View source for Raifuku Maru

{{Short description|Japanese cargo ship, 1918–1925}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2012}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin|display title=''{{lang|ja-Latn|Raifuku Maru|cat=no}}''}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Vapor Raifuku Maru (bibliotecammb10916).jpg
|Ship caption=''{{lang|ja-Latn|Raifuku Maru}}''
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|Japan}}
|Ship country= Japan
|Ship name= ''Raifuku Maru''
|Ship owner= [[K Line|Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.]]<ref name="wrecksite">[http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?132206 www.wrecksite.eu] - (Note: this website states that the crew was 48, whereas most other sources say 38)</ref>
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry= [[Port of Kobe|Kobe]], Japan
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= [[Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation|Kawasaki Dockyard]], Kobe
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number= 427
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=
|Ship completed= November 1918
|Ship christened= 
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship identification= *[[code letters]] RFBQ
*{{ICS|Romeo}}{{ICS|Foxtrot}}{{ICS|Bravo}}{{ICS|Quebec}}
|Ship fate= Sank 21 April 1925<ref name="Sivell"/>
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship tonnage={{GRT|5867}}; {{NRT|4259}}<ref name="wrecksite"/>
|Ship displacement=
|Ship length={{cvt|385.0|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="wrecksite"/>
|Ship beam={{cvt|151.0|ft|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship depth= {{cvt|36.0|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="coastalradio"/>
|Ship decks= 2
|Ship power= 1 × [[Marine steam engine#Triple or multiple expansion|triple-expansion engine]]; 440 [[Horsepower#Nominal horsepower|NHP]]<ref name="wrecksite"/>
|Ship propulsion= 1 × [[Propeller|screw]]
|Ship capacity=
|Ship crew=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

[[File:NYTraifukumaru.jpg|upright|thumbnail|Front page of ''The New York Times'', April 23, 1925, detailing the sinking of ''Raifuku Maru'']]
{{Nihongo|'''''SS Raifuku Maru'''''|来福丸 ([[Kyūjitai]]: 來福丸)|Raifuku Maru}} was a Japanese [[cargo ship]]. On 21&nbsp;April 1925, she sank in a heavy storm in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] with the loss of her entire crew of 38.<ref name="Sivell">[http://monkbarns.wordpress.com/tag/raifuku-maru/ Jay Sivell. Wordpress.com]</ref><ref name="coastalradio"/>

==Construction and service==

''Raifuku Maru'' was built at the [[Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation|Kawasaki Dockyard]] in [[Kobe]], [[Japan]], in 1918. A [[:ja:第一大福丸型貨物船|''Dai-ichi Taifuku Maru''-class]] [[Steamship|steam]] [[cargo ship]], she was completed in November 1918. [[K Line|Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.]] owned her.

==Loss==
''{{lang|ja-Latn|Raifuku Maru}}'' left [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], on 18&nbsp;April 1925 bound for [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]]. On 21 April, she sailed into a heavy storm, and her cargo of [[wheat]] began to shift, causing her to take on an increasing [[Angle of list|list]] to one side.<ref name="Sivell"/> The [[White Star Line]] [[passenger ship]] {{RMS|Homeric}} and several other ships received the following signal from the Japanese ship's [[Wireless telegraphy|wireless telegraphist]], Masao Hiwatari: "Now very danger! Come quick!" Despite Hiwatari's broken English, it was clear that the ship was in trouble. ''Homeric'' and the British ship ''[[SS Bremen (1896)|King Alexander]]'' tried to reach ''Raifuku Maru'' but were unable to get close enough to rescue any of her crew due to the rough seas. The ship listed at a 30-degree angle and sank with all hands as ''Homeric''{{'}}s crew and passengers watched.<ref name="Sivell"/> ''Homeric'' sent the following message to the [[Duncan's Cove, Nova Scotia|Camperdown Signal Station]]: "OBSERVED STEAMER RAIFUKU MARU SINK IN LAT 4143N LONG 6139W [{{coord|41|43|N|061|39|W|name=''Raifuku Maru''}}] REGRET UNABLE TO SAVE ANY LIVES." Several ships tried to find bodies or survivors from the ship in the days after the sinking, but found none.<ref name="coastalradio">G. Roscoe Spurgeon [http://www.coastalradio.org.uk/spud/spud/spud06.pdf "Radio Stations Common? Not This Kind"] coastalradio.co.uk</ref>

The incident was controversial at the time; when ''Homeric'' arrived in New York, several of the passengers publicly accused the crew of ''Homeric'' of not making enough effort to save ''Raifuku Maru''{{'}}s crew. This was taken up by the Japanese government, who accused the British [[Sea captain|captains]] of [[racism]] for not saving ''Raifuku Maru''′s crew.  ''Homeric''{{'}}s crew and the White Star Line strenuously denied this, arguing that they had made every effort to rescue the crew.<ref name="Sivell"/><ref name="coastalradio"/>

==Myths and legends==
Several early reports of the incident, including those of the [[Associated Press]], claimed that Hiwatari sent a frantic message reading "Danger like dagger now!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/28138343/?terms=%22danger%2Blike%2Bdagger%22|title=Danger like dagger|newspaper=Logansport Pharos-Tribune}}</ref> The source of this quote is unknown, since it isn't included in radio logs or official records of the incident, but appears in many early accounts of ''Raifuku Maru''{{'}}s sinking.<ref>Christopher Saunders, "[https://the-avocado.org/2018/10/13/things-that-are-not-the-raifuku-maru-from-tragedy-to-myth/ Things That Are Not: The Raifuku Maru, from Tragedy to Myth]". ''The Avocado'', 13 October 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.</ref> Divorced of its original context, the "dagger" comment became the basis for a popular legend that the ship disappeared without a trace after sending the message.<ref>Charles Berlitz, ''The Bermuda Triangle'' (1974), p. 54</ref> Later writers speculated over what the "dagger" was (with [[waterspout]]s and [[UFO]]s frequently blamed),<ref name="Sivell"/> and the incident became remembered as a genuine mystery of the sea. Popular writers on the [[Bermuda Triangle]], specifically [[Charles Berlitz]]<ref name="Sivell"/> and Richard Winer, propagated the myth of the ship's "mysterious" sinking.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

==Newspaper sources==
*"Japanese Ships Sinks With A Crew Of 38; Liners Unable To Aid" ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 22, 1925.
*"Passengers Differ On Homeric Effort To Save Sinking Ship" ''The New York Times'', April 23, 1925.
*"Homeric Captain Upheld By Skippers" ''The New York Times'', April 24, 1925.
*"Liner Is Battered In Rescue Attempt" ''The New York Times'', April 25, 1925.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{coord|41|43|N|61|39|W|type:country|display=title}}
{{1925 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:1918 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1925]]
[[Category:Cargo ships of Japan]]
[[Category:Ships of the Kawasaki Kisen]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries]]
[[Category:Steamships of Japan]]