She was built at a Scottish shipyard for a British Company and was given a Japanese name. The freighter Hauraki was built in 1922 by William Denny Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand of London. She was 450' long and registered at 7,113 gross tons and was the first diesel powered vessel built for the company. She was used in the trade routes between New Zealand, Australia and western Canada, with stops at some of the islands in the South Pacific. Her commercial career ended in 1940 when she was requisitioned by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) in London and pressed into service carrying war supplies.

On July 12, 1942 the ship and her 56 crew were en route from Wellington to the Middle East, having refueled at Fremantle her next stop would be Colombo, Ceylon. However when about 780 miles southeast of Diego Garcia two unidentified ships appeared. As they drew closer a shot was fired which signaled the end of their voyage to the Middle East and the start of their voyage into hell.

A distress signal was picked up in Perth at 2300 from the Hauraki, the R-R-R signal meant she was under attack by a surface raider. A second signal at 2320 repeated the R-R-R code and also included the phrase "captured by the Japanese". The third and last signal was sent at 2336, it said "Boat alongside now", this was the last heard from the Hauraki and her crew until the war was over.

The Japanese auxiliary cruisers Hokoku Maru (Cdr. Hirishi Imatsato) and Aikoku Maru (Cdr. Tamatso Oishi) had captured the unescorted ship, and because there was no damage she was taken as a prize. The prize crew forced the men to sail their ship to Singapore and to internment as prisoners of war. During the voyage the men in the engine room took some satisfaction in knowing that the ship, once at port, would be of little use the the Japanese, they sabotaged the engines by disposing of spare parts overboard and abusing the engines during the entire voyage. This was accomplished even though the Japanese were guarding the men around the clock and it was done at the risk of their lives for if the Japanese guards had suspected what was being done the men surely would have been tortured and executed.

Upon arrival at Singapore 32 of the men were taken off to PoW camps, but 24 were retained to sail the ship to Yokohama, Japan. While on board treatment was reasonable, but once they were in Japan the situation changed. The brutality of the Japanese is legendary, sadistic and inhumane treatment was the rule throughout Asia anywhere the Japanese were in control. Executions, beatings, starvation, disease, poor living conditions and lack of clothing were all common and there was no distinction between civilian and military personnel.

The crew of the Hauraki were placed in prison camps and assigned to the Mitsubishi shipyard in Yokohama for use as slave labor. All of the horrors of captivity in Japanese hands were inflicted on these men (and many others) at the camp, but the conditions at the shipyard was slightly better, at least there was a little more food. Using prisoners as slave labor for military purposes is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention, but since the Japanese tortured and murdered millions of people in the most grotesque ways during their occupation of Asia and the Pacific, the use of slave labor was of no concern to the at all.

Ironically the men working at the shipyard were later forced to repair their former ship, because they did such a fine job destroying the engines she could not put back to sea until she was repaired. Ultimately the ship was repaired and returned to service, like her crew a slave to the Japanese. Her name was changed to Hoki Maru and she was forced to carry war supplies destine for the various ports of the Japanese Empire. She came to grief at Eten Island in the Truk chain on Feb. 17, 1944 when she was bombed and sunk by U.S. aircraft.

I have been unable to learn the fate of all those who were removed at Singapore, I know one died in custody, but it is certain that they faced horrors beyond belief. The death rate (which included frequent murders) in camps in Japan was very high and even higher in occupied territories. It is miraculous that anyone survived captivity in Japanese hands, but many did. Of the 24 men who were taken to Japan only four died before liberation, two died of illness and one for unknown reasons at Yokohama. After Allied bombing of Yokohama and the shipyard many of the survivors (along with others interned at Yokohama) were transferred to Kamaishi (200 miles north of Yokohama) and were used as slave labor at the Kamaishi Steelworks. Allied bombing raids on the city became frequent, and on Aug. 9, 1945 (the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki) Kamaishi was again attacked. One survivor was badly injured and died the following day. The last survivor to die in Japanese captivity died at Tokyo. The master died later from the effects of his incarceration. Surely all of the survivors suffered from the effects inflicted upon them at the hands of the Japanese for the rest of their lives.

That generation of Japanese were taught from childhood of the natural superiority of the Japanese, they were taught that they were destine to rule the world and that all other peoples would be subservient to them. Much like the Germans who were brainwashed by the Nazi regime, the Japanese had a warped sense of humanity. Believing that they would loose face if they were captured most fought to the death during the war. However western peoples had a completely different attitude, we did not have an Emperor God who we fought for, and when Allied forces were outnumbered in a battle there was no dishonor in surrendering. Fighting to the last man, when the situation was hopeless in the west is seen as a waste of human life. To the Japanese it is seen as weakness and was looked down upon. Those who surrendered were looked upon as a disgrace to ones country and family, where as to have died in battle, no matter the reason, in Japan was looked upon as a heroic death. However due to their policy of torture and murder throughout Asia and the Pacific the Japanese disgraced themselves as a people and a nation to the civilized world forever.