1944 — July 2, Japanese sub captures SS Jean Nicolet complement of 100 off Ceylon; murders most-76

–~77 American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II. 1-31-2007.*
— 76 Moore, Arthur. “Japanese Atrocities – S.S. Jean Nicolet.” Extracted from A Careless Word.
–31 US Merchant Marine crew [All of those listed herein are named in the article.]
–18 US Naval Armed Guard
–27 US passengers
–17 U.S. Army personnel
— 7 U.S. Navy Personnel as passengers
— 3 Civilian Passengers
— 75 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–30 Crew
–19 Armed Guard
–26 Passengers (all of above killed by captors on deck or in the water when it submerged)**
— 75 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–30 Crew
–19 Navy [Armed Guard]
–26 Passengers (Slain by Japanese.) This refers to all fatalities.

*AMMW note one: The narrative leads one to think that 77 died in that it is noted that there were 100 people onboard and “only 23 were rescued.” However on another AMMW spreadsheet page it is written that 75 died at the time and 3 died as Japanese prisoners of war. There is no indication that others were taken as POWs and survived.

**AMMW note two: two additional crew and 1 passenger died as Japanese prisoners of war.

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II:
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“07/02/44 Jean Nicolet Liberty Torpedo & Shelled Sunk Indian-Red Sea Crew 30; AG 19; Passengers 26 (taken on deck of submarine and murdered by Japanese); Japanese POW: 2 crew, 1 passenger.”

American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II. 1-31-2007:
“The Massacre of the SS Jean Nicolet
“The Liberty ship SS Jean Nicolet was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on July 2, 1944, off Ceylon (Sri Lanka). She had a 41-man crew, plus 28 Armed Guard, 30 passengers and an Army medic. All survived the explosion. They were taken aboard the sub and their lifeboats and rafts were sunk. With their hands tied behind their backs they were forced to sit on deck. Japanese sailors massacred many with bayonets and rifle butts. Thirty survivors were still on deck with their hands tied when a British plane appeared. The sub crash-dived, washing the survivors into the sea. Only 23 were rescued.”

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter VI 1944:
“2 July, Sun. — ….
“Indian Ocean
“U.S. freighter Jean Nicolet is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-8 at 03°00’S, 74°30’E and abandoned. I-8 then shells the ship, setting it afire. Survivors (41-man merchant complement, 28-man Armed Guard, and 30 passengers) are then taken on board the submarine, where their captors search them, bind them, and question them. At least one man is shot; some of the POWs are made to run a gauntlet; some are beaten. In the meantime, the Japanese destroy the lifeboats with gunfire. I-8 retains the master, radio operator, and a civilian passenger, and then submerges, leaving the remainder of the survivors on deck to drown. Some of the survivors, however, return to the burning Jean Nicolet (which sinks the following day) to launch rafts….

“4 July, Tue. — ….
“Indian Ocean
“Indian Navy trawler Hoxa rescues survivors (10 of the freighter’s merchant complement, ten Armed Guard sailors, and three passengers) of U.S. freighter Jean Nicolet, scourged by Japanese submarine I-8 on 2 July 1944; 18 of Jean Nicolet’s 28-man Armed Guard perish in the atrocity wrought by the Japanese. Of the three Americans taken prisoner and retained on board I 8, only one, the passenger, will survive internment.”

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. Jean Nicolet…Torpedoed & Shelled 7/2/44…Liberty Ship…Crew 30, Navy 19, Passengers 26 (Slain by Japanese).”

Moore, Arthur R. “Japanese Atrocities – S.S. Jean Nicolet.” Extracted from A Careless Word.
“A Japanese Atrocity on the High Seas

“The horrible ordeal of the merchant crew, U.S. Naval Armed Guard and passengers on board SS JEAN NICOLET began after being torpedoed on July 2, 1944.

“This is the true story of one of the most horrible atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II….

“SS JEAN NICOLET, a Liberty ship built in Portland, Oregon, in October 1943, was operated for the War Shipping Administration by the Oliver J. Olson Company of San Francisco and under the command of Captain David Martin Nilsson of Oakland, California. On board was a complement of 100 men consisting of 41 merchant crew, 28 Naval Armed Guard, and 31 passengers. The passenger list was made up of six U.S. Army officers, 12 U.S. Army enlisted men, eight Navy technicians, four civilians, and one U.S. Army medical corpsman.

