Almost 75 years since AHS Centaur sinking
IN three weeks time 75 years will have passed since the sinking of the AHS Centaur in which 268 people lost their lives.
Ian Hudson's godfather was one of them.
A converted merchant ship, the AHS Centaur was sunk by a Japanese submarine on her first mission as a hospital ship off the coast of Brisbane.
Lieutenant Colonel Clem Manson lost his life when the "Japanese decided to take a pot shot at her”, Mr Hudson said.
"It hit a midships and hit one of the bunker tanks, the ship exploded and sank within three minutes.
"My godfather got a number of his nurses off ... and, unfortunately as it was going down, he got sucked down with it,” he said.
Mr Hudson was one of the people responsible for lobbying State and Federal Governments to find the AHS Centaur, which sunk off Moreton Island.
On December 20, 2009, the ship was finally discovered by specialist marine salvage teams.
