KAKYAKUSEN
(WERRIBEE, later HARYU MARU)
Freighter HARYU MARU:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2010-2011 Bob Hackett
E 1908:
Cowpen Quay, England. Laid down by Blyth Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. as a
3,904-ton cargo ship for Huddart, Parker & Co. Pty. Ltd, Melbourne.
Australia.
E 1909:
Launched and named WERRIBEE.
1909:
Completed.
12 October 1916:
Arrives at Ellis Island, New York carrying
passengers, including two immigrants.
1928:
Laid up.
1931:
Sold to the San Peh Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. Renamed HWA SHAN.
1933:
Renamed HUA SHAN.
1938:
Sold to the Società Italiana di Navigazione-Shanghai (Chinese
Italian Navigation Co., Ltd.) of Shanghai. Renamed GRANATIERE PADULA (after
Grenadier Antonio Padula killed the previous year by a Japanese MG burst).
10 June 1940:
Rome. Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, declares war
on France and Great Britain.
5 August 1940:
GRANATIERE PADULA is engaged in the coal trade. Departs
Shanghai in company of similarly employed Italian merchant ENDERTA (later ENKYO
MARU).
22 September 1940:
At Nagoya Japan.
25 September 1940:
Chartered by Teikoku Senpaku Kaisha (Imperial
Steamship Co.) of Tokyo, wholly owned by the Japanese Government. The Japanese
transliterate PADULA to PADIYURA. She is operated by Yamashita Kisen with her
original Italian crew.
December 1941:
Purchased by the Japanese. Renamed HARYU MARU. Assigned call
letters JWQQ.
1 September 1943:
Off the coast of NW Korea HARYU MARU collides with
an unidentified ship [1].
2 September 1943:
100 miles ENE of Dairen, Manchuria. HARYU MARU
looses power and drifts aground near Dawangjia Dao Island, China, S of the Yalu
River near North Korea. Later, deemed a constructive total loss.
9 September 1943: Fascist Italy Surrenders:
Mussolini is deposed.
Italy declares an armistice.
That same day, HARYU MARU’s CO, Reserve Lt (jg) Carlo Basili is rescued
by a Japanese merchantman and handed over to the Kempetai (Military Police) at
Dairen.
Author’s Notes:
[1] The theory that HARYU MARU was lost due to a submarine
attack (erroneously reported in Italian literature) it is not confirmed by
Allied sources. No USN boat was operating in the Yellow Sea in the relevant
period, or the days before and after 1 September 1943 (Alden, McDonald, p. 96).
Japanese Monograph No. 116, p. 192 and NAII, RG457 SRH-158 (Special
Research Histories), “A list of Japanese merchant ships” Part I, NSA/CSS
Cryptologic Documents, 2nd Edition, 1952, list HARYU MARU as having run aground
and became a total loss, but this is not recorded in JANAC.
Thanks go to Luca “Luke” Ruffato of Italy.
- Bob Hackett
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Ex-Axis Merchant Ships in Japanese Service
