Miyazaki Maru

Miyazaki Maru (宮崎丸) was an 8,520-ton Japanese ocean liner built in 1909 by Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd. in Kobe. While steaming from Yokohama, Japan, to London during World War I, she was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 150 miles (240 km) to the west of the Isles of Scilly on 31 May 1917 by the Imperial German Navy submarine U-88, with the loss of eight lives.^[1]

Miyazaki Maru has been cited as a possible source of the gutta-percha blocks inscribed with the name "Tjipetir" that began to wash up on the coasts of Western Europe in summer 2012.^[2]

References

1. "MIYAZAKI MARU OCEAN LINER 1909-1917". Wrecksite. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
2. Mario Cacciottolo (1 December 2014). "Tjipetir mystery: Why are rubber-like blocks washing up on European beaches?". BBC News. Retrieved 3 December 2014.