Pathway to Japanese Literature

The Bloodstained Ship Devoid of Human Presence

“Captain, an urgent wireless message has come in.”

Into the captain’s cabin of the Pacific coastal rescue ship Taihei Maru came young radio operator Ito Jiro, briskly.

“There can’t be any ships in distress in this calm. What is it?”

“It’s a report about the Bloodstained Ship.”

“What? — Again?!”

The face of Captain Kashihara Taichi, nicknamed the Shark of the Pacific, suddenly tensed taut.
Young Ito kept his eyes on the report as he continued,

“Sent from American luxury vessel P.F. Brief summary: ...At 7:10 AM on March 2nd, at coordinates E150° N20°3', this vessel discovered a three-masted drifting ship. Upon immediately dispatching crew for inspection, we confirmed no personnel aboard—cabins, deck, passageways all thoroughly drenched in fresh blood. Presumed site of major homicidal incident.”
“With no rescue required, this vessel has proceeded toward home port leaving it undisturbed.”

“Again? — Again? Damn it!”

Captain Kashihara struck the desk and stood up.

The strange tale of this "Bloodstained Ship" had been circulating for over half a year.
A three-masted ship drifting like a phantom in the middle of the Pacific—with no human figures aboard, yet every corner of its interior smeared with fresh blood—...an eerie, blood-soaked tale indeed.

Not only out of professional obligation but driven by his adventurous nature, Captain Kashihara had long been monitoring these strange reports. Yet it became clear that regardless of seasonal winds or ocean currents, the Bloodstained Ship was drifting westward along a fixed line.
When Taihei Maru first received the report, the ship had been located 200 nautical miles northwest of Canada, but over half a year, it came westward by over 2,000 nautical miles.

"There's no way such nonsense could be true!"

The captain sharply raised his eyebrows and said.

"An unmanned ship drifting over two thousand nautical miles in half a year without changing course even slightly—such absurdity! And on top of that—fresh blood? Heinous murders? Tragedies? Spouting nonsense straight out of a maritime novel from a hundred years ago—modern sailors must've all gone mad!"

"Otherwise, I suppose the Captain has become timid."

“Wh-what was that?!”

“Excuse me—”

The young Ito Jiro took a step back with a cheerful smile and said.

"I wanted to say this—I’ve been hearing about the Bloodstained Ship for over half a year now. And you’re the one they call the Shark of the Pacific—why aren’t you going to verify whether these rumors are true?"

"Don’t be absurd! We have the crucial duty of coastal rescue operations."

"According to P.F.’s radio message, the Bloodstained Ship’s position is now within 300 nautical miles of territorial waters, Captain. If some tragedy occurred there, wouldn’t providing rescue be our duty?"

“Hmm... Three hundred nautical miles from territorial waters...”

The captain searched Ito’s eyes with a sharp gaze.
Young Ito showed a smile brimming with energy—as if urging, "Let’s go."

“You outmaneuvered me.”

The captain eventually barked out.

“Very well. If I’m branded a coward, my reputation sinks.”
“Let’s set out.”

"Perfect!"

“Immediately radio Yokohama headquarters. Report: ‘Drifting vessel sighted near territorial waters. Altering course for rescue operations.’ Do not mention the Bloodstained Ship.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

Ito Jiro briskly acknowledged and turned on his heel.

He was pleased with himself.
After all, they were finally going to explore the "Bloodstained Ship" that had been the focus of their curiosity for the past half year.
To tell the truth, he had been making a bet for over five weeks now with his friend Kawamoto Junkichi—a radio operator on the same rescue ship Urashima Maru—about which of them would be first to investigate the truth behind the Bloodstained Ship.
Moreover, since the Urashima Maru itself was currently deployed in the northern coastal waters, they must have heard P.F.'s radio message just as we had.
Therefore, given the bet they’d made, it was necessary to carry out the Bloodstained Ship exploration before Urashima Maru did.

"Perfect! This'll make Kawamoto gasp!"

