FATE OF HAURAKI

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 May 1946, Page 3

FATE OF HAURAKI

SUNK IN JAPANESE SERVICE (P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 29. The first news of the ultimate fate of the former trans-Pacific cargo motor-ship Hauraki, which was captured by the Japanese in the Indian Ocean on July 12, 1942, has been received by her owners, the Union Steam ' Ship Company. The officers and crew were taken prisoner, and the Hauraki became a Japanese transport She was bombed and sunk by an Allied task force on February 17, 1944. Information has been received by the company from Allied headquarters in Japan that the Hauraki was classified by the Japanese Government in December, 1943, as a special transport and renamed Hoki. After a short coastal voyage in Japanese waters the Hoki left Yokohama early in January, •1944, with a cargo of coal and military supplies for Truk. When she was sunk the following month the greater part of her cargo was lost with the ship.

The Japanese are reported to have experienced difficulty in understanding the Hauraki’s particular type of Diesel machinery, and this was probably accentuated by the courageous sabotage carried out by her engineers. This was described by her former chief engineer, Mr. V 7. C. Falconer, who reported on his return from Japan that the engine-room staff deliberately allowed the engines to deteriorate.