P-MAN IX Update #14 03 March Hello Everyone! When is a day off not a day off? When you find something really cool. But first, Lessons Learned
The day was scheduled to be a fun dive day. We got up and had another wonderful breakfast courtesy of Dan. Out the door reasonably on time and we loaded and boarded our dive boat. Its about a 45-60 minute ride down to Peleliu. We were going to pick up Bradford. Weve worked with him for the past few years when we do our side excursions to Peleliu. He contacted Joe the other day and said he had a new find to tell us about. Seems about a year ago he was clamming northeast of Peleliu. He came upon a plane, and a boat in fairly shallow water. He said that he could stand on the aircraft propeller at low tide and be partially out of the water. He said it was easy to find, no one else but his buddy knew about it and he would take us there. The waters where WE thought it was located are pretty heavily traveled by divers and fishermen. WE figured everyone but US knew about it and that if it was anything, it was Japanese. It would be nice to find and get a GPS spot on it. That way if anyone ever reports it again, we can say weve been there. On the ride to Peleliu, we passed by an island near where Pat found a TBM Avenger a number of years ago. The only things found were a landing gear and some small pieces of aluminum. It was piloted by a Marine Major who had a crew of two with him. Major Scullin had a great reputation as a pilot and leader. He was shot down northeast of Peleliu. Please see earlier P-MAN reports for the full stories. We pointed that out as well as many other sites along the way to our first-time team members. When we got to Peleliu, Bradford and a friend got on the boat and off we went. We drove back the way we came and then we started heading right to the island near where Major Scullin was lost. Could this be his airplane were about to find? We turned left 90 degrees when the island was tantalizingly close. We then came to a rest over a coral head. Bradford pointed out where to go and we snorkeled our way around the boat. Didnt see a thing. Moved to another coral head. No luck. We might have looked at a third coral head as well. I cant quite remember all the details tonight. Then Bradford called (using a cell phone to call back to Peleliu) a buddy who really knew where it was. Hes a policeman on Peleliu. He was willing to show us where it was and was able to do it right now. So we drove back to Peleliu. Picked up a policeman and motored back on out. The roundtrip ride to the spot was just 15-20 minutes each way.
We made our 90 degree left turn a little earlier and we did not go as far west as we did previously. We all got out and snorkeled. Just when everyone was going to give up, Joe stood up on the top of the reef and started waving his arms. Joe finds everything. We all moved over to Joe and there was the propeller. At first look, we thought it was Japanese. The scrap pieces of metal that were visible to us were inconclusive. We were getting ready to log this and move on when Joe and Dan grabbed scuba tanks and went under for a few minutes. Our preconceived notions were about to be dashed. Photos by Derek Abbey except where you see him: Joe came up and told us that there was blue on the aircraft parts. Blue? That belongs to U.S. Navy and Marine squadrons, not Japanese squadrons. Well, this was confusing. It looked like we shouldnt be interested at first, and now we had to do some work. But this was a day off! We at least had to return our guests back to Peleliu. And by the time we went to the dock now for the 3rd time, we were ready for lunch. When we got done with that, we really did not have enough time to dive Blue Corner and not feel rushed. So we declared it a workday and went back to this prop. We did a circular search pattern on a buoyed line. We took about 90 feet of line, attached it to the prop and then swam in a circle to see what we had as far as a debris field. We found some debris at the 11 to 1 oclock positions from the prop. Bob Holler was following us on a snorkel with a GPS unit. The same unit that worked so great in the jungle. He would mark each piece so we could do some analysis and see how the debris field lies. The GPS unit is advertised to be water resistant: one meter deep for 30 minutes. Bob was just snorkeling on the surface so he did not put it in a bag.
