Situated in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of marine diversity The Philippines is home to all sea creatures great and small, from the world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark, to the tiny pygmy seahorse and apparently some fish called a Thresher Shark. However a fella called Douglas MacAurthur also did a great job of ensuring that the country’s seas are littered with Japanese WWII wrecks ranging from 1m to 300ms. The Philippines was central to the Japanese presence in Asia and MacArthur was given the job of removing them one by one, and he did so with great singularity.
One of the by-products of MacArthur’s Pacific success is an historic site that has become a source of fascination for both David and Matt. Lying in 52 metres off the coast of Malapascua this 50 metre long wreck is perfectly upright on its keel. It is a Maru, or merchant ship – most likely a fishing trawler, that was refitted for combat and sent to defend the Japanese positions from the onslaught that was to come.
We believe it to be called The Mogami Maru as records show a ship was downed in this area in 1944 after an aerial attack. The boat lies beyond the reach of recreational divers so to access it and stay there for any time we need to plan a decompression dive using 4 tanks and multiple gas mixes. It’s a straight blue descent to find the wreck, a sort of slow motion sky dive for 40 metres until the aging steel hulk starts to loom through the gloom.
After over 150 collective repetitive dives the ship has really come alive for us and so have the people who were aboard and the terror of those final moments. We have uncovered an array of personal artifacts but one or two have really struck a chord, pun pending. On one penetration dive inside the engine room we saw what looked like a saucepan lid, covered in decades of sediment. However the saucepan lid proved to be an item so personal, so unexpected that it has connected us to this rusting vessel for ever. What was discovered in fact was a 78 inch vinyl record, complete with its label, the tiny Kanji script still legible.
Subsequent investigative work has revealed that it is a song by Japanese Geisha Michi Yakko, probably released in 1939 and taken aboard this boat by Person Unknown. Since then, dives have uncovered numerous vinyl fragments but no gramophone yet. Its kept us wondering about the final moments aboard and how someone, who also considered music as a source of life, felt as they met their death. The reality of this was sharpened as we uncovered a femur, rib bone and what looks like an ulna – from a compacted part of the wreck. Could this be the man who died to the stirring patriotic tones of a Japanese songstress and the catastrophic roar of incoming missiles?
Every time we dive the beguiling Mogami we wonder about the lost souls on board and feel their connection to life on Malapascua almost 70 years later.
To connect with history and join Matt or David on an exploration dive of the Mogami Maru just drop us an email on info@evolution.com.ph. We can share our passion for our local history with you anytime!
