At 22:00 on 16 December 1941, "Corregidor" left its dock in Manila in total darkness, loaded to overcapacity with Filipino civilians seeking to escape to the southern Philippines after the war had started. It has been estimated that between 1,200 and 1,500 people were on board, including approximately 150 Philippine soldiers, 7 Americans, 5 Philippine legislators, and hundreds of college students who were traveling home after their schools had closed. Also aboard were military supplies as well most of the artillery complement (2.95-inch mountain guns) of the Visayan-Mindanao Force of the Philippine Army. The owners of the ship failed to inform the Navy's Inshore Patrol of the ship's plan to leave Manila Bay.