Toshiyuki Hatakeyama

As part of the Long Term Missing Persons Project (a project instigated in 2019 to clear a backlog of cases relating to people who had been in Western Australia at the time of their reported disappearance) an inquest was held on 29 and 30 January 2020 at the Coroner’s Court, Broome Court House, Broome to investigate the disappearance of the Japanese pearl diver, Toshiyuki Hatakeyama, on 6 August 1979 at sea some 12 kilometres west of Cape Latouche Treville in the Indian Ocean.

Toshiyuki Hatakeyama was born on 9 December 1958 in Japan, only 20 years old when he left Japan and headed for Broome to work on the pearl luggers. He was a recent recruit to Pearls Pty Ltd and it was his first season diving with the company. It was common practice for young men only 16 years of age to come over from Japan and work in the pearling industry, many could not even swim before they were trained to dive on site in Broome.

In the early hours of 6 August 1979 Toshiyuki Hatakeyama was seen to fall overboard from the pearling lugger Kim into the ocean about 7.4 nautical miles from Cape Latouche Treville.

He was never seen again or any trace of him located. The Kim was a wooden pearling lugger used around the north west coast of Western Australia. It was built in 1908 but had undergone significant modifications when it was purchased by Pearls Pty Ltd in 1976 before the company became part of the well-known Paspaley Pearls. It remained in the pearling industry until the 1990’s and in 2009 became part of a display in Darwin.

An inquest was held in Broome and one of the first divers on board the Kim when Hatakeyama fell overboard was located. Tsunehiro Tenaka had remained in Broome, unlike most of the other divers who on finishing their work returned home to Japan. He was able to attend court and give oral evidence, aided by his daughter Ariana Tenaka. He clearly remembered the incident although not all the detail and referred to Hatakeyama as ‘Toshi’ when speaking.

Tenaka stated that it was about 11:10pm on 6 August 1979 when he was on night watch in the wheelhouse. There were only three others awake, one of them was Hatakeyama who had just finished his watch duties. The sea was very rough with a very strong south easterly wind blowing and big waves. Tenaka slowed the Kim down due to the rough seas and in doing so a big wave hit the lugger which caused it to roll. One of the crew was walking from the front of the lugger to the back when he saw Hatakeyama relieving himself over the side and as the wave hit Hatakeyama fell overboard. Tenaka stated that he also saw Hatakeyama go overboard and immediately cut the engines and started to call out to him as did the crew. They heard nothing and could see no trace of him in the water. The remaining crew members were woken and a search of the area was carried out for more than an hour. They called for assistance and within an hour another lugger joined the search and by sunrise another five had joined the search and they all searched for the rest of the day. Once night fell they all returned to Broome with no sighting of Hatakeyama.

The sea search continued over a wider area than where Hatakeyama first disappeared. Aircraft also joined the search and the police conducted foot patrols but were somewhat hampered by the rough terrain along the coast.

The Coroner was satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that Hatakeyama was deceased and that he died as a result of drowning within moments of entering the water on 6 August 1979 off the coast of Cape Latouche Treville. The Coroner found that Hatakeyama’s death occurred by way of misadventure.