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{{Short description|Japanese ships infamous for poor treatment}}
{{Shōwa Statism|Atrocities}}
[[File:Oryoku Maru.jpg|thumb|''[[Oryoku Maru]]'' in World War II]]
A '''hell ship''' is a ship with extremely inhumane living conditions or with a reputation for [[cruelty]] among the crew. It now generally refers to the ships used by the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] and [[Imperial Japanese Army]] to transport [[Allied prisoners of war in Japan|Allied prisoners of war]] (POWs) and ''[[rōmusha]]'' (Asian forced slave laborers) out of the [[Philippines]], the [[Dutch East Indies]], [[Hong Kong]], and [[Singapore]] in [[World War II]]. These POWs were taken to the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese Islands]], [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Formosa]], [[Manchukuo]], [[Korea under Japanese rule|Korea]], the [[Maluku Islands|Moluccas]], [[Sumatra]], [[Burma]], or [[Thailand|Siam]] to be used as [[forced labor]].

==Etymology==

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] prisoners of war sometimes referred to British [[prison ship]]s they were held in using the terms "hell" and "hell ship". Captured Patriot military personnel who refused to swear allegiance to [[the Crown]] during the conflict were [[Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War|kept by the British]] in prison ships, many of which were aging and dilapidated warships. Conditions onboard these ships were frequently abysmal, and outbreaks of diseases such as [[dysentery]] were rife among prisoners. The most infamous prison ship was {{HMS|Jersey|1736|6}}, which was designed to hold a complement of 400 crewmen but held up to 1,000 prisoners of war during the conflict; when the war ended in 1783, it was abandoned and burnt in [[New York Harbor]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The HMS Jersey: Gruesome Revolutionary Prison Ship |url=https://historythings.com/gruesome-revolutionary-prison |website=History Things|date=12 August 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=P. Watson |first1=Robert |title=The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn: An Untold Story of the American Revolution |date=August 15, 2017 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], the term "hell ship" was revived by [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[prisoners of war]] (POWs) to refer to merchant vessels requisitioned by the [[Empire of Japan]] to transport POWs and [[forced labour]]ers to various locations [[List of territories acquired by the Empire of Japan|under Japanese control]]. According to American historian Gregory F. Michno, during World War II 134 Japanese "hell ships" transported roughly 126,000 Allied POWs via more than 156 voyages. During the war, the Japanese engaged in the widespread use of forced labour, including from Allied POWs, to produce the vast quantities of materials needed to maintain [[military operation]]s. As such, these ships were used to transfer POWs to areas where they would forcibly produce material for Japan's war effort.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1944/oryoku-maru.html | title=The Japanese "Hell Ships" of World War II }}</ref>   

Conditions onboard these vessels were abysmal, with passengers being frequently denied access to adequate food, drink and bathroom facilities while being placed into cramped conditions. [[Terminal dehydration]], [[hyperthermia]] and [[starvation]] along with [[summary execution]]s and excessive beatings led to the death of some, though the greatest cause of fatalities for POWs aboard these ships were Allied attacks, which unintentionally killed thousands of passengers. The [[United States Navy]] carried out most of these attacks with the help of Allied intelligence services and the [[Royal Navy]]'s [[British Pacific Fleet]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1944/oryoku-maru.html | title=The Japanese "Hell Ships" of World War II }}</ref>   
 
The term "hell ship" was also used by the [[Mass media in the United Kingdom|British press]] to refer to ships used by [[Nazi Germany]] to transport Allied POWs, such as the oil tanker {{ship|German tanker|Altmark||2}}. The ship was transporting 300 British sailors picked up after being on [[merchant ship]]s sunk by the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' cruiser {{ship|German cruiser|Admiral Graf Spee||2}} when it was boarded by the Royal Navy destroyer {{HMS|Cossack|F03|6}}, which rescued the sailors. When describing the rescue, which came to be known as the [[Altmark incident|''Altmark'' incident]], British newspapers frequently described ''Altmark'' with epithets such as "Hitler's hell-ship" or the "Nazi hell-ship".<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol11/nm_11_1_39to57.pdf |last=Jarvis |first=Adrian |date=January 2001 |title=A Gentleman's War? The Diary of Captain Albert Horace Brown of SS Huntsman |journal=The Northern Mariner |volume=XI |issue=1 |page=54}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Simpson |first=Brian |year=2003 |title=The Rule of Law in International Affairs |page=215 |publisher=British Academy |isbn=9780197263242 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R24HwO0XWeMC&q=hell-ship+altmark&pg=PA215 }}</ref>

