SUNKEN TREASURE
The best wreck diving in the South Pacific
SS PRESIDENT COOLIDGE
Built in 1931 for a life of luxurious Pacific cruising, the 200-metre SS
President Coolidge roamed the oceanic playgrounds of Hawaii, Hong Kong and, ironically, Japan. Her guests reclined around two swimming pools, preened themselves in salons, worked out in gyms or just hung out at the soda fountain. Her fate, however, was anything but salubrious.
As war in the Pacific intensified, the US War Department sent her on voyages around the expanding theatre. She evacuated government personnel and US civilians from Hong Kong and other ports
For 90 minutes the Coolidge teetered on the edge while 5340 men calmly climbed down rope ladders and waded ashore.
as the tensions escalated and in 1941 she was converted to troopship operations and immediately put to work bolstering Allied garrisons.
On October 26, 1942, the fully loaded Coolidge approached the US base of Luganville on Vanuatu’s Espirito Santo and, ever concerned about enemy submarines, captain Henry Nelson made a beeline for the entry channel. What somebody had omitted to tell Nelson, however, was that the channel was mined and no sooner had the Coolidge poked its bow into the opening ... kaboom.
Nelson knew he had no hope of saving his ship, so he steamed for shore in an attempt to beach the liner, but he struck a reef instead. For 90 minutes the Coolidge teetered on the edge while 5340 men calmly climbed down rope ladders and waded ashore. But then it all went wrong and the huge ship listed and slipped backward into deep water.
Today, the wreck is one of the world’s most famous dives, satisfying both experienced and novice divers alike. She lies ingloriously on her port side in 21–73 metres. Local dive operators have concocted dozens of adventures above and within the ship. Inside the hull are all manner of war materials, including vehicles, ammunition, artillery and heavy equipment, as well as poignant personal items like small arms, helmets, boots and medical supplies.
The preservation of the wreck and its development as a poignant tourist site is due largely to one man, Allan Power, who began exploring the sunken vessel in the 1970s when salvagers came to recover the propellers and other valuable items. Disturbed by the damage being wrought by indiscriminate plundering, Power successfully lobbied the Vanuatu government to protect the site, which was achieved in 1983.
Born in Sydney in 1933 and dubbed ‘Mr President’ by his adoring fans, Power has made something like 25,000 dives on the Coolidge, a feat that earned him inclusion in the Scuba Diving Hall of Fame at a glittering ceremony in the Cayman Islands in 2011.
“I started diving in 1949 with equipment I made myself,” recalls Power of a time long before scuba diving was a recreational pursuit, “now diving is just one of many adventure sports almost anyone can do.”
While the Coolidge has dark caverns and you need to keep your wits about you, there are numerous, “easier”, dives in the nearby Segond Channel, with sites abounding in colourful marine life and coral at depths less than 20 metres.
Apart from the vivid writings of James A Michener, who set his best-selling novel Tales of
the South Pacific on Espirito Santo, perhaps the greatest souvenir is the bewildering jumble of equipment dumped into the sea at what is now called Million Dollar Point. Here snorkellers can drift over trucks, cranes and earthmovers.
BLACK JACK
In the middle of the night on July 10, 1943, the crew of Boeing B-17F, Black Jack, took off on a mission to bomb one of most heavily defended ports in the entire Pacific, Rabaul.
This particular aircraft, serial number 4124521, already had an impressive service history at the hands of captain Ken McCullar, bombing Japanese shipping, airfields and sinking the IJN destroyer, Hayashio, in November 1942.
Repaired many times, Black Jack was struggling that night to Rabaul and developed engine trouble before reaching the target. The crew pressed on and dropped its bombs, but on the return leg a violent storm struck the aircraft and she wandered off course.
She was forced to ditch off the coast, near Boga Boga, on the northern tip of Cape Vogel in PNG’s Milne Bay Province.
While the crew was rescued by nearby villagers, the aircraft slipped off the reef into 50 metres of water. Ironically, the deeper water has helped preserve the aircraft, keeping it clear of coral and other marine growth.
Black Jack lies on a white-sandy seabed and is in remarkably good condition. Apart from the waist guns and radio transmitters jettisoned before the crash, all other equipment is in place.
Bottom time allowed is only 10 minutes. The rest of the 100 minutes is for ascent and stringent safety stops are made along the way.
Schools of large, almost tame, batfish are known to inhabit the wreck and sharks and other species of pelagic fish often patrol it.