order of Vice Admiral Sakonju, the crew, men and women, were killed. Sakonju was executed for his war crimes in 1947. Japanese submarine I-26 after sinking the merchant ship SS Richard Hovey in the Arabian Sea, shot at the crew in their three lifeboats and a two life rafts. I-26 rammed one lifeboats capsizing it. I-26 took the captain and three crew POWs. The four survived and were repatriated after the end of the war. Planes from the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū sank and killed crew and passengers in the SS Poelau Bras's lifeboats, sinking six of the nine boats off Sumatra. I-37 on 27 November 1943 shot and killed eight crewmen in the MV Scotia lifeboats. On 22 February 1944 shot at 's lifeboats, 13 were killed. On 29 February 1944 SS Ascots lifeboats shot at, only seven survivors. I-165 on 18 March 1944 shot at 's lifeboats, 23 killed. I-12 on 28 October 1944 shot at the lifeboats of the SS John A. Johnson, killing eleven. One survivor, James Blears, a 21-year-old radio operator, of the crew of the lived to tell of the torturing and execution of the lifeboat crew by submarine I-8. How many other lifeboat crews did not have survivors is not known. Cargo ship Langkoeas lifeboats attacked by I-158 Tanker Augustina massacre, in the Western Java Sea, 1942, lifeboats machine-gunned, only 2 survived. Cannibalism Many written reports and testimonies which were collected by the Australian War Crimes Section of the Tokyo tribunal, and investigated by prosecutor William Webb (the tribunal's future Judge-in-Chief), indicate that Japanese personnel committed acts of cannibalism against Allied prisoners of war in many parts of Asia and the Pacific. In many cases, these acts of cannibalism were inspired by ever-increasing Allied attacks on Japanese supply lines, and the death and illness of Japanese personnel which resulted from hunger. According to historian Yuki Tanaka: "cannibalism was often a systematic activity which was conducted by whole squads which were under the command of officers". This frequently involved murder for the purpose of securing bodies. For example, an Indian POW, Havildar Changdi Ram, testified that: "[on November 12, 1944] the Kempeitai beheaded [an Allied] pilot. I saw this from behind a tree and watched some of the Japanese cut flesh from his arms, legs, hips, buttocks and carry it off to their quarters ... They cut it [into] small pieces and fried it."