==Japanese hell ships==
{{See also|List of Japanese hell ships}}
In May 1942, the Japanese began transferring its captured POWs by sea. Prisoners were often crammed into cargo holds with little air, ventilation, food, or water, for journeys that would last weeks. Many died due to [[asphyxia]], [[starvation]] or [[dysentery]]. Some POWs became delirious and unresponsive in their environment of heat, humidity and lack of oxygen, food, and water. These transports carried a mixture of POWs and regular Japanese troops and cargo, and thus were not eligible to be marked as non-combatants. As a result, such vessels could be attacked by Allied [[submarine]]s and aircraft, meaning they were at risk of being sunk before they even reached their destination. More than 20,000 Allied POWs died at sea when the transport ships carrying them were attacked by Allied submarines and aircraft.

==List of ships sunk==

===''Arisan Maru''===
On October 24, 1944, the ''[[Arisan Maru]]'' was transporting 1,781 U.S. and Allied military and civilian POWs when it was hit by a torpedo from a U.S. submarine (either USS ''Shark'' or USS ''Snook''), at about 5:00&nbsp;p.m.; it finally sank about 7:00&nbsp;p.m. No POWs were killed by the torpedo strikes, and nearly all were able to escape from the ship's holds, but the Japanese did not attempt to rescue any of them from the sea. Only nine of the prisoners aboard survived the event. Five escaped and made their way to China in one of the ship's two life boats. They were reunited with U.S. forces and returned to the United States. The remaining four were later recaptured by Imperial Japanese naval vessels, with one of them dying shortly after they reached land.

=== ''Brazil Maru'' ===
Survivors of the ''[[Oryoku Maru]]'', which sank on 15 December 1944, were loaded on the ''Enoura Maru'' and the ''[[Brazil Maru]]''. Both ships reached Takao ([[Kaohsiung]]) harbor in [[Taiwan]] on New Year's Day. On 6 January 1945, the smaller group of prisoners were transferred from ''Brazil Maru'' to ''Enoura Maru''.  However, on January 9, the ''Enoura Maru'' was bombed and disabled by U.S. aircraft.<ref name="combinedfleet.com"/> ''Brazil Maru'' transported the last surviving Allied POWs to [[Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū|Moji]], Japan, on 29 January 1945. There the Japanese medics were shocked at the wasted condition of the POWs and used [[triage]] to divide them. The 110 most severe cases were taken to a primitive military hospital in [[Kokura]] where 73 died within a month. Four other groups were sent to [[Fukuoka]] POW camps 1, 3, 4 and 17. Of 549 men alive when the ship docked, only 372 survived the war. Some eventually went to a POW camp in [[Incheon|Jinsen]], Korea, where they were given light duty, mainly sewing garments for the Japanese Army.<ref>POW Diary of Capt. P.R.Cornwall, National Archive Mil. Hist. Div. File 99-2-30 Book 6, and his letters</ref>

