AHS Centaur

From the Dec. 22, 2009 Australian.

In 2003, the Australian government declared the area east of where the wreck was presumed to be a war grave zone and at least one survivor has had their ashes spread there after death.

The Centaur had not always been a hospital ship and, upon its conversion, the Japanese government had been notified Feb. 5, 1943, of its change of status. The vessel was marked with green bands bow to stern on both sides and red crosses on either side of the funnel. In addition, three large red crosses were painted on either side of the hull.

The ship was also equipped with many lights and would be lit at night so as to be easily discerned. There were so many lights, one Centaur survivor described the ship as being "lit up like a Christmas tree."

Eight months before the Centaur was sunk, a Japanese ship in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, had trained a spotlight on the AHS Manunda, which was similarly marked but had not fired upon the ship.

It is not known why the Japanese submarine commander Hajime Nakagawa torpedoed the Centaur.

A Sad Story. --Cooter