BC Cook
FROM the archives:
There is only one place in the world where you can scuba dive two shipwrecks, from two different countries, from two different wars, on one tank of air. At the bottom of Guam’s Apra Harbor rest the SMS Cormoran, a German ship from the First World War and the Tokai Maru, a Japanese vessel from the Second. They lie so close together that you can touch them both at the same time. That is one reason why Guam is a world-class dive destination. How did this curious, only-one-like-it situation come about?
The Cormoran was originally built in 1909 in Germany for Russia, who planned to use it for passenger and cargo service in the northern Pacific. When war broke out in 1914 the Germans captured the ship, took it back to their base in China and converted it into a commerce raider. Her mission was to prey on British shipping in the Pacific but when Japan declared war on Germany the Cormoran spent all of her time dodging Japanese warships.
Running low on coal for fuel, the Cormoran put in at Apra Harbor on Guam since the United States was neutral at the time but the Americans refused to sell them any coal so the ship was stranded. The Germans spent the next several years as guests on the island until the United States declared war on Germany in 1917. Facing certain capture, the captain of the Cormoran ordered the ship scuttled. Thirteen crew members sank the ship and went down with it. Their remains are buried in the naval cemetery in Agana.
As for the Tokai Maru, she was a freighter that ran the Tokyo-New York route. When war broke out on 1941 she was taken into service by the Japanese navy and moved soldiers and supplies all over the Pacific. In early 1943 she was spotted in Apra Harbor by an American submarine who promptly fired two torpedoes, one of which hit the Maru, though she did not sink.
Seven months later another American submarine spotted the Tokai Maru sitting in Apra Harbor. Apparently she had not been repaired. The sub fired a spread of three torpedoes at the ship and dove for deeper water. After a while they checked for results and found the ship sinking from the stern. She slipped under the waves and rested sideways on the bottom of the harbor, barely six feet from the Cormoran.
Today the Cormoran and the Tokai Maru are must-dives. They rest in 120 feet of water only a few feet apart but you can reach the upper portions of the wrecks at forty feet. Both are easily accessible and visibility tends around the 40-foot range. If you are a scuba diver and live anywhere near Guam do yourself a favor and dive the Cormoran and Tokai Maru.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for over 30 years. He is a director and historian at Sealark Exploration.
