Cape Vogel

and north.

Canoes on Cape Vogel Beach.

Early in WWII, Port Moresby, PNG was the only US airbase from which long range-land based bombers could strike Rabaul, a major Japanese Naval base in the Southwest Pacific. Many US aircraft were lost during those long range missions, but one B-17, named "Blackjack", and it's crew had a unique experience. Shot-up, and with injured crewmen aboard, on its way home it ran into bad weather. Running low on fuel, well south of it's return track, and with escalating equipment failures, thru the clouds they spotted Cape Vogel, PNG and the village of Bora Bora.They decided to do a water ditching just off-shore of the village. Friendly natives from the village, in their canoes, managed to rescue all crewmembers before the "Blackjack" sank to the bottom of the sea. Although only several hundred yards from the beach at Boga Boga, it was not until 1987 that SCUBA divers found the well-preserved plane wreck at 160 foot depth. Under good conditions, experienced divers, can visit her, and even swivel the "twin 50's" in the rear gunners position. A magnificent well preserved wreck.

WWII B-17 Bomber "Blackjack".

"Blackjack" ditched between beach and island in background, just East of village of Boga Boga.

Cape Vogel Beach.	Fishermans' home Boga Boga.	Fishermens nets.
Boga Boga Home.	Young Villager.	Young villagers.
Mary Pohle.	Mary and new friend.	John F. Pohle.

Nearby Mission, and MV Telita over the B-17 dive site.

North of Cape Vogel all the way to Lae, there are a great number of undiscovered wrecks and dive sites. The distance from safe harbor and a generally unfriendly/unruly native population along that shoreline kept us from visiting that area very often. We did dive on the wrecks of US WWII PT boats in Tufi harbor. We also spent 4 days searching (unsuccessfully) for the wreck of a WW I destroyer/converted to coastal freighter called the "Masawa", which was reported to have been sunk east of "Popondetta" during WW II. Using sonar, a jury-rigged magnetometer, and a well conceived GPS search pattern we came up empty handed. We did, however, stumble upon a previously discovered wreck ("S' Jacob"), whose location was being kept secret (As competing dive usually do). I spent three days measuring and sketching the remains of this pristine wreck which sat upright on the flat sandy bottom 160 feet down. An oasis of fish and coral life in the otherwise barren desert floor. A photo obtained later, taken days before she was bombed, and sent to the bottum, verifies my sketched observations.

MV S'Jacob at port, and sketches by John F. Pohle of her lying on the bottom.