The Sankisan Maru is one of the furthest wrecks from the Blue Lagoon Resort close to Uman Island. It takes about 40 minutes by skiff to reach the site but it is well worth the journey. One trick I did learn was to put a few cans of beer in the watercooler for the trip back if it was the last dive of the day.
The ship 117m 4776-ton coal-powered steam turbine cargo ship was built in the 1920s and called the Red Hook until she was captured by the Japanese in 1942 then renamed the Sankisan Maru and pressed into service as an army transport.
Bombed on the first day of Operation Hailstone on the 17th of February 1944 the Sankisan Maru was a tough nut to crack and it wasn't until the next day when a torpedo from planes flying off the USS Bunker Hill and the resulting explosion sent her to the bottom.
The size of the explosion can be gauged by the remains of the rudder and prop that sit in a crater some 60m from the main wreck site that is about 50m deep.
It's easy to see why she is sometimes called the Bullet Wreck.
she was carrying a cargo of ammunition, trucks, medical supplies, and aircraft parts when she sank. the main part of the wreck now sits upright on a slight slope with about 28m at the deepest most of the holds are around 25m with the deck at about 15m.
Ammunition boxes have rotted away leaving rifle bullets to litter the floor of the hold.
Boxes of medical supplies are also common on this wreck.
A radial aircraft engine this one never got off the ground.
Well, Hivers that's another dive over with time for a beer on the ride back to the Blue Lagoon Resort.