We then let out about another 90 feet of line, moved the folks down the line to new positions further away from the prop and repeated our circular path. We found more debris in the same clock locations. Bob continued to mark each position. We added another line to the original line and did one more sweep. As a team we got as far as the 12 oclock position. As a team, we stopped to look at some items. Then we continued the search. However, I seemed to be the only diver still on the line. I thought the movement was easier. Seems as if whatever we found on the last sweep was more interesting to my teammates than finishing the sweep. You know what they say about the word TEAM: theres no I in TEAM. My response has always been: THERES NO Z EITHER!!!! WHATS YOUR POINT? To make matters more interesting, on the last pass with our search line, I had to swim toward the boat a little ways so I could duck under the anchor line. I didnt want to get caught up on the boat and then wrap my line in ever decreasing circles around the boat. As I said, the movement was easier and then I noticed that I was swimming in an ever decreasing circle radius. I was spiraling in out of control! I came up and found I was only a few yards behind the boat. I asked Joe, who was out of the water already, if anyone besides me was on the line. He of course said no. No point in moving on without them so I started to reel in my line. But rather than reeling towards the prop, my take up was taking me to the boat. Finally I followed the line to the bow and there was my line, over the anchor line. I know I went under the line. To make matters worse, Bob had come to the boat at the same time and was making fun of me for not having gone under the anchor line. But, I knew I had gone underneath. Can you get narced at 6 feet? Come to find out that our fearless leader, who shall remain nameless, unclipped the line and re-clipped it over the anchor line in an attempt to be helpful. Why, I oughta .. I finally wrapped up all the line and went back to looking at pieces. The propeller at first glance looked like it was Japanese due to the counter weight system it had on the prop hub. But the pieces we found, some fairly good sized were more reminiscent of American made products. And to confuse the site more, there really was a boat close by. The aircraft debris field either ends at the boat, or they are intermingled. It looks like this was a wooden motor craft. Fairly big motor with shaft and prop, but no hull. We have one underwater camera with us. Its an el cheapo film camera that we will have to take in, get developed and then make digital copies. (Wonders of modern technology, its done and the photos are inserted for your viewing pleasure. They will be tweaked and improved by the back room people: Pat Swovelin at BentStar and Reid Joyce at BentProp. At least that is what they normally do when I send them substandard images. Check the websites.) Hopefully someone can lend their expertise and tell us what we have. But of course you want to know what we think we have. We all pondered that on the ride home. A few big waves got most of us standing up to absorb the impacts against the hull. I had to leave my bow sunning position. We knew we would have to look at some books back at the ready room. We got back and quickly dove into the books. Nope, not a Corsair. Not a Helldiver. Nor a Hellcat. Not even a Wildcat, Avenger, Kingfisher, B-24 or any other aircraft from a book we have. Except one. The counter weights look pretty close to an early model SBD Dauntless. And they did fly in this campaign. But not this old of a version of the SBD. There was a change of propellers in the later models of the SBD. Were going to go back to the site tomorrow and take more measurements and look at what we have and compare to the book photos we have. However, if any of you historically minded people want to figure out how a SBD 1, 2 or 3 flew in the Palaus, or if a SBD 4, 5 or 6 switched props to the older model while out here, go for it. Mark? Katie? Tonight we were hosted to a marvelous Palauan dinner at Joe and Esthers house. We were feted with calamanzi lemonade, taro and seafood soup, fried and boiled crab, beef, chicken, potato salad, kancun with clams (that Joe caught and we tasted as sashimi, chicken and tapioca for dessert. It was wonderful.
I had multiple helpings of each course. Esther knows how to put on a banquet. We waddled to the car and headed home. I was going to send this out to you tonight, but youll have to wait until tomorrow. The Internet is down again in the hotel. I hope youre all surviving winter, and that the early daylight savings time works for you. Rebecca sent me this photo to remind me of what awaits me on my return.
