FUKUOKA—Volunteer divers started a full-scale search off Fukuoka Prefecture on Aug. 19 for remains and belongings from a large passenger-cargo ship that was sunk during the Russo-Japanese War over 120 years ago.
The Hitachi Maru went down with more than 1,000 Imperial Japanese Army personnel after heavy bombardment from a Russian warship on June 15, 1904.
It was discovered at a depth of 80 meters on the seafloor about 70 kilometers off the coast of Hakata Port in Fukuoka Prefecture in 2023.
The search project is intended to pass on a message of peace to future generations, organizers said.
According to the ship’s original owner, NYK Line, the Hitachi Maru was about 135 meters in length and was requisitioned by the Japanese army after the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904.
The Asahi Shimbun edition dated June 19, 1904, reported accounts by surviving sergeants who said the ship was sailing through thick fog off Okinoshima island when it was suddenly confronted by a Russian warship.
The Hitachi Maru refused to comply with the Russian warship’s demand to halt. The Japanese vessel was subsequently shelled, according to the article.
The engine room was damaged, and “the fatal blow came from around 10 shells hitting below the waterline.”
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