While sending a radio message to headquarters, young Ito let slip a knowing smile.

Taihei Maru changed course to northwest by west.
The sea was perfectly calm.
Though a small 1,200-ton vessel, as a rescue ship it was fully equipped for storm navigation and had speeds fifty percent faster than ordinary ships—slicing through large, gentle swells as it advanced, gliding across the surface like a blade.

That evening, they were engulfed by a terrifying thick fog.

And thus began the first step of the adventure.

Beware of Umi-bōzu.

After confirming in the radio room that there were no ships in the surrounding seas, young Ito Jiro entrusted subsequent duties to his assistant and headed to the deck.
It was twilight.
The ship’s surroundings were enveloped in dense fog like a wall.
Rain hats and coats were instantly soaked by the thick fog, droplets forming and dripping down with soft plops as if they stood in rain—when suddenly,

“There’s a ship! Stop!”

A shout came from the lookout post.

“A ship! A ship! Gostan!”

“Gostan!”

Shouts begot shouts, and immediately the Taihei Maru reduced speed, reversing her propellers while swinging her bow slightly to starboard.
At that very moment, the silhouette of a ship suddenly emerged from within the fog.

“Captain, it’s got three masts!”

Young Ito Jiro approached the captain’s side and said.

“Yeah, but it’s not at the expected coordinates yet.”

“And its sidelights aren’t lit.”

“Hold on.”

Taihei Maru sounded her foghorn while approaching the other vessel.
And when both ships drew so close that their sides nearly touched, the light of a storm lantern became visible on the other vessel’s deck, and four or five crew members came running toward the gangway.
The crew members bathed head-on in Taihei Maru's searchlight were all red-bearded foreigners.

“Why haven’t you sounded your foghorn?”

The captain shouted in English.

“We are Alaskan fishermen.”

The other party replied.
“We encountered a giant Umi-bōzu about five hours ago.”
“Everyone hid inside because of that, so we didn’t notice anything.”

“Did you see any other suspicious ships?”

They whispered among themselves for some time before a different voice answered.

“Yesterday morning, we encountered a strange ship—a three-masted vessel of about two thousand tons.”
“There was no one aboard... Everywhere was drenched in blood.”

“Was that ship anchored?”

“It was drifting westward.”
“And you’d best be careful—there’s a giant Umi-bōzu around these parts.”
“It comes at ships.”

The Captain sneered and shrugged his shoulders before turning to order their departure.
Ito Jiro watched the fishing boat vanish into the fog, an unnatural shudder crawling down his spine—a chill that seeped into his marrow.
Any seafarer worth their salt knew stories of the Umi-bōzu.
The phenomenon occurred often in fogbound seas.
It was merely shadows playing tricks in the mist—nothing supernatural.—Yet hearing those Alaskan fishermen’s account left young Ito with an unsettlingly visceral impression.

—It attacks ships.

The phrase struck him with particular intensity.

"It’s eerie… I feel something strange… This isn’t like any ordinary Umi-bōzu…"

While thinking such thoughts, he returned to the radio room to find the assistant in the middle of receiving a wireless message from somewhere.
The assistant looked up at young Ito’s face.

“It’s Mr. Kawamoto from the Urashima Maru.”

With that, he handed over the receiver.

“Hey, Ito?”

The other party was indeed Kawamoto Junkichi.

“You haven’t forgotten our bet from five weeks ago, right?”

“So what?”

“Don’t be surprised—Urashima Maru’s been searching for the Bloodstained Ship since the day before yesterday, and we finally caught it about an hour ago.”

Young Ito Jiro unintentionally groaned, “Damn it.”

“Hey, is that true?”

“I can actually see it from my ship’s window—my crew’s boarding right now. Looks like I’ve won our bet, ha ha ha ha!”

The sea had already darkened.
Were they now venturing into this eerie night to explore the Bloodstained Ship? —More than the frustration of being beaten to the punch, what worried Ito Jiro was that very possibility.

