HOSPITAL SHIP

Grey River Argus, 20 May 1943, Page 5

HOSPITAL SHIP

HORROR AROUSED BY SINKING

Further Details PROTEST TO BE MADE TO JAPAN. SYDNEY, May . 19. Tlie names of the 222 missing Army! and medical personnel of ithe torpedoed Australian hospital snip “Centaur” have been released by the Australian Army;. The rescued medical personnel, numbering 34, are in hospital. The names of 107 members of the crew, of whom 77 are missing have not yet been released by tne Navy. The captain of the ship, Captain G. A. Murray, of Perth, and the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. C. P. Manson, of Melbourne, were among those who perished. The Executive of the Australian Red Cross has decided to ask the International Red Cross Committee to make a strong protest to the Japanese Government and the Japanese Red Cross Society at this apparent deliberate breach of international laws and usages in war. The “Centaur,” of 3,222 tons, was formerly a Blue Funnel passenger and ca'rgo vessel, built in Britain in 1924 for’trade between Western Australia and Singapore. She was converted into a hospital ship at an Australian port and commissioned in the middle of February. Her equipment included an X-ray plant and the most modern surgical and medical apparatus. The vessel had completed one voyage from New Guinea to Australia with patients and was returning to New Guinea for more sick and wounded men when she was sunk. In November, 1938, the “Centaur” saved the Japanese whale chaser Kyo Marti, which was disabled off the west coast of Australia, towing her Ito port.. Throughout Australia horror is I being expressed at the callous and I fiendish sinking. “We are fighting ' against savages, not civilised men,” said Mr. W. M. Hughes, “and this tragedy will have served an end if it makes us realise more clearly what we are facing.” Latest reports made it clear that most of those who died went down ] with the “Centaur” on her swift 'plunge, being killed in the first great I explosion, or trapped by fire which prevented their making a way to I the decks. Others were dragged down I by the suction of the sinking ship, or taken by sharks.. The crew of the Allied rescue ship subscribed £273 12s for distribution among 64 survivors, enabling each to receive £3 14s 3d.

Loss of Life

NOT SO GREAT AS FIRST THOUGHT. JAP RADIO MAKES EXCUSES. (Soecial to N.Z. Press Assn.) x (Rec. 9.15) SYDNEY. May ±9. The loss of life when the _ Australian hospital ship, “Centaur’" was sunk by a Japanese submarine near Brisbane on Friday was not quite so heavy as was originally announced. The complement of the vessel was 332 not 363, which was the first or-, licial figure. This reduces the number of oersonnel lost from 299 to 268. Making this correction, General MacArthur’s communique today says that the new figures were reached after a further check by the Australian Army and Navy! authorities. Messages from London and New York declare- that Britain and the United States have been horrified by the foul act of barbarism perpetrated by the Japanese Navy, which has further emphasised the devilish calibre of the enemv. It has been inferred in some quarters, from a Japanese radio announcement, that the submarine was deputed especially to sink the “Centaur.” An enemy spokesman in attempting to justify the action said, “Our enemy, America, has repeatedly revealed a' tendency to barbarism in the Pacific war.” The “Sydney Sun” in an editorial to-dav, raises 'the point whether the Allied hospital ships in the pacific can in future be permitted to go unescorted. “We trusted once,” says the paper, “and it cost us nearly three hundred valuable lives. It would be folly to trust, again.” Some of the survivors have been moved to their homes, but most are still in hospital. Sister Nellie Savage, the only surviving nurse was stated to be in a satisfactory condition.