Ship History
This ship was owned prior to the war by Osaka Shoen K. K. with #4 painted on the smoke stack.

Wartime History
On April 6, 1943 at 1630, convoy "Hansa No. 28" departs Palau for Hansa Bay. It includes: Subchaer CH-26, Subchaer CH-34 destroyers TANIKAZE and AMATSUKAZE and transports: Teiryu Maru, India Maru, Toho Maru, Sydney Maru, Taisei Maru and Taiyu Maru.

On April 12, the convoy arrives at Hansa Bay and is attacked, and the Sydney Maru is lost. The next day at 0900 the remaining convoy depart Hansa Bay. The convoy splits, with Teiryu Maru, Toho Maru and Amatsukaze and CH-34 proceed back to Palau, arriving April 18.

The other ships CH-26, TANIKAZE and Taisei Maru and Taiyu Maru proceeded to Wewak to unload their remaining supplies on April 14. The next day while underway to Palau, the India Maru is sunk. The remainder of the convoy reaches Palau on April 20.

Later, on September 19, 1943 convoy "Wewak No. 9" departs Palau consisting of Subchaser CH-26 and Subchaser CH-32 escorting ADEN, TAISEI and YASUKUNI MARU. They arrive at Wewak on September 23 and begin unloading cargo. The subchaser escorts depart on the 24th for Palau.

Sinking History
On September 27, 1943 B-25 strafers of the 3rd Bombardment Group, attack Taisei Maru at low level, sinking it in Victoria Bay off Kairuru.

Shipwreck
This shipwrek is upright on a sandy bottom. Reported as 90m long, on a 37m bottom, with the deck at 25m. The superstructure shows bomb damage, and a lot of fish and coral life. The bow section with an anchor still attached, hanging down to the sand.

It is possible this wreck was salvaged in the 1950s by Japanese for scrap metal and removing the masts.

David Morgan adds:
"The Taisei Maru and the name was visible on the stern at the time of my dive."

Ken Howard dove in 2004:
"I can't compare this Maru to other PNG wrecks, but it was certainly one of the highlights of our 12 days of diving from Madang to Wewak, and ranks up there (photographically). The viz wasn't all that great (maybe 50 feet)--despite this wreck's size, you had to start down the line attached to the marker buoy because you couldn't spot the wreck from the surface. I was first in the water on both dives, and as I mentioned didn't venture inside the wreck. The second (bow) dive had noticeably worse viz, after the other eleven divers had been in the water. Water conditions were calm, however."

Justin Taylan dove in 2006:
"Locals refer to this wreck as Musao Maru, and charge 5 Kina per diver. It appears the wreck was salvaged post war. The propeller is missing, and appears that it might have had salvage done on it. The remains of the kingpost is present, but collapsed into the wreck."

References
X Marks The Spot research by David Pennefather
Other sources state this ship was sunk off the Schouten Islands

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009

25m deck
37m bottom

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