“I’ll admit I lost the bet.
“More importantly, Kawamoto—this nighttime venture is dangerous. Tell them to wait until morning and get everyone out of there now!”

“What’s this? Are you getting cold feet watching from afar? I’m fine.”
“They…”

Kawamoto’s voice suddenly cut out mid-sentence.

“Hey Kawamoto! What’s wrong?”

“Kawamoto… Kawamoto…”

A crash—like glassware shattering—erupted from the receiver. Through the static came Kawamoto’s voice:

“Ugh—Umi-bōzu! Ah! A-ah! Bloody hands… Help me!”

“What’s wrong, Kawamoto?!”

“I’ll be killed! It’s the Umi-bōzu! Help me!”

Along with the splintering crack of wood, Kawamoto Junkichi’s bloodcurdling death scream rang out. And everything fell into profound silence.

Ito Jiro shuddered violently and stood frozen, as if doused with cold water. The Alaskan fishermen’s story—they attack ships. The eerie words—“they attack ships”—came flooding back with crystal clarity, reverberating deep within his ears.

“This is bad!”

Young Ito Jiro rushed out of the radio room like a fleeing rabbit.

Before their eyes loomed the eerie ship.

Captain Kashihara also paled.

Judging from Kawamoto’s words, one could only conclude that the Umi-bōzu had boarded the Urashima Maru and brutally slaughtered him.
Kawamoto had clearly stated it was the Umi-bōzu.
“Hands covered in blood.”
He had even said that.
“Full speed ahead! Don’t let the fog slow us down!”

The Captain shouted resolutely.

Ito Jiro immediately returned and continued calling the Urashima Maru by radio.
But ultimately there was no response—he thought he should have at least asked for the ship’s position beforehand, but it was far too late to do anything about it now.
The only thing left was to reach the scene as quickly as possible and rescue a friend in mortal danger.

Whether one would call it heaven’s providence—despite it being the stormy season at sea, there was no wind, only gentle swells upon the waters. Moreover, as the fog had completely cleared before midnight, the Taihei Maru continued its smooth sailing as though gliding across a lake. The oppressive night ended, and morning arrived.

In all directions, nothing obstructed the view to the horizon's edge.

"We should be reaching the planned position soon."

The Captain had been standing on the bridge since before dawn, keeping the binoculars pressed to his eyes without pause.

“Any response from the radio—?”

“No matter how much I call, there’s no response.”

“Will we make it in time...”

The captain’s voice emerged like a stifled groan.

At 10 AM, the Taihei Maru changed course to the south and began sailing against the current.
Even after passing the position indicated by the P.F., they still hadn’t encountered the Bloodstained Ship.
What’s more, the absence of the Urashima Maru’s silhouette seemed suspicious.

“With it being this clear, you’d think we’d spot at least one of them by now.”

Even as they were saying this, time steadily marched on until it became 3 PM.—The time when fog would arrive was drawing near—if that happened, their task would become all the more difficult.
Desperately trying to continue the counter voyage at full speed before the fog arrived... Soon after, they spotted a lone ship silhouette on the western horizon.—Young Ito kept the binoculars trained...

“Captain, three masts.”

“—Yeah.”

“This is definitely the Bloodstained Ship.”

They finally found it.
As they drew closer, details gradually came into focus—the gray-painted hull, three masts, a smokestack broken midway—all growing clearer.
It was indeed the rumored Bloodstained Ship—a vessel of horror. In about an hour, the Taihei Maru approached within a hundred meters and came to a stop.

“All hands, assemble on deck!”

At the Captain’s command, twenty burly crew members—excluding those stationed at fixed posts—gathered on the upper deck.—By that time, a fierce thick fog surging from the north could already be seen approaching.

“Our ship received a radio message from the Urashima Maru last night.”
“According to this report, it appears our sister ship has met with disaster due to a bizarre incident in this vicinity—the cause lies with that vessel visible over there.”
“You’ve all heard the rumors—that is indeed the Bloodstained Ship.”

