Arisan Maru

A 6,886-ton freighter, Arisan Maru was one of Imperial Japan's World War II hell ships.

On October 24, 1944, Arisan Maru was transporting 1,781 US and Allied military and civilian POWs when she was hit by a torpedo from an American submarine (either USS Shark or USS Snook), at about 5 p.m.; she finally sank about 7 p.m. No POWs were killed by the torpedo strikes and nearly all were able to leave the ship's holds but the Japanese did not rescue any of the POWs that day. Only nine of the prisoners aboard survived the event. Five escaped and made their way to China in one of the ship's two life boats. They were reunited with U.S. Forces and returned to the United States. The four others were later recaptured by Imperial Japanese naval vessels, where one died shortly after reaching land.