The
Toya Maru (???, Toyamaru?) was a
Japanese train ferry constructed by the
Japanese National Railways which sank during a
typhoon in the
Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese islands of
Hokkaido and
Honshu on
September 26, 1954. It is said that 1153 people (Japanese National Railways announcement in September 1955) aboard were killed in the accident, however the exact number of fatalities remains unknown because there were victims who managed to ride the ship and those who forcedly cancelled their rides just before the incident.
The Toya Maru was launched on 21 November 1947. It was 118.7 meters (approximately 130 yards) long and 15.85 meters (60 ft) at its beam and it had a Gross Register Tonnage of 3,898 tons. It could accommodate 1,128 passengers and was operated by 120 crew. She covered the distance from Aomori to Hakodate in 4 hours and 30 minutes.
As early as 1950, it was fitted with Radar equipment, becoming one of the first Japanese sea liners to do so. It was used by the Emperor the month before her demise. It was also famous as the flag ship of the Tsugaru Strait.
Typhoon No. 15, Marie, which had blown through Honshu, was in the Sea of Japan at 1200 hours on 26 September 1954, proceeding Northeast at a speed of more than 100 kilometers an hour. It was predicted to reach the Tsugaru Strait at around 1700.
