This 400 ton steamship lays between Koh Tao and mainland Thailand. It was sunk by the USS Hawkbill on May 29, 1945. The USS Hawkbill rendered aid to the surviving crew and helped them to reach shore as their ship sunk nearby.
Diving the Thai Steamship
Not much is known about the diving conditions of this wreck.
Sunk by the USS Hawkbill
After sinking the IJN Hatsutaka off the coast of Malaysia, Hawkbill continued north to patrol the Gulf of Siam. She was running a north-south patrol between Koh Tao and the mainland when she picked up a radar contact 8.2km away. The contact was steaming at 6 knots on a bearing of 160º, perhaps on its way to Surat Thani.
The USS Hawkbill closed the distance to 2.75km and made visual contact with the target in the moonlight. It was a steamship, around 400 tons, with her smoke stack amidship. At 23:21 the USS Hawkbill engaged the target with both 5”/25 caliber guns, letting off 50 rounds. She then closed in and opened up with her 20mm.
The engagement went on for 45min, after which the Hawkbill pulled alongside a lifeboat with 12 surviving crew, including a young woman. The crew of the Hawkbill thought all to be local Thais and while they could not communicate with the survivors, guessed that they were attempting to say that there were no Japanese persons amongst them. A total of 8 survivors were healthy enough to climb out of the lifeboat up onto the deck of the US submarine, who were then rendered aid by the crew.
The crew fixed up the damaged lifeboat and provided one of their own rubber dingies to the survivors. In a final act of mercy they set the dingy adrift 7km from shore, presumably with at least one paddle.
