Researchers have located the remains of the Japanese transport ship Hokusho Maru, known as one of the wartime “hell ships,” off the coast of Zambales in the Philippines. The vessel was carrying prisoners of war during World War II when it was mistakenly sunk by American aircraft on September 21, 1944, turning it into a mass grave for about 1,200 British and Dutch captives.
The discovery, reported Friday by CNN, ended an 80-year mystery. The search was led by the Hell Ships Memorial Foundation together with the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency and Discovery, using archival research and advanced scanning. In June 2025, researcher John Dorsky found a detailed Japanese document describing the ship’s position in the convoy, which helped locate the wreck at about 50 meters deep.
Archaeologist Calvin Mires and his team created a 3D model of the remains using photogrammetry. The wreck is now slowly being covered by volcanic ash carried into the sea after Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, making the ship harder to identify externally. The site is being treated as a war grave and will not be excavated.
Survivors described horrific conditions on board as “hell on earth.” Captain Nigel Evans and Captain James Gibson testified in Singapore war crimes trials about crushing overcrowding, severe shortages of water and food, and prisoners forced to use cans as toilets. Gibson said he saw prisoners eating near corpses, while Evans described similar scenes. After the testimony, Japanese Army sergeant-major Jotani Kitaichi was sentenced to death by hanging. Only about 200 prisoners survived, with Gibson reaching shore and living for five months with Filipino guerrillas, and Evans later transferred to another Japanese ship bound for a prisoner camp in Taiwan. Officials will not publish the exact coordinates to protect the site from looters, and the search for other missing hell ships continues, including the Oriku Maru in Subic Bay.
