SS Komagata Maru

"For the 1914 incident in Vancouver involving the ship, see Komagata Maru incident""Komagata Maru" was a steamship owned by the Shinyei Kisen Goshi Kaisa of Japan. She was built as a cargo ship in 1890 and had previously been known as both SS "Stubbenhuk" and SS "Sicilia" while sailing for two different German owners. She was later renamed "Heian Maru". She was wrecked at Cape Soyedomari on 11 February 1926.

History

She was launched by Charles Connell and Company of Scotstoun on 13 August 1890. Upon completion in September 1890, she was delivered to the German company Dampfschiff Rederei Hansa of Hamburg, and was registered under the name SS "Stubbenhuk". She was subsequently acquired by the Hamburg America Line of Germany, where she sailed as the SS "Sicilia" from 1894.

She was acquired by the Shinyei Kisen Goshi Kaisa company in 1913. The company was owned by four or five individuals who possessed one other ship. She was renamed the "Komagata Maru". [Johnston, p. 27.]

In 1914 the "Komagata Maru" was central to what became known as the "Komagata Maru" Incident, which involved more than 376 passengers from India who unsuccessfully attempted to immigrate to Canada. To accommodate the passengers, the lower deck was cleaned and fitted with latrines and wooden benches. The ship sailed back to India where, after disembarking from the ship, some of the passengers were killed in an incident with police authorities. Passengers included Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. It tried to dock in a Vancouver port but was denied permission due to a racist law called Continuous Journey, which was put in place by the then Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Robert Broden. It required ships to make a continuous passage to Canada for eligibility to dock and for passengers to disembark.

Continuous journey was virtually impossible as ships could not make a continuous journey from any South Asian or Southeast Asian country in those days without stopping at least once to refuel and restock supplies before reaching Canada. New Democratic Party member Penny Priddy moved a motion in the House of Commons requiring the Canadian government to issue an official apology regarding this tragedy. Prime minister Stephen Harper recently offered an official apology but it was done from a public platform in Surrey (British Columbia), which was in close proximity to the 1914 tragedy. Many local Sikhs protested, as they wanted an apology to be issued in the House of Commons as such an apology forms part of the official record, part of the history and not an apology from a public platform.

In 1924, the ship was renamed "Heian Maru". She was wrecked on 11 February 1926 at Cape Soyedomari.

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