Vindicatrix Boy

Visit ABC News for video and photographs of the wreck of the Australian hospital ship Centaur, which was found by shipwreck hunter David Mearns on the ocean bed.

Photo: Bruce Long, AAP

Australian wartime hospital ship Centaur has been found.

The World War II ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943 and sank off the south-east Queensland coast.

Of the 332 people on board AHS Centaur only 64 survived.

This morning, seven days into an official search, the crew of Seahorse Spirit (pictured above) confirmed the location of the wreck.

Centaur search director David Mearns says the wreck location is about 30 nautical miles due east of the southern tip of Moreton Island at a depth of 2,059 metres.

Mr Mearns, who also led the searches for HMAS Sydney and the German commerce raider Kormoran, says the discovery is quite an achievement.

“It’s a great sense of relief and satisfaction,” he said.

“Every time you find a shipwreck like this it’s a little bit different and this was very, very hard compared to Sydney and Kormoran, whose finds were almost instantaneous.

“This has taken a number of days to really work out that we had the right target.”

Read the full story from ABC News.

Ian Hudson from the Centaur Association says the ship’s discovery will give closure to the loved ones of those who died.
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ABC News says an expert believes that the wreck of the Centaur my be closer to the Queensland coast than was previously supposed.

Read the full story here.

A NEW twist has been added to the mystery of the Australian hospital ship Centaur, with the discovery that a chunk of its name plank was salvaged by a local army sergeant on Moreton Island, writes Glenis Green in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail.

Read the full story here.

ABC Radio interview

Listen to an interview with Jan Thomas of the Centaur Association by Peter Scott of ABC Radio.

Missing father

Max Chapman has spent most of his 65 years wondering where his father is.

He knows Earnest Ainslie Chapman was one of 268 people who died on the Centaur on May 14, 1943, just two months before Max came into the world.

See the full story and photo in the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Children applaud 86-year-old survivor
 
Hundreds of children applauded a survivor of the Australian hospital ship Centaur yesterday during services to mark the 66th year since the its sinking.
 
Martin Pash, 86, of Melbourne, laid a bundle of yellow flowers on the Centaur memorial at Coolangatta’s Point Danger, which the ship passed shortly before it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War II.
 
See the full story by Tuck Thompson of the Brisbane Courier Mail.

Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper has played a major role in getting both the Queensland and Federal Governments to fund the search for Centaur.

Read its story about the commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the sinking.

Alex Leask lost three uncles when HMAS Centaur was sunk in World War II. (Photo: ABC Local Radio: Nicole Lee)

Alice Springs local Alex Leask, who lost three uncles on the Centaur 66 years ago, has grown up with the story as part of his family folklore.

Not long before that fateful calm night in May, Alex’s father was working on the Centaur only to return home to look after his pregnant wife. At this stage Alex’s uncles weren’t working on the ship.

“My mother was pregnant with me at the time. She was ill and Dad’s brothers, Harold, Alexander and Henry implored for dad to go home and look after my mother on compassionate leave.

“Dad didn’t know that they were on the ship… the attack broke the Geneva convention about targeting hospital ships,” said Alex.

The effects of the sinking of the Centaur, which went down in three minutes, have continued to this day.

“The effect was huge on my parents. They could never talk about it, none of dad’s brothers were married and they used to treat mum as a princess; the grief was overwhelming.”

“The tragedy meant it was the end of the family on Dad’s side.”

Alex Leask’s mother, father and uncles before the sinking of the Centaur. (Photo: ABC Local Radio: Nicole Lee)

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Click here to see rare footage of the Australian hospital ship Centaur rescuing the survivors of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran after it had sunk and been sunk by HMAS Sydney.

The ANZAC Eve Light on the Water commemoration has made news in other Australian cities — read this article in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail.

About 400 brave souls ventured out on a wet and windy night for ANZAC Light on the Water 2009, which paid tribute to the 268 Australians who were lost when the hospital ship Centaur was torpedoed off the Queensland coast in May 1943.

Strong winds prevented the lighting of candles in the 3000 cardboard replica lifeboats made by local primary school students.

However, North Haven Lifesaving Club volunteers came to the rescue and valiantly managed to light some of the candles in the 268 lifeboats that bore the name of each of the victims of the wartime tragedy. 

The small group of spectators were entertained by a smaller Bay Big Band, a larger than life Steve Foster, lone piper Don Macaulay and the hugely impressive Royal Australian Navy Guard and Ceremonial Unit.

Port Kids for Anzac Patron Jack Buckskin, 22, welcomed everyone to the land of his Kaurna people and his fellow Patron, Paralympian Jay Dohnt, 19, spoke about the role of young people in the future commemoration of Australia’s military forces, merchant navy and civilian support groups in many conflicts and peacekeeping operations. They are pictured here with the Channel Ten camera crew after a national interview with David and Kim for 9AM.

“I encourage all young people to become more involved in ANZAC day events during this and future commemorations, many of the soldiers who fought to create this fantastic legacy of mateship and patriotism were as young as 16, boys who changed the dates of their birth certificates for an opportunity to represent and protect this country — a sense of morality and pride that I believe still exists within Australian youth today,” Jay told the crowd.

“ANZAC day is an opportunity to reinforce that very sense of pride we have simply by being an Australian — a sense of pride that steams back to the attitudes and achievements of the Anzacs, a sense of pride which optimises Australia and Australians.
 
“Tonight’s ceremony is the first step for John Williams, Jack Buckskin and I in establishing Port Kids for ANZAC, a group which is dedicated to reminding SA’s youth about the importance of the ANZACs and ANZAC Day. 

“Together with Jack and John I hope to be able to recruit more young people from schools all over SA and fulfil the saying “lest we forget”.

Other speakers included South Australian Treasurer Kevin Foley, local Federal Labor MP Mark Butler, Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson and the Rev Ali Wurm.

Because organisers were unable to light many candles, local community and visitors at the event took home most of the 3000 lifeboats and promised to return them for launching when David Mearns of Blue Water Discoveries and the Federal and Queensland Government search team locates the wreck of the Centaur later this year.

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