===''Buyo Maru''===
[[Japanese transport ship Buyo Maru (1919)|''Buyo Maru'']]  was a 5,446 ton {{sclass|Yoshida Maru No.1|transport}}<ref name="Hackett 2013">{{cite web |url= http://www.combinedfleet.com/Buyo_t.htm|title= IJA Transport BUYO MARU|last= Hackett |first= Bob|date= 2013|website= Imperial Japanese Navy Page|access-date= 21 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=NagasawaYoshidaMaruClass>{{Cite web|first=Fumio  |last=Nagasawa |title= 第一吉田丸型 YOSHIDA MARU No.1 Class 25隻 (1918-1919)|website=Nostalgic Japanese Steamships|date=1998 |url=http://jpnships.g.dgdg.jp/sametype/type_0031.htm |language=ja}}</ref> carrying mainly [[British Indian Army|Indian]] POWs.<ref>Holwitt, Joel I. ''"Execute Against Japan"'', Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, p.288; DeRose, James F. ''Unrestricted Warfare'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2000), pp.287-288.</ref> It was torpedoed by {{USS|Wahoo|SS-238}}, commanded by CDR [[Dudley W. Morton]], on 26 January 1943. Morton then ordered the ship's lifeboats to be fired upon with [[small arms]] fire.<ref>Bridgland, Tony. ''Waves of Hate'' (Pen and Sword Books, 2002), pp.115-129.</ref><ref>Holwitt, p.287.</ref><ref name="okane1">{{cite book|title=Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most famous WWII Submarine|author=O'Kane|pages=153–154}}</ref> The [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)#Hague Convention of 1907|Hague Convention of 1907]] bans the killing of shipwreck survivors under any circumstances.<ref>Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime War of the Principles of the Geneva Convention, Article 16</ref> Morton and his executive officer [[Richard O'Kane]] also reported that they had misidentified the survivors as Japanese. O'Kane further explained that the fire from ''Wahoo'' was intended to force the troops to abandon their boats and no troops were deliberately targeted.<ref name="okane1" /> Vice Admiral [[Charles A. Lockwood]], the [[COMSUBPAC|Commander of the Submarine Force for the U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC)]] asserted that the survivors were army troops and turned machine gun and rifle fire on ''Wahoo'' while she maneuvered on the surface and that such resistance was common in submarine warfare. It was reported that many of the lifeboat occupants were Indian POWs of the 2nd Battalion, [[16th Punjab Regiment]], plus escorts from the Japanese 26th Field Ordnance Depot.<ref>Holwitt, p.288; DeRose, James F. ''Unrestricted Warfare'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2000), pp.287-288.</ref> Of 1,126 men aboard ''Buyo Maru'', 195 Indians and 87 Japanese died in all,<ref>Holwitt, p.289</ref> between the shooting incident and the initial sinking, (the exact number of dead varied according to sources). On the next day, 27 January 1943, the ''Choku Maru'' (No. 2) rescued the remaining survivors and took them to [[Palau]].<ref name="Hackett 2013"/>

===''Enoura Maru''===
About 1,000 of the survivors of the ''[[Oryoku Maru]]'', which sank on 15 December 1944, were loaded on the ''Enoura Maru'' while the rest boarded the smaller ''Brazil Maru''. Both ships reached Takao ([[Kaohsiung]]) harbor in [[Taiwan]] on New Year's Day. On 6 January 1945, the smaller group of prisoners was transferred from ''Brazil Maru'' to ''Enoura Maru'', and 37 British and Dutch were taken ashore.  However, on January 9, the ''Enoura Maru'' was bombed and disabled by aircraft from [[USS Hornet (CV-12)|USS ''Hornet'']] while in harbor, killing about 350 men.<ref name="combinedfleet.com">{{cite web |url= http://www.combinedfleet.com/Brazil_t.htm |title= BRAZIL MARU |last= Hackett |first= Bob|date= 2013|website= Imperial Japanese Navy Page|access-date= 21 March 2016}}</ref>

===''Hofuku Maru''===
The {{ship||Hofuku Maru}}, also known as ''Hohuku Maru'' (豊福丸 (Kyūjitai: 豐福丸), Hōfuku Maru), was a Japanese cargo ship, sunk on 21 September 1944 by American aircraft, while carrying 1,289 British and Dutch prisoners of war; 1,047 of them died.