“Wh-what—the Bloodstained Ship?”

“The Bloodstained Ship!”

A restless murmur of whispers spread among the crew members.

“I will now board that ship and investigate the truth behind this mystery. I intend to eliminate these confusing rumors from our seas, and at the same time, ascertain the fate of our sister ship, the Urashima Maru. However, this may involve some danger. I won’t order anyone—those who want to come with me, step forward.”

“Captain!”
“Captain!”
“Captain!”

Without hesitation, everyone stepped forward.
——The Captain nodded,

“Thank you. However, five men must remain aboard—it’s not that this ship lacks danger either.”
“Rather, we believe it’s precisely here that the true terror lies.”

He’s talking about the Umi-bōzu—Young Ito thought as he positioned himself behind the captain.

When personnel selection concluded and the dinghy was lowered, thick fog sealed the sea.
Knowing any protest would be forbidden by the Captain, Young Ito exploited the fog—entrusting the radio room to his assistant—and swiftly slipped into the dinghy.

The thick fog swirled and flowed.
It was like being immersed in milk, rendering visibility utterly impossible.
The shape of the Bloodstained Ship remained indistinct—as faint as a phantom, swaying like a shadow...

The mysterious ship floating on the desolate open sea—the vessel of tragedy that had been a maritime enigma for half a year—now lay before their very eyes.

“Ah! Terrible oil!”

A man at the ship’s side shouted.

“Captain, heavy oil is floating all over the surface.”

“Heavy oil?”

The captain leaned over the railing—sure enough, the sea surface surrounding them was completely covered in heavy oil as far as the eye could see.
Ito Jiro also saw it from a corner.

“It’s the Urashima Maru. The Urashima Maru sank here.”

He turned visibly pale as he muttered this and squeezed his eyes shut.

Ah! Everyone was dead!

To avoid losing each other’s position, the Taihei Maru continuously sounded its foghorn.—The low, booming notes—boooom... boooom...—echoed mournfully through the thick fog, as if pleading and choking from beyond the veil of mist.
Given the circumstances, its tone seemed nothing short of a call from hell itself.

The dinghy made one full circuit around the Bloodstained Ship.
And on the starboard side, they found a partially broken ladder and secured the dinghy.

“Chief, you stay with the dinghy. If anything suspicious happens, signal us with your pistol.”

“Ha—”

“Don’t let your guard down, Chief.”

Having said that and leaving one man in the dinghy, the Captain climbed up the ladder first.

The moment they set foot on the deck, they were met with a sight that stole their breath.
The deck was slick with fresh blood as far as the eye could see.
There were areas that appeared to have had corpses dragged through them, and even pond-like pools of blood could be seen.
And then... a nauseating smell of blood—acrid and overwhelming—assaulted their nostrils.

“This is horrible—”

Someone involuntarily shouted.
However, the others stood rigid as stone, their lips turning blue.—The Captain raised his voice to encourage them,

“Everyone, draw your pistols! Release the safety catches! When I give the order to fire, don’t hesitate to shoot—we’re going to investigate the ship’s interior now.”

As instructed, each of them took out their pistols and gripped them firmly in their right hands, ready to fire at any moment.
The Captain descended into the ship’s interior with a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other, carefully avoiding the blood pools—still more blood.
The corridors, walls, and even the ceilings were filled with fresh bloodstains.
No flight of fancy, however outlandish, could conceive of a tragedy that would spill this much blood.
Even the massacres of Nebuchadnezzar likely couldn’t match this carnage... Even the hardened seamen averted their eyes from this ghastly spectacle.

Bloodstained Ship, Bloodstained Ship—truly, there was no other name to call it but a ship of bloodshed.

The Captain led the way and thoroughly searched every corner from the middle deck to the lower deck, all the way down to the ship’s bottom.
There was no sign of anyone anywhere—not even the shadow of a corpse.
Everywhere lay nothing but broken ship’s equipment and scattered wooden fragments.
There wasn’t even what could be considered luggage.
A completely deserted ship—only the fresh bloodstains told the terrifying tale of what had occurred.

