Qualla: The Ghost Ship of Miri

The Ghost Ship of Miri: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Somewhere beneath the waters between Seria, Brunei, and the city of Miri lies a warship that no one can find. The Japanese destroyer Shinonome went down on 17 December 1941, ten days after Pearl Harbor, taking Commander Hiroshi Sasagawa and all 228 of his crew with her. She was the first Fubuki-class destroyer lost in the Second World War -- sunk not by a fleet engagement or a submarine ambush, but by a single Dutch flying boat dropping five bombs in a tropical dawn. Wreck hunters have searched for her since 2004. A 2023 expedition, aided by Dutch researchers, came up empty. The sea off Borneo has kept its secret.

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Ghost Ship of Miri: A Ship Designed to Frighten

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Fubuki class changed what a destroyer could be. When the Imperial Japanese Navy authorized their construction in 1923, the intent was to build a vessel that could match foreign light cruisers in firepower while outrunning anything afloat. Twenty-four ships of the class were b...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Ghost Ship of Miri: The Prewar Years

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. Commissioned as Destroyer No. 40 before receiving her name, Shinonome was assigned to Destroyer Division 12 under the IJN 2nd Fleet. Through the 1930s, she served in the routine cycles of fleet exercises and patrols that occupied the Japanese navy between wars. When the Second Si...

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Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain

The Ghost Ship of Miri: Ten Days After Pearl Harbor

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. Between 4 and 12 December 1941, Shinonome screened the Japanese landings at Kota Bharu on the Malay Peninsula -- the operation that actually preceded the Pearl Harbor attack by several hours due to the time zone difference. On 16 December, she was reassigned to cover Operation B,...

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Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain

The Ghost Ship of Miri: 228 Men, No Survivors

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Presumed official USN or IJN photographer, Public domain. Every soul aboard Shinonome perished. Commander Sasagawa, his officers, and 228 crew members went down with the ship in what was one of the earliest catastrophic losses of the Pacific War. On 15 January 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy formally struck Shinonome from its register....

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Image: Presumed official USN or IJN photographer | Public domain

The Ghost Ship of Miri: Still Missing

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shizuo Fukui, Public domain. The exact position where Shinonome went down remains unknown. Wartime records place the sinking somewhere in the waters off Miri, in an area stretching north toward Seria, Brunei. The imprecision is unusual -- most warship wrecks from the period have been located and surveyed -- ...

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Image: Shizuo Fukui | Public domain