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.

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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On ANZAC Eve Friday, April 24, the fleet of 3000 cardboard lifeboats will be launched on the Port River from 6.30 pm in a special Commemoration for the hospital ship Centaur which was sunk in 1943 with the loss of 268 Australians.

To mark the loss of 179 ambulancemen and 11 nurses, local ambulance drivers and nurses in uniform will be among the 5000 people expected at the event, which from this year will gradually be taken over, organised and staged by school students, under guidance from Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL.

The names of all those lost, including 45 merchant navy crew, will be on the sides of 268 of the candle-lit lifeboats.

One of the patrons of Port Kids for ANZAC will be Australian Paralympian Jay Dohnt, who won a swimming bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, along with Federal MP Mark Butler and Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson.

Jay will be visiting Adelaide schools to recruit students for the Port Kids For ANZAC team to take over ANZAC events from older volunteers.

Framed prints of a painting of Centaur are being presented to Prime Minister Rudd, Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and “shipwreck detective” David Mearns who will take it with him on the search vessel later this year. 

David said: “Thank you, the painting is beautiful.  I would be proud to take it with us.  

“I did an interview with ABC radio today and mentioned the ANZAC Eve event and how this is being used to teach school children about Australia’s war time history.”

A copy of the painting is also being presented to the Caloundra RSL who have kept the flame alive for Centaur over many years.

Jonathon Hall of ABC News reported as follows on April 6:

An international expert hired to find the sunken World War II hospital ship Centaur off south-east Queensland will meet with Defence officials in Canberra today.

David Mearns helped find HMAS Sydney off the Western Australian coast last year.

The Centaur’s final location has remained a mystery since it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943, claiming the lives of 268 people.

The Federal and Queensland Governments announced last month they were providing $4 million for the search.

Mr Mearns spent the weekend in Melbourne interviewing one of the last remaining survivors, 87-year-old Martin Pash, who told him where he thinks the Centaur sank.

“It’s off Danger Point - about 12 miles out to sea,” he said.

Mr Mearns says evidence from survivors will be crucial.

“These are stories that have to be got now, or they may be lost forever,” he said.

Mr Mearns will meet staff from the Defence Minister’s office later today to discuss the search, which is expected to begin later this year.

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Big Blue Tech

David Mearns, who led the search for HMAS Sydney

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh today announced that respected international dive company Blue Water Recoveries will manage the search for the torpedoed World War II Australian hospital ship Centaur.

The six-member inter-governmental steering committee chose Blue Water Recoveries because of its record in deep-sea research, location and filming of shipwrecks.

Last year the firm found HMAS Sydney, which was commemorated at ANZAC Light on the Water 2008.

The AHS Centaur, brightly lit and clearly marked as a hospital ship, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine south east of Cape Moreton in May 1943; she caught fire and sank within minutes. Of the 322 persons on board, only 64 survived.

Centaur is thought to lie two to three kilometres underwater

Mr Rudd said finding the Centaur would complete the story of one of Australia’s and Queensland’s greatest maritime disasters.

“If the search is successful, suitable memorial activities will be undertaken to acknowledge AHS Centaur’s resting place and it will be duly declared as an historic shipwreck under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 in recognition of its social and historical significance to all Australians,” Mr Rudd said.

Ms Bligh thanked the Prime Minister for responding to her request to undertake the search.

“This is an important part of the State’s history and for the sake of those who died, their families and loved ones it is right that we try to find its resting place,” she said.

“The project manager’s first responsibility will be to develop a detailed project plan which will outline the likely search area, the timeline for the search, and the estimated costs of the project.”

Once the search area has been defined, a tender will be offered to find an appropriately equipped vessel and the search could begin as early as November this year.

A reference working group, made up of the steering committee’s chair and representatives of the Department of Defence, Blue Water Recoveries, Centaur Association representatives, the RSL and historian Captain Foley will convene later this month.

Blue Water’s other successful searches include HMS Hood, the flagship of the Royal Navy which was sunk in 1941 by the German battleship Bismarck; the Lucona, a cargo ship sunk by a time bomb as part of an Austrian insurance fraud scheme; and the Rio Grande, a German blockade runner sunk in World War II and found at a depth of 5,762 metres.

The Federal Government is matching Queensland’s $2 million commitment for the search.

Visit Blue Water Recoveries’ website.

The State and Commonwealth’s search for AHS Centaur has attracted eleven national and international expressions of interest, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said today.

“Tenders closed this afternoon and this is a most pleasing outcome to have had such interest,” said the Premier.

“The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, ablaze with lights, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine south east of Cape Moreton in May 1943. She caught fire and sank within minutes. Of the 322 persons on board, only 64 survived.

“The specifics of the eleven applications are commercial-in-confidence and are now the subject of evaluation. That process will be undertaken by the intergovernmental Steering committee.

“The evaluation will take place over the next couple of weeks. Dependant upon subsequent contractual negotiations, it is hoped the preferred Project Manager could be known soon after.

“The Project Manager’s first responsibility will be to develop search timeframes. It is expected that the search’s timing could be affected by the availability of suitable vessels, equipment and prevailing weather conditions.

“But my government is keen for it to be undertaken at the earliest possible time.”

The Committee’s evaluation criteria will be based on; relevant experience (particularly in the area of finding shipwrecks, marine salvage and/or archaeology), track record, methodology, business skills (people and contract skills), time (proposed timeframe, likelihood of achievement and availability) and referee checks.

“Also the panel will obviously evaluate the value-for-money aspect,” she said.

As the Acting Premier Paul Lucas said last week, the separate Reference Group; including the Steering Committee’s Chair, Project Manager, Centaur Association representatives, the RSL and historian Captain Foley will meet once the Project Manager is in place.

The Commonwealth is matching Queensland’s $2 million commitment for the search.

Story from www.australia.to/

Photo from Wikimedia.