It was when they returned from the ship’s bottom to the middle deck.

“Captain, gunshots!” Young Ito dashed forward.

“Oh, Ito—you came along?”

“Never mind that! Look—”

Bang!
Bang!! A sharp pistol report rang out beyond the port side.

“They’re shooting from the dinghy!”

“Come here!”

Before they could even process what had happened, the Captain had already dashed up to the upper deck like a startled hare.—Upon descending further down the ladder, the single crew member left in the dinghy—

“Captain, please come quickly!”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?!”

“Gunshots and screams were just heard aboard our ship.”

Told this, he looked around in a panic—the foghorn had ceased at some point.

“Captain, let’s return immediately!”

Ito Jiro shouted.
The Captain and the rest of the group leaped into the dinghy as if pursued.—The fate of the Urashima Maru rose vividly in Ito’s mind.
Something had happened—just like when Kawamoto had sent that radio message—some strange occurrence had arisen after they went to investigate the Bloodstained Ship.
A strange occurrence... That’s right—the Umi-bōzu’s—

“Gyah—!”
From beyond the fog came another bloodcurdling scream.
The Captain leaned over the rail,

“Faster! Move faster! Hurry!” he kept roaring.

The moment the dinghy touched the Taihei Maru’s hull, Ito Jiro vaulted aboard before the Captain.

Look! — There lay the corpses of the remaining crew members sprawled about, the entire area a sea of fresh blood.

“Ah! They’ve been killed!”

The people raised cries of terror and involuntarily recoiled backward.

“Everyone, watch your surroundings! If you see anything suspicious, shoot without hesitation!”

The Captain crouched by the corpses while shouting.

What a ruthless way to kill—all of them had their skulls shattered with a single blow.
As he checked each one with trembling hands, there was only one person who still had a faint breath.
And when the Captain hurriedly lifted him up—he, with eyes wide open in terror, turned them toward the sea while...

“The sea... from the sea—he came...”

With a tangled tongue, he managed to utter those words—then collapsed and breathed his last.

Ito Jiro had rushed to the radio room during this time, but alas—there too lay the assistant... slumped over the radio equipment with a shattered skull, dead in a way that suggested Kawamoto Junkichi had likely met the same fate.

“Umi-bōzu! Umi-bōzu!”

Ito Jiro leaped outside as if possessed, shuddering all the while.

Strange, strange—the mysterious Bloodstained Ship and the murderous monstrosity attacking vessels. How should one unravel the enigma of this ghostly incident that unfolded across an ocean where waves stretched endlessly to the horizon?
Ito Jiro returned in a daze. At that moment,

“Look! The Umi-bōzu is here!” someone shouted.
The moment he whirled around—there in the waves barely ten meters off their ship’s port side, a massive gray monster measuring roughly ten feet surfaced.

“Umi-bōzu!” No sooner had he seen it than Young Ito grabbed his pistol again—Bang! Bang! Bang!!—firing three shots in quick succession.
At the same time, whether the bullets hit or not, the monster in question sank heavily into the waves.

Sixteen suspicious foreigners appeared.

“Got ’em!”

“I got the Umi-bōzu!”

The crew members cheered as they rushed to the railings and peered at the sea surface—when suddenly, the thick fog parted, and the figure of the Bloodstained Ship, silhouetted against the setting sun, came clearly into view.

—The bullets just now didn’t hit.

But when it surfaces next time—Ito Jiro had been staring fixedly at the sea surface—the moment he suddenly shifted his gaze to the Bloodstained Ship,

“—Huh…?” Ito Jiro uttered suspiciously.

Suddenly, Ito Jiro’s eyes changed.
He had discovered something.
Something!
Look! His eyebrows twitched violently.
And a vivid smile etched itself onto his tightly pressed lips.