“On July 2, 1944, SS JEAN NICOLET was steaming alone in the Indian Ocean loaded with a cargo of war materials for the China/Burma/India theatre of war. Sailing from San Pedro, California, on May 12, the ship had stopped at Fremantle, Australia, for bunkers, stores, and to discharge some cargo. Departing from Fremantle on June 21, she was bound for Colombo, Ceylon, where she was to stop for orders prior to proceeding to Calcutta. The cargo consisted of heavy machinery, trucks, steel plate, landing barges, steel mooring pontoons, and other general wartime cargo.

“At 1907 ship’s time, on this date, she was located in position 3-28 South/74-30 West or about 700 miles south of Ceylon. At this time, she was struck by two torpedoes fired from the Japanese submarine I-8. The first hit between #2 and #3 holds on the starboard side and the second at #4 hold on the same side. A few minutes later the Master ordered abandon ship as he feared the ship would capsize due to the heavy starboard list. All hands abandoned ship safely in lifeboats and rafts. Before abandoning his post, Augustus Tilden, the radio operator, sent out a radio message that the ship had been torpedoed in the above position. The message was acknowledged by Calcutta and Ceylon. This radio message was responsible for saving the lives of 23 men.

“Soon after the ship was abandoned, I-8 surfaced. As it was dark I-8 used a powerful searchlight to locate the boats and rafts. The survivors were threatened with machine guns and ordered to come alongside by a Japanese speaking perfect English. Some on one raft slipped over the side into the water to hide but were seen and ordered to get back on the raft. Then they were ordered to swim to the sub. Five others, who were on the side away from the sub, were not discovered. These five were the only ones who did not board the sub. This five consisted of four of the Naval Armed Guard and one Army enlisted man. They were among the 24 survivors. [One had been a POW.]

“Each man who lived to tell this tale has a different story about what happened to him but basically it was this way. One of the men forced to swim to the sub was William M. Musser, a 17-year-old messman from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, making his first trip to sea. After boarding the sub, he was escorted towards the bow and as he walked forward, one of the Japanese sailors swung him around and slugged him over the head with a piece of steel pipe. As Musser staggered from the blow the sailor laughed and took out his pistol and shot Musser in the head and then kicked his body over the side as he fell.

“Another crew member, Richard L. Kean, a 19-year-old ordinary seaman from Kennewick, Washington, was also brutally murdered. As he climbed out of a lifeboat to the sub’s deck, he was searched, had his life jacket removed, and his arms were bound behind his back. The Japanese sailor who was leading him forward suddenly turned with a bayonet in his hand and plunged it into Kean’s stomach. As Kean doubled over with pain, he was struck in the head with a rifle butt and kicked over the side into the water.

“As each of the other survivors boarded I-8, they were immediately roughed up, searched, had life jackets removed and had all their valuables, shoes, and I.D. tags taken from them. Then they were bound with their arms behind their backs with rope or wire. They were forced to sit on deck with their heads bowed on their knees. Anyone who raised his head or made a noise of any kind was beaten with iron pipes and cut with bayonets. The deck ran red with blood and vomit.

“Captain Nilsson, Gus Tilden (radio operator), and Francis J. O’Gara were taken to the conning tower and shoved below. Mr. O’Gara was a War Shipping Administration representative en route to the Calcutta office. They were never seen again by the survivors.

“While sitting in this painful position, the survivors were forced to listen to a harangue by l-8’s commander. He hurled insults at them saying, ‘You are now my prisoners. Let this be a lesson to you that Americans are weak. You must realize that Japan will rule the world. You are stupid for letting your leaders take you to war. Do you know that the entire American fleet is now at the bottom of the Pacific?’

“While all this was going on, I-8 cruised around looking for any boats or rafts they might have missed. The sub also commenced shelling JEAN NICOLET, which was still afloat. As I-8 cruised around, a wave came over the deck of the submarine washing three of the men overboard with their hands tied behind them. Two of them, Carl Rosenbaum (F/WT) and George Kenmore Hess (A.B.), survived but Lt. Morrison R. Miller, U.S. Army, was never seen again. Lt. Miller had suffered a broken arm abandoning ship and he had no chance of surviving.

