Sinking of the hospital ship "Centaur" by Japanese submarine I-177 on 14 May 1943 off the Queensland coast east of Brisbane

SINKING OF THE HOSPITAL SHIP A.H.S. CENTAUR
BY JAPANESE SUBMARINE I-177 ON 14 MAY 1943
OFF THE QUEENSLAND COAST, EAST OF BRISBANE

On 13 May 1943, No. 23 Radar Station RAAF had plotted a surface vessel which was located about 40 miles off the coast of Moreton Island. The blip was characteristic of a surfaced submarine. W.A.A.A.F. Operators P. Woodward, K. Rae and M. Hess reported the plots to the 8 Fighter Sector Headquarters in Brisbane. The plots were verified by the Commanding Officer of No. 23 Radar Station, Pilot Officer W. Fielder-Gill.

At approximately 4.10am on Friday 14 May 1943 the hospital ship A.H.S. Centaur, ablaze with lights, was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-177 south east of Cape Moreton. The Centaur was struck in an oil fuel tank on the port side behind No. 2 Hatch. Centaur caught fire, and sank within two or three minutes .

Of the 322 persons on board, only 64 survived. Of the 12 Army Nurses on board, Sister Ellen Savage was the only survivor.

USS Mugford had been escorting the British Steamer "Sussex" on a voyage across the Tasman Sea. A lookout on board USS Mugford had spotted something on the horizon. Shortly after this an Avro Anson from 71 Squadron RAAF based at Lowood Airfield, spotted survivors in the water at 1400 hours on 15 May 1943 and radioed United States destroyer, USS Mugford, to "rescue survivors in water ahead". The Anson had been providing anti-submarine visual protection for Force "Z", which I assume was the USS Mugord and the British Steamer "Sussex".

Survivors in the first group of rafts recovered, told Lieutenant Commander H.J. Corey, the Captain of USS Mugford that they were from the hospital ship "Centaur".

The Naval Officer in Charge in Brisbane (N.O.I.C. Brisbane), Captain Edward Penry Thomas, received a signal from the USS Mugford that afternoon stating they were picking up many survivors of the Australian hospital ship Centaur at a position about 40 miles east of Cape Moreton. This was the first official indication on the mainland of this tragic event.

The Captain of USS Mugford requested the Anson to protect the "Sussex" while they continued to rescue the survivors of the "Centaur". A number of false alarms were reported on board USS Mugford of periscopes and torpedo trails. This caused a number of unnecessary distractions to the rescuers.

The survivors were mostly found within a 2 mile radius of the main oil slick and wreckage. They were in two larger groups and three smaller groups. USS Mugford rescued 63 men and 1 woman.

Corporal Maurice Peter Thomas (VX64840) a member of the medical staff of AHS Centaur escaped from the sinking ship and managed to locate a piece of planking at Daybreak. Cpl Thomas and Privates Jones and Private McCosker, and Privates Taylor and three of the ships crew all clambered on this piece of planking. They spent all day on the planking. Between midnight and daybreak the next day (Saturday) they heard the sound of engines about 3/4 mile away. Two emergency flares were light by some survivors on two rafts. They could not see anything. A crew member of Centaur indicated that it was a submarine engine that they could hear. He instructed the survivors on the rafts to extinguish the flares. The engines stopped soon after this.

Second officer, Mr R. G. Rippon, indicated that he had heard the engines of a surfaced submarine between mid-night and 4 a.m. on 15 May 1943. Able Seaman J. Cecich and Seamen's Cook F. Martin indicated that they had also sighted the submarine.

USS Mugford arrived in Brisbane on 15th May with the survivors. The Captain of the USS Mugford passed over the command of the rescue the N.O.I.C's chief staff officer, Lieut-Commander McManus. Further searches of the area were completed at 6 pm on the 16 May 1943 by U .S .S . Helm, H.M.A.S. Lithgow, and four motor torpedo boats without success.

Corporal Thomas (VX64840) remembered seeing four men from the AASC attached to the 2/12 Field Ambulance come on board Centaur in Sydney carrying their rifles. There have been many unsubstantiated rumours about armed troops on board Centaur and about her carrying stores of weapons and ammunition. The carrying of rifles by the AASC soldiers was in accordance with Article 8 of the "Convention for the Adaptation of the Principles of the Geneva Convention to Maritime Warfare" which allowed for the carrying of arms "for the maintenance of order and defence of the wounded and sick".

Eastern Area Headquarters Operations Record Book

15 May 1943

LOW. 31/15. Outer anti-submarine patrol for Force "Z" to safe endurance was carried out by an Anson airborne at 1030K. Force was left in position at 1340K. At 1400K aircraft reported that it was over a ship's lifeboat containing 30 live persons. Aircraft visually contacted Force "Z" which picked up all visible survivors, aircraft returned to base, landing at 1545K. Patrol completed, negative enemy.

LOW. 30/15. Search of area for enemy submarine using two Ansons covering three details, from dawn to dusk. First was airborne at 0545K and last landed at 1807K. Search completed, negative enemy.

C.H. 26/15. Search of area for enemy submarines using two Ansons covering three details from dawn to dusk. First was airborne at 0600K and returned at 0810K due to adverse weather. Two other details were carried out and the last landed at 1730K. Search incomplete, negative enemy.

CAM. 45/15. Search for enemy submarines using three Ansons, the first airborne at 0600K, the last detail landed at 1725K. Search complete, negative enemy.