===''Jun'yō Maru''===
The 5,065-ton [[tramp steamer]] ''[[Jun'yō Maru]]'' sailed from [[Tanjung Priok|Tandjoeng Priok]] ([[Jakarta|Batavia]]) on 16 September 1944 with about 4,200 ''[[romusha]]'' slave labourers and 2,300 POWs aboard. These Dutch POWs included 1,600 from the 10th Battalion camp and 700 from the [[Kampong Makassar]] camp. This 23rd transport of POWs from Java was called Java Party 23. Java Party 23 included about 6,500 men bound for [[Padang]] on the west coast of Sumatra to work on the [[Sumatra Railway]] (Mid-Sumatra). On 18 September 1944 the ship was 15 miles off the west coast of Sumatra near [[Bengkulu|Benkoelen]] when {{HMS|Tradewind}} hit her with two torpedoes, one in the bow and one in the stern. About 4,000 ''romushas'' and 1,626 POWs died when the ship sank in 20 minutes. About 200 ''romushas'' and 674 POWs were rescued by Japanese ships and taken to the prison in Padang, where eight prisoners died.<ref>
{{cite web |url= http://www.japansekrijgsgevangenkampen.nl/Junyo%20Maru.htm |last=Beekhuis |first=Henk |title=Junyo Maru |work=Japanse krijgsgevangenkampen |publisher=Henk Beekhuis |date=18 June 2013 |access-date=30 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Hell_Ships/Junyo_Maru/ |title=Junyo Maru |publisher=Roll of Honour |access-date=30 September 2008}}</ref>

=== ''Kachidoki Maru'' ===
On 12 September 1944, {{SS|Kachidoki Maru||6}} with 950 British POWs on board, was sunk by {{USS|Pampanito|SS-383|6}}. 431 of them were killed. ''Kachidoki Maru'' was traveling in a convoy with {{SS|Rakuyo Maru||2}} (''see below''), which was sunk the same day by {{USS|Sealion|SS-315|6}}.<ref name=Surviving/><ref name=Sealion>{{cite DANFS | title = Sealion | url = http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss315.txt | access-date = 6 March 2012 }}</ref>

===''Lisbon Maru''===
''[[Lisbon Maru]]'' was carrying 2,000 British POWs from [[Hong Kong]] to Japan in appalling conditions when torpedoed by [[USS Grouper (SS-214)|USS ''Grouper'']] on 1 October 1942.  800 POWs died when the ship sank the following day. Many were shot or otherwise killed by the ship's Japanese guards.

===''Maros Maru''===
The 600-ton ''Maros Maru'' (The ''SS Maros'' was renamed ''Haruyoshi Maru'' by the Japanese) sailed from Ambon on 17 September 1944 routed along the south-coast of [[Sulawesi|Celebes]] with about 500 British and Dutch POWs bound for Surabaya. On 21 September 1944 the ship arrived at [[Muna Island]] (south of Celebes) to embark 150 POWs. The ship required engine repairs upon arrival in [[Makassar]]. Here 159 POWs died in the holds in the 40 days required to complete repairs. They got a seaman's grave in the harbour of Makassar. Only 327 POWs survived when the ship reached Surabaya on 26 November 1944. They were transported by train to the Kampong Makassar camp in Batavia (Meester Cornelis), and arrived on 28 November 1944.

===''Montevideo Maru''===
[[File:MV Montevideo Maru.jpg|thumb|''Montevideo Maru'' {{circa|1941}}]]
[[SS Montevideo Maru|''Montevideo Maru'']] was a Japanese auxiliary ship that was sunk in [[World War II]] by the submarine {{USS|Sturgeon|SS-187|6}}, resulting in the drowning of 1,054 Australian prisoners of war and civilians being transported from [[Rabaul]]. Prior to the war, it operated as a passenger and cargo vessel, traveling mainly between Asia and South America.

