SEIKO MARU

Seiko Maru

74 years ago today on the 17th July 1940 the Seiko Maru officially entered service  for the Japanese Dairen Steamship Company. After being requisitioned by the Japanese Navy they made use of her heavy cargo handling facilities to move goods from the Empire throughout the Pacific. On one of these journeys the Seiko was believed by the Americans to have been sunk by USS Steelhead on the 1st August 1943. In fact she survived and was at Truk during the Hailstone Attacks during February 1944 when her luck finally ran out and she was sunk. The Seiko had an unusual layout for a cargo vessel of the time with an aft engine room she in fact resembled a tanker, some of the planes that attacked the Seiko actually reported attacking a tanker and not a cargo vessel. The Seiko received extensive bomb damage before sinking by the stern, a lot of which is still evident today. Now the vessel lies between 20 – 50m and is popular dive for those that choose to dive it.