Diving the San Francisco Maru

The San Francisco Maru is an old freighter, sometimes called the "Million Dollar Wreck" due to her extensive cargo of ordinance and fighting armor. The San Francisco went down in the Fourth Fleet Anchorage. She is in many ways the "signature wreck" of Truk. A photo of the San Francisco even made the cover of National Geographic magazine.

Here's the tank
No image collection of Truk is complete without the tank on the San Francisco Maru

She'a a deep wreck. Dives on the San Francisco Maru are technical dives and are much more demanding than recreational dives. The remnants of the ship's wheelhouse, which is the "shallow" part of the wreck, is at about 165fsw and her keel is at 200fsw near the bow. Decompression is manditory. The good news is that the dive guides understand all this and keep a close watch on their divers. There's always extra tanks with regulators close by and there's a decompression tank hanging under the boat.

A shot of the San Francisco Maru's mast
Another shameless ripoff of a National Geographic image
The shot is copyright 2002 Dan Carey, but it looks just like the one in NatGeo

 
Three of these Type 95 tanks are on the San Francisco's foredeck

     
Bombs in packing crates, stacks of mines, and bigger crated bombs
 

Here's Pete with his video camera
 

Crates full of ammunition, stacked to the top of the hold

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