===''Oryoku Maru''===
''[[Oryoku Maru]]'' was a 7,363-ton passenger [[cargo liner]] transporting 1,620 survivors of the [[Bataan Death March]], [[Corregidor]], and other battles, mostly American, packed in the holds, and 1,900 Japanese civilians and military personnel in the cabins.<ref>[http://homepage2.nifty.com/i-museum/19441214ouryoku/ouryoku.htm 鴨緑丸] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120713182325/http://homepage2.nifty.com/i-museum/19441214ouryoku/ouryoku.htm |date=2012-07-13 }}. Museum of Japanese Merchant Ships.</ref> She left [[Manila]] on 13 December 1944, and over the next two days was bombed and [[Strafing|strafed]] by U.S. airplanes. As she neared the naval base at [[Olongapo]] in [[Subic Bay]], U.S. Navy planes from {{USS|Hornet|CV-12|6}} attacked the unmarked ship, causing it to sink on December 15. About 270 died aboard the ship. Some died from suffocation or dehydration. Others were killed in the attack, drowned or were shot while escaping the ship as it sank in [[Subic Bay]], where the 'Hell Ship Memorial' is located. A colonel, in his official report, wrote:{{blockquote|Many men lost their minds and crawled about in the absolute darkness armed with knives, attempting to kill people in order to drink their blood or armed with canteens filled with urine and swinging them in the dark. The hold was so crowded and everyone so interlocked with one another that the only movement possible was over the heads and bodies of others.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Toland |author-link = John Toland (author) |year=1970 |title=[[The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |page=601}}</ref>}}

===''Rakuyo Maru''===
{{SS|Rakuyo Maru||2}} was torpedoed on 12 September 1944 by {{USS|Sealion|SS-315|6}} which later realized the ship carried 1,317 [[Australia]]n and [[British people|British]] prisoners of war from Singapore to Formosa (Taiwan). A total of 1,159 POWs died.  The 350 who were in lifeboats were bombarded and all killed by a Japanese navy vessel the next day when they were rowing towards land.<ref name=Surviving>[http://www.pows-of-japan.net/articles/104.html Prisoners Of War Of Japanese 1942-45: ''Surviving the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru''] Linked 2015-02-20</ref> On 15 September, ''Sealion'', along with {{USS|Growler|SS-215|6}} and {{USS|Pampanito|SS-383|6}} returned to the area and rescued 63 surviving POWs who were on rafts. Four of them died before they could be landed at [[Tanapag Harbor]], [[Saipan]], in the [[Mariana Islands]].<ref name=Surviving/><ref name=Sealion/> ''Rakuyo Maru'' was travelling in a convoy with {{SS|Kachidoki Maru}} (''see above''), which was sunk the same day by ''Pampanito''.

===''Shinyo Maru''===
{{main|Shin'yō Maru incident}}
[[File:Hell Ship plaque 2 Texas.jpg|thumb|The "Hell Ship" plaque in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]] dedicated on the 54th anniversary of the SS ''Shinyo Maru'' incident.]]
''[[Shinyo Maru]]'' was [[Shinyo Maru Incident|attacked]] by the submarine {{USS|Paddle}} on 7 September 1944. Two torpedo hits sank the ship and killed several hundred US, [[Netherlands|Dutch]] and Filipino servicemen. Japanese guarding the prisoners opened fire on them while they were trying to abandon ship or swim to the nearby island of [[Mindanao]]. 47 Japanese and 687 Allied POWs were killed.<ref>船舶輸送艦における遭難部隊資料（陸軍）- IJA report about military transport ship losses in WW2</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.microworks.net/pacific/personal/paddle.htm |last=Mazza |first=Eugene A |title=USS Paddle: Sinking American POWs |work=Memories of War: Personal Histories |publisher=The Pacific War: The US Navy |access-date=30 June 2013}}</ref>

===''Suez Maru''===
[[SS Suez Maru|''Suez Maru'']] was a 4,645-ton freighter with passenger accommodation. She sailed on 25 November 1943 with 548 POWs (415 British and 133 Dutch) from [[Ambon, Maluku|Ambon]] bound for [[Surabaya]]. The POWs were all sick men from the work-camps on the Moluccas and Ambon. Twenty were stretcher cases. On 29 November 1943 the ship was torpedoed by {{USS|Bonefish|SS-223|6}} near [[Kangean Island]] east of [[Madura Island|Madoera Island]]. Most of the POWs drowned in the holds of the ship. The crew of ''Bonefish'' was unaware that ''Suez Maru'' was carrying POWs. Those who escaped from the holds and left the ship were shot by the Japanese. [[W-7-class minesweeper (1938)|Minesweeper ''W-12'']] picked up the Japanese survivors although recently released documents state that ''W-12'' machine-gunned the surviving POWs (a minimum of 250) in the water.<ref name=USNChron1943>{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII | title = The official chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II | chapter = Chapter V: 1943 | chapter-url = http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1943.html | first = Robert | last = Cressman | location = Annapolis, Maryland | publisher = Naval Institute Press | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-1-55750-149-3 | oclc = 41977179 | access-date = 2007-11-29 | url-access = registration }}</ref> There were no POW survivors.

