HMAS Patricia Cam

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The Patricia Cam prior to entering Royal Australian Navy service

HMAS Patricia Cam was a small vessel operated by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. Patricia Cam was sunk by a Japanese aircraft in 1943.

The ship was built as a trawler for the Sydney fishing company Cam & Sons in 1940. Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy for use as an auxiliary minesweeper on 9 February 1942.

After commissioning into the RAN on 3 March 1942 HMAS Patricia Cam was based in Darwin, where she was mainly used to transport supplies to small communities and military outposts.

On 22 January 1943, while near the Wessel Islands off the north coast of the Northern Territory, Patricia Cam was attacked and sunk by a Japanese floatplane. As she sank, the pilot of the Japanese aircraft machine gunned and bombed the survivors. The aircraft then landed on the water and captured one of the survivors, the Rev. Leonard Kentish, a Methodist missionary. Eight other crew and passengers were killed during the attack. The 13 survivors were rescued by HMAS Kuru on January 29. Kentish was flown to Dobo in the Aru Islands where he was interrogated, including the frequent use of beatings, for several weeks, before being executed by his captors on or about May 4.[1]