Yaritosai Tomioka

Yaritosai Tomioka was born in Japan on 1 January 1925 (47 years of age at the time of his disappearance) and was said to be married although there are limited details regarding his wife or family members. He was employed as the Chief Engineer on the Japanese tuna fishing vessel Toku Ju Mara and had been working in that role for approximately seven years prior to his disappearance. He had a good professional reputation and the Captain of the vessel found him to be a very good Chief Engineer.

However, at around 9.20am on 5 October 1972 Western Australian Police in Fremantle received a message from the Marine Operations Centre in Canberra that a crew member had died on the Toku Ju Mara in Australian waters about 134 nautical miles from Fremantle.

Further enquiries identified the person as Yaritosai Tomioka and it was believed that he had deliberately gone over-board in an act of suicide. On 6 October at 4.05pm the vessel berthed in North Quay, Fremantle and Sergeant Buckley from the Victoria Quay Police Station boarded the vessel and with the help of an interpreter commenced inquiries into the disappearance of Yaritosai Tomioka.

The police investigation ascertained that an ongoing problem with the vessel’s refrigeration system had developed and despite his best efforts Tomioka had not been able to get the freezer temperature down to the required temperature to maintain the vessel’s tuna catch. The vessel had been at sea for 268 days and was carrying 160 tonnes of caught tuna. The plan was to berth in Fremantle for provisions before heading back to Japan to sell the catch, a lengthy journey which would require the refrigeration to be working properly. It appears that Tomioka took his failure to fix the problem as personal and struggled with his inability to fix it.

Tomioka was last seen by the 1st Engineer at midnight on 4 October in the engine room when they changed watches. He was off duty until midday 5 October but when he failed to attend breakfast at 7.00am the ship’s cook went to his cabin to check on him. Tomioka was not inside but what he did find was a six page letter in which Tomioka apologised for his actions in relation to the freezer problem and referred to weighing himself down with a heavy item and going overboard. After discovery of the note the Captain initiated a sea search at 7.05am and continued the search until 8.30pm with no sign of the missing Tomioka. A search of the vessel did not find any heavy items missing and no crew had seen him after midnight. The vessel’s agents were contacted and they requested the authorities to cancel any planned search for Tomioka as they believed that there was little hope of locating him.

During the police investigation Sergeant Buckley interviewed witnesses and reviewed the six page suicide note which suggested that Tomioka was in a poor mental state due to the refrigeration problem. There was no doubt that Tomioka had indicated his intention to commit suicide. A copy was taken of the note as the Captain requested to keep the original to take back to Japan.

The Toku Ju Mara remained in Fremantle for ten days before sailing for Japan. A local refrigeration engineer was called in and he verified that there was a problem with the temperature of the freezer. The shipping agents flew in a replacement Chief Engineer and refrigeration Engineer for the return voyage to Japan. Once the vessel left Fremantle port there was no further information obtained.

Based on the note that Tomioka left the Deputy State Coroner found the manner of death was by way of suicide.