Toya Maru

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The Toya Maru (Ja:洞爺丸とうやまる) was a Japanese freightliner constructed by the Japanese National Railways which sank during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshū on September 26, 1954. It is said that 1139 people aboard were killed in the accident, however the exact number of fatalities remains unknown.

1 Construction
2 Accident
3 Aftermath
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Construction

The Toya Maru was launched on November 21, 1947. It was 118.7 meters (approximately 130 yards) long and 15.85 meters (60 ft) at its beam and it had a Gross Register Tonnage of 3,898 tons. It could accommodate 1,128 passengers and was operated by 120 crew. She covered the distance from Aomori to Hakodate in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

She was so lavishly equipped that it was hard to believe she had been constructed during the difficult time Japan faced following the end of World War II. As early as 1950, she was fitted with Radar equipment, becoming one of the first Japanese sea liners to do so. She was used by the Emperor the month before her demise. She was also famous as the flag ship of the Tsugaru Strait.

[edit] Accident

The following refers to what happened on September 26, 1954 to the Toya Maru.

Typhoon No.15, Mary, which had blown through Honshū, was in the Sea of Japan at 1200 hours on September 26, 1954, proceeding Northeast at a speed of more than 100 kilometers an hour. It was believed that it was going to reach the Tsugaru Strait at around 1700 hours.

At 1100 hours, the Toya Maru arrived at Hakodate after its first journey that day from Aomori. She was originally scheduled to return to Aomori at 1440 hours and to arrive at Aomori just before the Typhoon Mary was predicted to proceed toward the straight. However, due to the expected storm, the Dai 11 Seikan Maru, which was a somewhat poorer quality vessel when compared to Toya Maru, could not depart on its scheduled journey towards Hakodate. Therefore, passengers and vehicles that were on the Dai 11 Seikan Maru had to be transferred to the Toya Maru, causing extra delays. Under these circumstances the captain of the Toya Maru decided to cancel its journey at 1510 hours.

At 17:00 hours, following a lot of rainfall in Hakodate, it cleared up and the outlook improved. Considering the speed at which the Typhoon was originally traveling, the Toya Maru decided to proceed with its journey for Aomori. However, by this time the Typhoon had slowed and was predicted to stay over the straight for an entire day.

At 18:39 she departed from Hakodate with approximately 1,300 souls aboard. Shortly after that the wind from the South South-East picked up.

At 19:01, the Toya Maru lowered its anchor at the very side of Hakodate Port to wait for the weather to clear up again. However, due to the high winds, the anchor did not hold and let her go. The Toya Maru came to be at the mercy of the waves. What was worse, water entered to the engine room due to the vehicle decks being not properly designed to be water resistant, causing its steam engine to stop and the Toya Maru to become uncontrollable. The captain decided to make the sea liner beach itself onto Nanae Beach, which is in the outskirts of Hakodate City.

At 22:26 hours, the Toya Maru beached itself. The waves were so strong that the sea liner could no longer stay upright. An SOS call was made right after it struck the beach.

At around 22:43 hours, the Toya Maru capsized and sank at sea several hundred meters off the shore of Hakodate. 159 out of 1,309 survived, while 1,159 (1,041 passengers, 73 crew and 41 others) died.

Four other ferries sank in the same typhoon. Including the Toya Maru, 1430 passengers were killed.^[1]

[edit] Aftermath

The disaster was one of the major factors behind the construction of the Seikan Tunnel between Hokkaido and Honshu. However, ferry traffic still continues to operate in the strait.