San Francisco Maru Lies upright, decks at 165’.
Dive #1, Log #292 - 174’ for 1:01
We’re loaded for bear this morning as Capt. Lenny has offered to take a few of us on a deep dive to the heavily laden San Francisco Maru. It’s considered one of the finest wreck dives in the world because of the huge amount and array of armament it contains.
Four of us; myself, Phil Kush and George and Renee Radoski along with Lenny rise early and after the guys load the dive skiff, we shove off at 0730 to motor out under grey skies and calm seas to the Group 6 anchorage.
We’re going to use 2 mixes on the dive, a deep mix of 24% Nitrox in the 112 cu foot tanks (filled to 3250# they’re more like 120’s) on our back and hang tanks of 30% for our final decos at 20’ on up. But we’ll use our computers set to 24%, so the 30% will give us a huge safety factor.
We arrive near the wreck and the boat hand grapples the wreck after a couple of passes. We quickly go over our dive plan, gear up and Lenny goes over our final dive plan; which is 15 mins or leave with 1500# on the wreck. Our 24% gives us a MOD of 180’. George and Lenny also both carry extra tanks.
We roll over the side and swim quickly down (and down) the line in great 100’+ visibility. As I get to the wheelhouse at 106’ the narcosis starts to hit me, especially as I swim down to the 3 battle tanks on the forward deck at 160’. There sure was a difference in comfort over the 30% we have been using all week. But I’m expecting it and muddle a bit with the camera, but grab shots fairly quickly of them and then swim forward to Hold One to see box after box of 20mm cannon rounds, beach mines, aerial bombs and more.
Back to Hold 2 and grab a shot of a truck in near perfect condition and then up and a quick swim aft, shooting as I go. With 1650# left I decide on a quick tour over Hold 5 aft of the wheelhouse, and swim over it to see it chock full of depth charges and the broken remains of torpedoes. (One book says they’re “Long-Lance” naval torpedoes, but Lenny thinks they’re the smaller aerial ones). Scattered all over are 6” gun rounds, ammo of all types and, of course, sake bottles.
I beat feet back to the line and head up with 1350# left, first at a farily quick pace and then much slower to 85’ where I do a min, then 2 mins at 55’, then 3 mins at 35’, which clears me to 14’ at 10’ on the computer. I take it slow staying at 25’ for several mins before swimming over to the hang tanks and doing the rest of my deco and several extra mins on the 30%. To my surprise, I clear before everyone else and I hang out with them for a while longer before surfacing. George and Renee stayed 22 mins at depth and had nearly 25 mins of deco to do. It adds up fast at that depth. A spectacular dive and my first true technical dive.

Dive #2, Log 293 Heian Maru 510’ Sub Tender, lies on it’s port side.
Later in the afternoon, we pump our tanks to 3250# and jump in the water for the last dive for the trip. The wreck is fairly shallow on it’s side near the surface, maybe 50’ with the holds at around 70-80’.
We make for the forward holds after shooting the name on the bow. This was a sub tender/depot ship and is full of the infamous “Long-Lance” torpedoes (considered the best torpedo on all sides for most of the war) and related sub equipment. It was a converted passenger-cargo liner and is huge, one of the biggest wrecks in the lagoon. (I found out it did service for a Seattle to Yokohama, and made a stir in Seattle on it’s maiden run in January, 1931 with 15,000 people touring her.)
Marcia and I follow the others into the holds, their hatches long narrow rectangular openings sized to lift torpedoes through. We shoot the torpedoes with their twin counter-rotating screws, some are broken and I don’t see any warheads on them, probably kept elsewhere in a magazine.
Swimming up to the cabin and wheelhouse, we kick rapidly over the companionway on our way aft to the props, pausing to check out a couple of spare telescopes lying there. We finally round the stern and find the props and finally I’m able to take a shot of them in the daylight. Just before then I realize that I hadn’t cleared the wide angle lens of air (it’s a water optic), so I’m not sure any of the shots I had taken would come out. So we kick back over the hull in shallow water to Hold Two and with Marcia wondering why, I drop back down into the hold with 950# left.
As I re-shoot, I drift up into the hold, almost a repeat of the other night. But I know where I am and can see a dim glow below me. I will myself to swim down to see the narrow entrance, then out and up, glad to be in the bright daylight and to see the end of these dark holds for a while. All in all, I’ve done 21 dives this week!
Jack Connick
On-board Truk Odyssey, Dec 1, 2002