“In the meantime, a gauntlet consisting of 10 to 15 crew members of I-8 was formed on the after deck behind the conning tower. Those held on the fore deck could not see what was happening. They could, however, hear the horrible screams of the men who were forced to go through the gauntlet. Those forming the gauntlet were armed with steel stanchions, bayonets, and rifles. Waiting at the end was a huge Japanese holding a rifle with a fixed bayonet in both hands. If any man survived to the end of the gauntlet, he was impaled on the bayonet of this man and his body heaved overboard like a side of beef. Three men survived this torture by jumping overboard halfway through the gauntlet. Even though their hands were still bound, they decided they would take their chance in the ocean regardless of the sharks. All three of them suffered wounds from bayonets and steel pipes. Two of them were from the merchant crew, Charles E. Pyle (1st Assistant Engineer) and Harold R. Lee (messman). The third was Robert C. Butler, a U.S. Navy technician.

“While all this torture was going on, those sitting on the fore deck, unaware of what was happening on the after deck, were led one by one to the slaughter until there were about 30 men left alive on deck. At this time, the diving siren sounded and crew members of I-8 were ordered below. An aircraft had been reported on the sub’s radar heading in the direction of the submarine. Those left on deck with their hands tied behind their backs were left to drown. Seventeen of these men drowned or were killed by sharks. The remaining 13 men survived by swimming all night, some with their hands still tied. Others were able to get free by themselves or were freed by a Navy Armed Guard seaman who had concealed a knife in his blouse. He cut as many free as he could as the sub went under.

“The aircraft reported on radar was in all likelihood searching for the survivors of JEAN NICOLET. This was the result of the radio message sent by Gus Tilden just before he abandoned ship.

“Many of the survivors were in the water for 13 to 14 hours without any support. About 0800 the next morning (July 3) survivors saw a Liberator approaching the scene. It dropped a small rubber dinghy made to hold four people. Eventually, seven men ended up in this dinghy. An hour or so later, three more planes (PBYs) appeared overhead searching for survivors but flew off without any action.

“At daylight on July 4, another Liberator appeared overhead and a ship was seen approaching. This was HMIS HOXA on her way to rescue the survivors. Seven men were found clinging to the small dinghy, thirteen others were rescued from rafts or dinghies, and three others were found clinging to wreckage. They were taken to Addu Atoll of the Maldive Islands group landing there on July 5 where they were interrogated by British Intelligence.

“They left Addu Atoll on July 12 aboard HMIS SONNETI arriving in Colombo on July 14. On July 27 they were flown to Calcutta where the two Army men and the Navy technician were assigned duties in the area. The ten merchant crew members and the 10 Naval Armed Guard were eventually taken to Bombay by train. At Bombay they boarded USAT GEN. WILLIAM MITCHELL. They finally got back to the U.S., landing in San Diego on October 6, more than three months after their horrible ordeal.

“Of the 100 men aboard JEAN NICOLET, only 24 survived. A breakdown of the lost is as follows: 31 merchant crew, 18 Naval Armed Guard, and 27 passengers. Francis J. O’Gara was found alive in Ofuna prison camp near Yokohama after the end of hostilities. He had been declared dead by the U.S. Navy. He even had a Liberty ship named for him, the only living person who was to see his name on a Liberty ship. FRANCIS O’GARA was built June 1945 in Panama City, Florida….”

Note: The names of the victims and the survivors can be found at:
https://www.armed-guard.com/ag87.html

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1944. Accessed 6-3-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk44.html#anchor564125

American Merchant Marine at War. U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II. 1-31-2007. Accessed 6-3-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/ww2.html

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter VI: 1944. Accessed 6-3-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1944.html

Moore, Captain Arthur R. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U.S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum 1983 (1st edition), 1990. Table extracted by armed-guard.com. Accessed 6-3-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Moore, Captain Arthur R. “Japanese Atrocities – S.S. Jean Nicolet.” Excerpted by armed-guard.com from A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U.S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum 1983 (1st edition), 1990. Accessed 6-3-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/ag87.html