SS Kiche Maru
Encyclopedia
The Fucked Up Typhoon
The Kiche Maru was a Japanese steamship that sank during a typhoon on 22 September 1912. Although more than 1,000 people died, the disaster was overshadowed by the earlier loss (on 15 April 1912) of the RMS Titanic, and by the fact that it was part of the casualties of a tropical storm in Southern Japan. Although the sinking of a ship was reported (as the "Kieko Maru," the "Keiko Maru," the "Kioko maru" and the "Kickermaru" in later accounts), it was in conjunction with a violent storm that sank hundreds of vessels. The destroyers Fubuki and Tachibana were sunk in Ise Bay
, and the cities of Osaka and Nagoya sustained heavy damage. The Kiche Maru, a passenger ship, foundered off the island of Honshū, and there were no survivors.
Although the sinking of the Japanese passenger ship was reported in the Western press as part of the news of the 1912 typhoon, and the information has been repeated in English-language lists of historic disasters, no contemporaneous Japanese accounts have been found to describe either the shipwreck, or the ship itself.
The Kiche Maru was a Japanese steamship that sank during a typhoon on 22 September 1912. Although more than 1,000 people died, the disaster was overshadowed by the earlier loss (on 15 April 1912) of the RMS Titanic, and by the fact that it was part of the casualties of a tropical storm in Southern Japan. Although the sinking of a ship was reported (as the "Kieko Maru," the "Keiko Maru," the "Kioko maru" and the "Kickermaru" in later accounts), it was in conjunction with a violent storm that sank hundreds of vessels. The destroyers Fubuki and Tachibana were sunk in Ise Bay
Ise Bay
Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso River between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of 19.5 metres and a maximum depth of 30 metres toward the centre. The mouth of the bay is 9 kilometres wide and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels:...
, and the cities of Osaka and Nagoya sustained heavy damage. The Kiche Maru, a passenger ship, foundered off the island of Honshū, and there were no survivors.
Although the sinking of the Japanese passenger ship was reported in the Western press as part of the news of the 1912 typhoon, and the information has been repeated in English-language lists of historic disasters, no contemporaneous Japanese accounts have been found to describe either the shipwreck, or the ship itself.