04 March Had a wonderful day off today. Except for the 5 minutes we took at the SBD site. That was a good bit of work Pat and Derek did. Lessons Learned
We leisurely headed out the door today for a fun dive day. Dan elected to stay behind and run some errands so the four of us, Pat, me, Bob and Derek headed to Neco Marine. We did not have to bring anything but scuba gear: no deet for bug protection nor hiking boots in case we found anything. A little confusion about our boat. Seems as if it was parked at an adjacent pier and someone hotwired it and took off. Im told that happens a lot and the boats are always returned. It took a little bit but we got a replacement boat with Charlie as our driver. Joe would be our underwater tour guide. A number of years ago, the laws in Palau were changed to require a dive guide and boat captain for each dive boat. In addition, two motors are required for all drift dives. I cant remember all the details, but before the law was changed, some dive boat couldnt get to the divers who were on a drift dive and the divers ended up 65 miles or so away from Palau. They were not alive when found. So we headed out for a beautiful drive to the dive spots. We attached ourselves to a buoy at Blue Holes. There are four vertical shafts that lead to a large chamber in the reef with a couple of exit points. Then you drift along the reef wall and see all the amazing wildlife. If you look to your left, you see all the corals and small reef dwellers, as well as those fish that graze on the flora and fauna there. If you look to your right, you look out into open ocean and see sharks, tuna, Napoleon fish, unicorns and countless other species. Its like an oil painting, looking at all the bright colors. The first animal I mentioned was sharks. Lots of them. However, they are all well fed. Including the one that was swimming in small circles in the tube at Blue Holes that we went down. The last animals we saw as we left the reef were barracuda, hundreds of them and probably closer to the 500 I mentioned years ago. As I said before, this is my fish story. Joe led us on a great dive. We entered at Blue Holes, drifted through Blue Corner (which might just be one of the prettiest dives on the planet) and surfaced. The boat came to us and we all climbed aboard. We untied from the buoy and moved to another buoy closer to the reef and the island. After all, we have to have great scenery for lunch. I never thought I would ever have deli meat on a blueberry bagel. But we ran out of our standard provisions and had to make do. Derek made up for my deficiencies of putting the lunch together by bringing not one, but two packages of Oreos. We stayed on the surface for about an hour and a half. This is a safety parameter as well as a lunch break. When scuba diving, the bodys tissues absorb nitrogen. If you get too much in you, without enough pressure to hold the nitrogen in the blood, you get the bends. This hour-plus break allows us to breathe off the some nitrogen prior to re-entering the water. Safety first. If you arent a scuba diver, and really want to learn about this, call me when I get home, or take a scuba course and get certified. Then you can look at pretty fish in Palau! Our second dive was at Drop Off. It is a wonderful wall dive with a little drifting. Overall, Id say the currents were not as strong on these dives as they were a few years ago. Especially the Peleliu Express dive. That was wicked fun with a ripping current. Theres different sea life at Drop Off. The corals are brighter and with more variety. One type of coral got everyone's attention: a hard coral that was deep forest green. Beautiful. I saw one fluorescent fish nibbling on a piece of string coral as you and I would eat corn on the cob. I watched with rapt attention. Joe once again led us on a great dive. He not only briefs us well (short and to the point) but he takes us on a great tour, keeps an eye on us, points stuff out and maintains a high level of safety. Back to the surface with a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet. Once again, safety with nitrogen. This stop allows us to breathe some of it off while the body is still pressurized. Then back into the boat and off to .a work site. Joe drove us right to the SBD prop. Pat and Derek jumped in with a measuring tape and took a few key measurements. This prop and motor assembly pretty well match an older SBD type of aircraft. The problem is we cant find any mention of this airplane in this battle area. We are going to either come up with the explanation for this SBD find, or figure out what airplane it really is. Home, cleaned up and went out to Indian food again. The owner ordered for us and we once again asked for really spicy. Last time, we conquered the spices. This time, the spices conquered us. However, while I was being damaged by the spices, Dan taught me a counter spice trick: drink coffee. The acids in coffee supposedly counteract the spices. Seems to have worked. Now it's back at the hotel, typing, inserting photos and wishing I were in bed already. But if I dont get to this now, Ill just have to do more tomorrow. Thanks for reading this. Blue SKies, Flip |