“Ah! I see now! Damn them!”

When he shouted this, Young Ito rushed to the Captain’s side—

“Captain, let’s return to the Bloodstained Ship one more time.”

“What? What do you mean⁉”

“We must board the Bloodstained Ship immediately—the mystery’s solved! I’ll rip off those damned murderers’ Umi-bōzu masks and expose their trick! Hurry!”

“Are you sure? Is this safe⁉”

“Prepare the gas grenades—quickly, right now!”

The Captain trusted Ito’s capabilities.—Without delay, they loaded gas grenades and, alongside ten determined comrades, the dinghy cut through the waves toward the Bloodstained Ship.

Climbing up the same ladder like a monkey onto the deck, Ito Jiro immediately took the lead and strode purposefully down to the ship’s bottom.
The place reeked of rotting paint thick enough to choke—yet Ito Jiro pressed on, shining his flashlight ahead as he kicked aside scattered tools and wooden fragments, meticulously inspecting every inch of the iron plates lining the hull without overlooking a speck of dust.

“What are you doing?”

The Captain grumbled, “This is the ship’s bottom. Below that iron plate lies open sea.”
“Is that so…” Young Ito replied calmly—the instant he burst out with a triumphant cry!
He shouted,

“Prepare the gas grenades!” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll open this up now—just toss them in right away!”

“Are you trying to flush out rats or something?”

“Yes, some big rats are about to come out—there!”

Shouting, Ito Jiro lifted part of the iron plate with a grunt—
In an instant!
Those lying in wait held gas grenades in their hands and slammed them into the hole.—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!! The sound of exploding gas grenades rang out loudly.

“Everyone, prepare to fire!”

Young Ito stepped back and shouted.

"They're coming out now!" he shouted—but before the words had fully left his mouth, something large surged up from the ship's bottom—

"Help us! We won't resist!"

"Just spare our lives!" came a scream in English.
The Captain, momentarily stunned into silence, suddenly approached the hole's entrance and—

“Come out! Drop your weapons and come out! Any resistance gets you shot dead! Now!” he barked. As if obeying his command, sixteen foreigners emerged one after another, their bodies wracked with violent coughs.

The mystery had been solved.

They had been carrying out secret orders from the XXX country to lay a submarine cable from a certain location in Alaska to a certain Japanese coast in order to maintain close contact with spies residing in Japan.
The Bloodstained Ship’s eerie guise had been meant to keep other vessels at bay; beneath its hull, another laying ship had been attached.
Moreover, the Umi-bōzu were actually special diving suits—made of lightweight metal—for installation purposes; these automated devices came equipped with oxygen tubes and sharp steel hooks where hands should be.
It was these steel hooks that had committed the many murders.
And thus, the Urashima Maru had been massacred in its entirety and sunk for having detected the Bloodstained Ship’s secret.

“A splendid achievement.”

While embarking on the return voyage, the Captain gripped Young Ito’s hand firmly and tightly and said.

“But even so—how did you figure out they were hiding in the ship’s bottom?”

“A coincidence. Truly, just a coincidence.”

Young Ito wore a knowing smile as he—

“When we shot that Umi-bōzu, the fog briefly cleared—you saw how clearly the Bloodstained Ship came into view then, didn’t you? Captain, at that moment I noticed the Bloodstained Ship’s draft was abnormally deep. Despite having no cargo or crew aboard, the draft was as deep as a fully loaded freighter—that became my starting point. If there’s nothing inside the ship yet it sits that low in the water, there must be weight suspended beneath the hull……”

“Impressive! As expected of a radio operator—your observations are sharp. Even I didn’t catch that.—This time, you’ve taken all the credit.”

The Captain watched over Young Ito with a look of unwavering trust.

“The only regret is… that we couldn’t reach the Urashima Maru in its hour of crisis.—That I let my close friend Kawamoto die…”

Ito Jiro's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.—The sea during the return voyage was also magnificently calm.