INTELLIGENCE (1) N.O.I.C. Brisbane reported that a hospital ship was sunk at 0400K/14 May and that many survivors were picked up by a destroyer at 1414K/15 May. A subsequent message stated one torpedo sunk the vessel In about two minutes , and that there were 54 men and one woman survivors - 4 of them seriously injured. The total number on board was given as approximately 326 - 68 crew, 38 medical staff, 220 army medical unit.

16 May 1943

LOW. 35/16. A parallel track search for survivors of hospital ship by four Ansons. The aircraft were airborne at 0615K and landed at 1115K. At 1046K an intercept message was received stating that there was a white lifeboat overturned and over an area of two miles radius 4 pontoons, 10 rafts and another lifeboat were sighted but there was no sign of life. A destroyer was directed to the position. Search completed, negative enemy.

LOW. 36/16. Search for survivors of hospital ship by three Ansons airborne at 0920K and landed at 1417K. This search was discontinued after 1300K and substituted by LOW. 37 and Low. 38. Search curtailed, negative enemy.

LOW. 34/16. Search along given tracks for enemy submarine using two Ansons covering three details. First was airborne at 0545K from Coff's Harbour where the third detail landed at 1745K. Patrol completed, negative enemy.

LOW. 37/16. Search along track for enemy submarines using one Anson to be on datum as soon after 1250K as possible until dusk. Aircraft was airborne at 1350K and landed at 1825K. Patrol complete, negative enemy.

LOW. 38/16. Search along track for enemy submarines using one Anson to be on datum as soon after 1250K and patrol until dusk. The ircraft was airborne at 1350K and landed at 1820K at Lowood. Patrol complete, negative enemy.

C.H. 27/16. Search along track for enemy submarines using two Ansons covering three details, from dawn to dusk. The first detail was airborne at 0600K and third landed at 1728K. Search complete, negative enemy.

CAM. 47/16. Search along track for enemy submarines using two Ansons for three details, from dawn to dusk. First Anson airborne at 0600K from Coff's Harbour. Second detail was cancelled as the aircraft was not available. Third detail was airborne at 1245K and landed at Coff's Harbour at 1718K. Search incomplete, negative enemy.

BOMBING RESTRICTIONS have been imposed in the BRISVANCAT area from 0900K/17 to 1800K/18.

INTELLIGENCE. (1) A further report on the sinking of the hospital ship states - sea was moderate, visibility excellent, course true north, speed 12 knots. Red Crosses on the ship were fully illuminated. Torpedo hit port side of ship after end No. 2 hatch. No submarine or torpedo track was observed before the attack. (2) Survivors state that at 150330K a submarine was sighted by them. It was about 300 feet long - had one gun forward of conning tower and what appeared to be a black superstructure abaft the conning tower. Some members of the crew of the submarine were seen on conning tower. Submarine remained on surface for about 20 minutes.

There has been controversy over the years of the actual location of the wreckage of the Centaur. There are memorials at Point Danger and Caloundra. They were both erected in the belief that the Centaur had sunk off the coastline near the memorials.

On 29 June 2003, the Royal Australian Navy announced that investigations by five RAN ships over the previous three months had proven conclusively that the wreckage in 174 metres of water off Moreton Island was not the Centaur. The use of video and sonar images of the wreck by RAN mine-hunters HMAS Yarra, HMAS Hawkesbury and hydrographic ship HMAS Melville showed that the wreck's hull was only 55 metres long, much shorter than Centaur which was 96 metres long.

Captain Bruce Kafer, chief hydrographer for the Royal Australian Navy said that the navy and the media had been carried away by the 1995 claims by Don Dennis of Melbourne that he had located the Centaur. Captain Kafer claimed that the Navy still did not know where the real location of the Centaur was located.

The wreck reported by Don Dennis as the Centaur is believed to be the SS Kyogle, a ship which was used by the RAAF for target practice in the 1950's.

I was advised by a local diver that the RAN had located the wreck of the Centaur in 1,500 metres of water off Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island using side scan sonar. They did did this search after their other search off Moreton Island but the did not bother to send a submersible down to the wreck.

The following photographs were taken at Centaur Park near Wickham Point,
Caloundra on 14 May 2001, the anniversary of the sinking of the "Centaur".

The following photos were taken at Point Danger on the border
between Queensland and New South Wales on 9 February 2003

I'd like to thank Jan Thomas from the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association for her assistance with this home page.

"AUSTRALIAN HOSPITAL SHIP CENTAUR - The Myth of Immunity"
By Christopher S. Milligan & John C.H. Foley.
Nairana Publications. 1993. 6A Doncaster Street, HENDRA. Queensland.
Printed by Watson Ferguson & Company, 35 Hamilton Road. MOOROOKA. Qld.
ISBN No. 0646 13715 8

	Centaur Park near Wickham Point, Caloundra
	Main memorial at Centaur Park near Wickham Point, Caloundra


	In memory of the forty-one members of the Australian Army Service Corps lost with AHS "Centaur" 14 May 1943
	In memory of the twenty eight members of the 1st Netherlands Military Hospital ship Oranje who transferred to A.H.S. Centaur and the eighteen of these that lost their lives

	In appreciation for crew of United States destroyer USS Mugford who rescued survivors from the Centaur
	Centaur Memorial at Point Danger
	Plaque on the Centaur Memorial at Point Danger
	Plaque showing the fate of the 2/12 Field Ambulance
	Plaque showing the fate of the Australian Army Ship's Medical Corps Staff
	Plaque showing the fate of the Merchant Navy crew