On 3 August 1942 the fishing trawler Dureenbee was attacked and badly damaged by Japanese submarine I-175 off the town of Moruya, New South Wales.
The next day the submarine torpedoed and damaged the Australian merchant vessel Murada 82 miles (132 km) north-east of Newcastle.
Two days later I-175 sank the French merchant vessel Cagou 160 miles (260 km) north-east of Newcastle, before proceeding south.
[1] Shortly after the attack on Dureenbee commenced, members of the Moruya Volunteer Defence Corps unit asked the co-owners of the trawler Mirrabooka and one of their crew to put to sea as a rescue vessel.
At 6:20 am Dureenbee was spotted by a patrolling Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, which directed Mirrabooka towards her.
Once Mirrabooka arrived alongside Dureenbee the damaged trawler's surviving crew and the body of the dead sailor were transferred across.
An attempt to tow Dureenbee off the rocks was unsuccessful, with Mirrabooka also nearly running aground and having to be rescued by the trawler Erina.
No further attempts to recover Dureenbee were made, though local fishermen removed equipment from the wreck before it sank.
On 7 August she was ordered to abandon her patrol off Australia to operate off San Cristobal in the Solomon Islands in response the United States landing on Guadalcanal that day.
Five days later two US Navy aircraft attacked and damaged the submarine 170 miles (270 km) south-west of Espiritu Santo, forcing her to break off her patrol for repairs.
[4] The three members of Dureenbee's crew who were killed in the attack were buried at Moruya Cemetery, with their graves being marked by Merchant Navy headstones.
[7][8] An account published during World War II labelled the attack on Dureenbee as "murder and piracy on the high seas".