It is one of the greatest maritime tragedies in Australian history. The Montevideo Maru, a mixed freighter, was sunk by the American submarine USS Sturgeon, whose crew did not know that it was conveying Allied prisoners of war to the Chinese island of Hainan, occupied by the Japanese army.
According to the Silentworld Foundation, around 1,060 people of 14 nationalities had died, including 979 Australians captured during the Battle of Rabaul, New Guinea, including at least 850 servicemen.