Canada Maru (I)

In the Fall of 1918 this vessel stranded near Cape Flattery. This vessel was refloated and twoed to Esquimalt BC Canada. Divers found her double hull bottom ripped open. A coffer dam was built around her by Yarrows Ltd. and 145 plates removed and replaced. The engines and boilers were overhauled. Christopher James Coles stated (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 01/08/2022) that "In late July of 1918 the inbound S.S. Canada Maru captained by Y. Yamamoto was steaming towards the entrance of the Juan de Fuca Strait in a dense fog and piled up on the jagged rocks of Cape Flattery. The BC Salvage company's salvage steamer Salvor immediately went to the scene. What the salvage men saw when they got there did not look good. The whole bottom of number one hold was open to the sea with number two and three flooded. Big centrifugal pumps were set onboard with no effect on the water level in number one. For five days the Canada Maru and her 3 million dollar cargo of silk pounded on the rocks making the hull damage worse. It was looking hopeless for the Canada Maru and many felt this vessel was doomed. In a last ditch effort five kedge anchors were set in a fan pattern out from the Canada Maru's stern and attached to her stern winches. Number one hold was sealed off at the bulkhead and hatch covers with pumping focused on two and three. With two and three dry the aft winches began to pull. This vessel only moved twenty feet at first but there was hope. With tugs pulling another attempt was made and this vessel came free, floating at a surprisingly even keel considering the state of number one hold. This vessel then sailed under her own steam, escorted by the Salvor, to Esquimalt. This vessel then sailed to Tacoma for repairs, again escorted by the Salvor. On the way to Tacoma just before dawn with the Salvor alongside Captain Y. Yamamoto was seen crossing the deck from his cabin with sandbags tied to him.

He went up to the rail and fired three bullets into himself tumbling over the rail and into the water. It was felt he took his own life either due to disgrace, even though this was his first mishap during his career, or due to severe punishment that he would have faced at home in Japan. After much legal wrangling (which is a story unto itself) this vessel was repaired by Yarrows at Esquimalt." In 1943 this vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the USS Wahoo.