Sites of the Solomons

It is now 20 years since I first dived two Japanese wrecks off the coast of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. The Kasi Maru and Toa Maru were both sunk during the Second World War and, when I first dived them, were filled with artefacts of the period – pieces of history suspended in water. Two decades on and I was diving them again, keen to see what had changed.

Kasi Maru
Although I expected to see changes to the wreck, it had never occurred to me that the land around the wreck could change. Kasi Maru was a small Japanese freighter sunk in Boroko Lagoon while unloading supplies during the Second World War. When I first dived the wreck the area was a lagoon surrounded by dense mangrove forest, there were no people in the vicinity, and our main concern was the presence of crocodiles.

Today, an enterprising Solomon Islander has chopped out a garden from the mangrove forest and built a house for his family. Laying claim to the wreck, he now charges each visiting diver a fee. At US$10, it is reasonable and the money is paid directly to him. He remembers the war, not in this area but on the island of Guadalcanal, where he lived when he was younger. Speaking with him provides a vivid insight into the horrors of the years of war, not only for those who fought, but for the many innocent locals upon whose land the conflict was played out.

It began to rain as we entered the water, with large drops forming radiating rings on the surface, but the sun was still shining. Along the starboard side a truck sits beneath what was once a crane derrick which was unloading at the time of the air strike. Much has deteriorated since my last visit – a little further astern is a lifeboat or tender, which has become part of the reef and is almost indistinguishable from it.

The forward hold contains rolls of wire, 200-litre drums and boxes of what could possibly be ammunition. A gun projects from the bow, now forming a support for the hard and soft corals. A colonnade of ribs is all that remains of the bridge, its silt-covered floor easily disturbed. This part of the wreck is now the refuge of thousands of glassfish avoiding the bombardment of trevallies which patrol the perimeter.

Access to the engine room is still possible, although no gauges or brass fittings remain. Entry requires care, as the silt is easily disturbed and access is tortuous – squeezing past ladders and walkways which seem to reach out for hanging pieces of scuba equipment. Unlike many of the other wrecks in the Solomon Islands, this wreck has the advantage of being shallow, so narcosis and decompression planning are not real concerns.

What impressed me on my first visit to the wreck was the huge number of artefacts which remained inside the structure. Moving about the passages and the rooms was easy, allowing the discovery of items such as a gramophone with a stack of records which had cemented together with the action of time and salt water, cooking utensils, small and gigantic woks in the kitchen, a lot of munitions and ampoules of coloured liquids from the medical supplies.

None of this now remains. Artefacts are available for sale at most of the markets, tourist shops and from collectors throughout the Solomon Islands, so it isn’t difficult to guess where all the goodies went. This is despite a law making it illegal to remove any artefacts from the Solomon Islands. The room where the gramophone had been is now filled with silt, leaving a gap of only 75cm between the silt and the ceiling.

Toa Maru
At 135m long and once weighing 6,732 tonnes, the Toa Maru is an exciting dive. A bare shaft protrudes from the stern, the grooved key-way is large and obvious, as the propeller has long ago fallen victim to the salvagers who looted the ship in the early Seventies for scrap metal. Trees of black coral fill the space between the rudder and the propeller shaft. A stern mounted anti-aircraft gun for defending the ship against attacking aircraft now sits on the sand, still pointing towards the sky. It is so completely covered with coral and growth that it is difficult to distinguish its true shape.

Along the side of the ship, which now rests on its starboard side at a depth of 7m at the bow and 37m at the stern, are items that have fallen from the decks and cabins on to the sand. A truck and jeep deteriorate beneath the huge gantries which once loaded them on board. No longer pointing towards the sky, the gantries lie parallel to the sandy bottom. These are now covered with numerous species of soft and hard corals.

The Toa Maru was a Japanese armed freighter, sailing from Papua New Guinea to New Georgia in the western province of the Solomon Islands with supplies on board to support the Japanese forces fighting to recapture Guadalcanal. Unluckily for the Toa Maru, she had been spotted by Coast Watchers as she passed by New Ireland off Papua New Guinea. They alerted the Allied Command on Guadalcanal which launched an air attack. The ship was a valuable asset, so it was strongly protected by Zero fighters. During the fierce air battle that ensued, heavy losses were suffered on both sides.

One pilot, Lt De Blanc, is credited with shooting down three Zeros and two float planes during the battle to get the Allied bombers close to the target. Finally, Douglas dive bombers were able to release their explosive cargo on to the Toa Maru, but the attempt wasn’t successful. Seeing this and being angered by the losses sustained by his group, another pilot, Lt Secrest, led a section of Wildcat fighters to attack the ship with their cannons. Obliged to protect them, Lt De Blanc led his section into the attack as well, arriving to see the ship burst into flames as they passed over it. More Zeros had assembled and attacked, shooting down two of the Wildcats including that of Lt De Blanc. The plane landed in the sea and De Blanc made his way to land, where he was found by locals who helped him return to Guadalcanal. Toa Maru sank in shallow water in Kololuka Bay on Ghizo Island.

Entering the holds to get an idea of what life was like when this wreck was a working ship isn’t difficult. Swimming along inside can be likened to passing along a colonnade, the stout deck beams forming the vertical columns. Each hold contains different objects of interest ranging from fuel drums to saki bottles. In fact, the number of saki bottles does not reflect the seriousness of the war – there are thousands, enough for a huge party. A tank is the dominant feature of the second hold forward of the bridge, so small, it was possibly piloted by one man. This seems even more likely when you see the confined cabin area within – the controls are still there.

It’s possible to swim from the stern to the bow through the interior of the ship, passing through the galley, engine room, engineers’ workshop, medical room, passages and crew’s rooms. Doors leading into small rooms are rusted in place, no longer movable. Silt is evident everywhere so care must be taken, and in some areas the confined space presents additional problems. By passing through the interior you see the day-to-day items that take away the ship’s inhuman feel and give it the character of the crew that lived on board and suffered the horror of war. A shoe lost in haste going to battle stations as the attack began; a gas mask discarded so that its owner would be able to breathe once he had jumped for his life; eating bowls that had possibly contained unfinished meals when the first bombs exploded and ship’s navigation lights which had been unlit in order to avoid detection, now glow in the light of a diver’s torch.

Travel information
The Solomons stretch for some 1,500km in a northwest to southeast direction, between five and 12 degrees south of the equator – about a three-hour flight from Australia.

Hundreds of small islands and atolls are scattered throughout the group. However, the main islands of Choiseul, Isabel, Guadalcanal, Malaita, Makira and New Georgia make up most of the 28,000 sq km of land mass. The main dive destinations are Honiara at Guadalcanal and Uepi, Munda and Ghizo at New Georgia Province. More remote areas can be explored by liveaboard.

The climate is tropical and the average daily temperature is 26–33ºC. From April to October the weather is dry, while November to March is the wet season – the northwest monsoon. Water temperature is around 29ºC, so a protective Lycra or 3mm wetsuit should suffice.