The Mini Sub
Early on when we were exploring and looking for study dive sites on the MV Telita, we happened on a lagoon on the NE coast of New Hannover Island. Fisherman from a small village nearby came to visit and told us about several Japanes WWII ships that had been sunk in the lagoon. They offered to guide us to the larger one, and we were soon over it, but the murky lagoon water hid it from view.
Two of us donned SCUBA gear and jumped in. Soon the ribs of a wreck appeared out of the murk. The wreck appeared to be a large freighter, lying on its side on a sandy lagoon floor 70 feet deep. The wreck had burned , and buckled plates indicated bomb damage. It was overgrown with a profusion of all varieties of soft and hard corals.
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Between trips, the crew of Telita, obtained world war II pictures taken by aircraft which had attacked the ship we dove on. She was identified as the Taisyo Maru.
But look closely at the last picture after Taisyo Maru has gone to the bottom. Could that be a submarine?
On subsequent trips to the wreck location, the Telita's Mate did some search-pattern diving, and lo and behold, he found a Japanese mini sub some 40 yards from the mother-shipwreck lying upright in 70 feet of water on the sandy bottom.
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Although we could open and close the hatch, we were never able to penetrate into the sub. None us fit thru the small diameter entrance, no matter how hard we tried.
The mother ship Taisyo Maru, however, offered many entrances and exits that could be explored, and in addition to the great soft corals covering her, was a treasure chest of "small" critters" some of which you may see on the next page.
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