A new memorial for the crew and passengers of a Japanese merchant ship that sunk near the end of the First World War was unveiled earlier this month in a village in Pembrokeshire, UK.
More than 200 died aboard NYK Line’s 7,936-gt Hirano Maru (built 1908) in the incident, which occurred on 4 October 1918, a month before the armistice.
As Japan was one of the allies in the war alongside Britain and France, its merchant vessels were seen as legitimate targets by Germany.
The Hirano Maru was delivered in 1908, and NYK says it began a cargo-passenger service after that between Yokohama and Liverpool.
While sailing off the coast of Wales in 1918, the vessel was torpedoed by a German U-boat, killing 210 crew members and passengers.
A number of bodies washed ashore in the village of Angle, and locals are said to have buried them at the Church of Saint Mary Angle — just west of the town of Pembroke — and made a wooden grave marker, which NYK says has been replaced by the new cenotaph.
Keiji Kubota, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NYK Group Europe, attended the event and offered his "deepest compassion for the repose of the souls of all those who perished".
He also expressed his gratitude to a local maritime volunteer group for its efforts to establish the cenotaph to convey the tragedy of war and honour the victims.
“NYK recognises again the tragedy of war, and the value of keeping the company’s history alive,” the shipowner said.
