M.V. Centaur
MV Centaur
was a cattle tramp/passenger/cargo ship owned by Alfred Holt’s Blue Funnel Line, plying her trade along the Western
Australian coast from Fremantle to Java and Singapore for most of her life from 1924 to the end of 1942.
During
this time, in 1938, she answered a distress call from the Japanese Kyo Maru which had broken down and was drifting toward
the infamous Houtman Abrolhos Archipelago. Captain Murray altered course and threw a tow line to the stricken
vessel then progressed to Geraldton. Compatriots of those rescued would later be responsible for the loss
of the Centaur with most of its complement of merchant and medical personnel, including Captain Murray.
Early War Years
In November 1941, Centaur rescued the survivors of the Kormoran, the German raider responsible
for sinking HMAS Sydney. With a couple of flares, Kormoran’s Captain Detmers and sixty one of his
crew attracted the attention of Centaur, which changed course and headed towards them. Arriving at the
scene, Captain Dark, substituting for Captain Murray, summed up the situation – a boatload of fully trained sailors
of the German Navy with their Captain, whereas Centaur had only Merchant Navy personnel expected to learn survival in war
by experience. Captain Dark allowed the nine sailors who were sick or injured to come aboard; the rest
were towed. When their unseaworthy boat capsized under tow, Centaur lowered two of her own for transfer,
and safely brought the survivors to Carnarvon.
With the outbreak of
fighting in New Guinea, the Army there needed supplies and Centaur and her two running mates, Charon and Gorgon were pressed
into service carrying mainly military materials.
As the situation in
New Guinea worsened, the need for a Hospital Ship smaller and with a shallower draught than the Manunda and Wanganella became
urgent. Australia had no Merchant Navy ship capable of being converted to such a specialized vessel,
and the British Ministry on request placed M.V. Centaur at their disposal.
2/3 A.H.S. Centaur
In January 1943, M.V. Centaur was converted in Melbourne into a vessel of mercy capable
of carrying 280 cot cases under tropical conditions in a voyage of eighteen days.
After
several trial runs along the Australian coast to ensure the smooth running of the hospital, AHS Centaur set out into the war
zone carrying Australian and American medical personnel to Port Moresby. Here, wounded Australian and American
soldiers were taken on board as well as a small number of injured Japanese prisoners-of-war, all destined for Brisbane.
Centaur then proceeded to Sydney to prepare for her second (ill-fated) voyage.
This
time, she carried the 2/12th Field Ambulance, destination Cairns for later transfer to New Guinea.
They embarked in jungle greens which gave rise to rumours that they were commandoes. All their equipment,
minus their ambulances, was loaded in large crates, claimed by the rumour-mongers to be arms and ammunition. Had
Centaur been allowed to continue her errand of mercy unmolested, those rumours, like so many other wartime rumours, would
have long since died, but her fate ensured that the doubts would never go away.
Sinking of the Centaur
She sailed out of Sydney mid morning on Wednesday 12th May 1943, and at
4.10am on Friday 14th, off the S.E. Queensland coast, she was struck amidships on the port side by a torpedo fired
from Japanese submarine I-177 commanded by Hajime Nakagawa. She sank in just three minutes taking with
her 268 non-combatant lives. Nakagawa was never brought to justice for the sinking of the Centaur though
he was tried and convicted of atrocities in the Indian Ocean. In 1979, the Japanese Government belatedly
admitted that one of its submarines sank the Centaur but has never accepted responsibility for issuing the order.
The location of the Centaur is still unknown. The
2/3 AHS Centaur Association believes it to be where 2nd Mate Gordon Rippon said it was – about 24 nautical
miles ENE of Point Lookout. Rippon was the most senior Merchant Navy officer to survive the sinking and
had been on the bridge until ten minutes before the torpedo struck. The ‘official’ location
is some 7 miles east of Rippon’s estimate. It is, at this stage, not known how the Government arrived
at the ‘official’ location.
A
revised location given in 1995, placing the Centaur in relatively shallower waters nearer to Caloundra, was proved by the
RAN on the 60th anniversary to be fraudulent.
Searching for the Centaur
Both
the Federal and Queensland Governments announced in 2009 that they would contribute funding to searching for the Centaur.
The search has recently started in December 2009 - see the "Search for the Centaur" tab for further information.
References:
Three Minutes of Time – The Torpedoing of the Australian Hospital ship “Centaur” by A.E.Smith.
ISBN 0 646 07631 0
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur - The Myth of Immunity by Christopher S Milligan & John C.H.Foley. ISBN 0 646
13715 8
