Depth: 6.80 m
Load Draft: 4.90 m
Light Draft: 3.78 m
Full Load Displacement: 5,285 tons
Cruising Speed: 15.5 knots
Maximum Speed: 17.45 knots
Complement
Passengers
First class passenger capacity: 69 (91 when carrying sleeping cars)
Second class passenger capacity: 297
Third class passenger capacity: 843
Total 1,209 (1,231 when carrying sleeping cars)
Crew members: 128
Other persons: 35
Total: 1,372 (1,394 when carrying sleeping cars)
Railcar Capacity: 19 cars (15 ton box cars)
Lifesaving Equipment:
Lifeboats: 10 (for 595 persons)
Buoyant apparatus: 45 (for 990 persons)
Liferings: 29
Lifejackets: 1,952
(Damage)
Capsizing of the "Toya Maru", and deaths of a total of 1,155 persons: 1,041 passengers, 73 crew members and 41 others.
Formal Adjudication
Casualties in this case were mainly attributed to professional negligence in relation to ship operation on the part of the Master of the "Toya Maru". However, the fact that the ship's hull structure and the operational management of the rail ferry service between Aomori and Hakodate were improper, is also considered to have partly contributed to this disaster.
Reason
Summary of Facts
The "Toya Maru" entered the port of Hakodate at 11:05 hours on September 26 , 1954 as the third rail ferry of the day and berthed alongside Railway Pier No. 1.
After coming alongside the berth, the vessel made general preparations against rough weather, and the Master and other crew members were stationed at 14:40 hours in order to leave port as the fourth rail ferry for the day to Aomori. After receiving passengers from the "Seikan Maru No.11", which abandoned her voyage on the way and returned to Hakodate, the vessel made an attempt to sail out. When it became impossible to disconnect the access ramp connecting the shore rails and the train deck, as a result of a blackout on shore, the master postponed her departure to around 15:00 hours on the same day, thinking he lost precious time by doing so.
