Talk:Ōryoku Maru

"200 died"
This simply does not match the account given in "POW In the Pacific" by William Donovan, M.D. (a reference citation, page 87), in which he states that "of 1619 prisoners who had boarded ... fewer than 400 survived." The same is documented in other eye-witness accounts. For the future of this article, an effort should be made to document the actual numbers and deaths.Starhistory22 (talk) 02:33, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

William Donovan was not aboard the Oryoku Maru and his account is known to be inaccurate. The 200 died is the best estimate for the number of men who perished in the 15 Dec 44 bombing of Oryoku Maru. Many others perished at different times during the journey both before and after the 15 Dec bombing. In all 403 of the 1621 who were put aboard Oryoku Maru survived the war. We know every man put aboard and their fates. Kohlerdino (talk) 04:02, 20 November 2016 (UTC)


 * (e/c) I'm all for sourced information, but the figures are sketchy.
 * Apparently 1619 POWs boarded Oryoku Maru on 13 December 1942. Eight to ten POWs died that night (apparently of illness or dehydration or exposure). The ship was attacked by the Hornet on the 14th and 15th. A bomb in one of the holds had killed about 100 men. (part 4) At Olongapo, the Japanese let the survivors jump overboard and swim to shore. The Japanese shot some of the POWs. I don't see a quick figure how many were killed in the 15 December attack. At Olongapo, a roll call was done showing fewer than 1300 survivors (part 4; so 320 to 420 of the embarkers had died). Japanese report has 250 POWs dead. On 23 December, the Japanese said they would take the 15 sickest POWs to the hospital; instead, they were executed. Survivors then were sent on 2 ships to Takao. POWs died enroute from illness. (part 6) All passengers were placed on Enoura Maru in Takao, and then the U.S. bombed that hellship. One bomb attack killed 300 POWs and injured more; lack of medical care meant injured would die. About 900 survivors would make the journey to Japan. Survivors were put on Brazil Maru and shipped to Moji, Japan. The journey took two weeks; 15 POWs died the first night; near the end POWs were dying at a rate of 40 per day. (part 7) Apparently 550 made it to Moji, but many died after arrival. Some sources say 450 arrived. Brown claims only 271 were alive shortly after arrival in Japan. That figure does not jive with 403 surviving the war.
 * Glrx (talk) 04:47, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

I solved all these problems a number of years ago. You can find the results at: http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/EricksonCSV.htm Only one change in the years since I posted this--One man thought to be put on the ship was not, so 1621 were put aboard the ship. The bottom line. We now know what exactly who was on the ship and who survived the war. We know who died in Japan, Korea, and Manchuria. We don't know with perfect accuracy who died aboard the various ships but the roster is about as accurate as is possible to be. At some point the roster will get a final updating but for nearly every purpose this roster is good enough. Kohlerdino (talk) 18:37, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Recreational dive site?
Article is in category Underwater diving sites in the Philippines, but diving is not mentioned in the text. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 09:45, 27 June 2021 (UTC)