==Media appearances==

In 2012 film producer Jan Thompson created a film documentary on the hell ships, Death March, and POW camps titled ''Never the Same: The Prisoner-of-War Experience''. The film reproduced scenes of the camps and ships, showed drawings and writings of the prisoners, and featured [[Loretta Swit]] as the narrator.<ref>{{cite news|last=Brotman|first=Barbara|title=From Death March to Hell Ships|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/04/01/from-death-march-to-hell-ships/|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=April 1, 2013|pages=Lifestyles}}</ref><ref>Among others, additional narration was provided by [[Ed Asner]], [[Alec Baldwin]], [[Kathleen Turner]], and [[Robert Wagner]]. {{cite web|title=Never the Same: The Prisoner of War Experience|url=http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/neverthesame|work=Gene Siskal Film Center|publisher=School of the Art Institute of Chicago|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328074435/http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/neverthesame|archive-date=2014-03-28}}</ref> The [[Midnight Oil]] song ''In the Valley'' mentions the sinking of ''Montevideo Maru'', where the narrator's grandfather drowned, "the Rising Sun sent him floating to his rest".

==See also==
* [[List of Japanese hell ships]]
* [[Slave ship]]
* [[Prison ship]]
* [[SS Arandora Star|SS ''Arandora Star'']]
*{{RMS|Nova Scotia|1926|6}} — a [[United Kingdom|British]] liner sunk in November 1942 while carrying interned Italian civilians and prisoners of war
* [[SS Shuntien (1934)|SS ''Shuntien'' (1934)]]
* [[Laconia incident|''Laconia'' incident]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*U.S. National Archives, Mil. Hist. Div. POW diary of Capt. Paul R.Cornwall, 41–45, File 999-2-30 Bk.6 and unpublished letters.
{{refend}}
*{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Allan |year=2002 |title=The Suez Maru atrocity: Justice denied!: the story of Lewis Jones, a victim of a WW2 Japanese hell-ship |location=Hornchurch |publisher=privately published |isbn=0954272501}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |date=29 May 2021 |website=CBS News |format=Video 8:16 |title=The search for answers about "hell ships" of World War II |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/the-search-for-answers-about-%e2%80%9chell-ships%e2%80%9d-of-world-war-ii/vi-AAKvHbl}}

==External links==
*{{cite web |title=American POWs on Japanese Ships Take a Voyage into Hell |work=Prologue Magazine |url= https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships-1.html |access-date=December 20, 2005}}
*{{cite web |title=Hell Ships |work=Britain at War |url= http://www.britain-at-war.org.uk/WW2/Hell_Ships/ |access-date=January 16, 2008}}
*[http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Hell_Ships/ Rolls of those who died on ''Hell Ships'']
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXsHuYdHVEs Documentary ''Hell Ships to Flores and the Moluccas''. 2012. Kees Maaswinkel, at youtube.com]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQ2ijFQwnA Documentary ''Hell ships to Sumatra''. 2012. Kees Maaswinkel, at youtube.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell Ship}}
[[Category:Imperial Japanese Navy]]
[[Category:Japanese war crimes]]
[[Category:Pacific Ocean theater of World War II]]
[[Category:South West Pacific theatre of World War II]]
[[Category:South-East Asian theatre of World War II]]
[[Category:World War II passenger ships of Japan]]
[[Category:World War II crimes against prisoners of war]]
[[Category:18th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:Japanese hell ships| ]]