembrokeshire. It is a stone obelisk with flowers on the plinth and plaques in English and Japanese.
Location
- Recorded position: 51.4169, -5.0058 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Bristol Channel
- Nearest coast: Wales
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Hirano Maru (revision 1327701261), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Memorials”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Tormentor 1929 · 29 km
- HMS Leda 1808 · 31 km
- HMS E39 32 km
- HMHS Glenart Castle 34 km
- Gull Rock Wreck 35 km
- Iona II 1864 · 36 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off Wales · Bristol Channel