Diving the Amagisan Maru
The Amagisan Maru is another of Truks' great dives. She's fairly deep, so it's important to watch air consumption and decompression obligations. The wreck lies on a sloping keel. The stern is deeper than the bow and there's a pronounced list to port. Off the port side on the sand there's a tanker truck that shook lose from the ship's deck while she was going down. The truck ended up on its wheels with one of the ship's cargo-handling booms on top of the cab and tank.
Another interesting vehicle is a four-door staff car that's in one of the forward holds. Rumor has it that this automobile was intended for Truk's commanding officer, Vice Admiral Chuichi Hara. The car's design was from the US Grahm-Page company.
The ship's holds also contain an unusual aircraft. It's a Japanese built copy of a Douglas DC-3 that's disassembled for shipment. Before the war, the Japanese companies Showa and Nakajima built these airplanes, code named "Tabby", under a licence agreement with Douglas. Apparently, production continued during wartime. The DC-3 also served the USA during WWII and many of these durable planes were still being used as late as the Viet Nam War.
An engine telegraph from the Amagisan Maru has fallen from its mount and lies partially over an open hold.
We found this fellow standing guard in the starboard passageway into the superstructure. He looks like some kind of parrot fish, but I've never seen one with the striped markings like this.
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