ONE of the most enigmatic places in the southern Pacific is Million Dollar Point in Vanuatu. At depths shallow enough for snorkelers, one can see dozens of trucks, jeeps, tanks and other equipment piled up and decaying in the sea. From time to time, a typhoon will even wash an engine up onto the beach. If a person did know the background of this amazing place, they could not imagine what all these vehicles and equipment are doing here. The story is more absurd than you imagine.
During the closing days of the Second World War, the United States had built a logistical supply system to get material across the ocean to the fighting front. Whenever a new island was taken, it was quickly upgraded with airfields, harbors, and warehouses so that the next campaign would go forward. As the invasion of Japan grew imminent, material was stockpiled on various islands, ready for the final push to end the war. Vanuatu was home to one such stockpile.
Then the atomic bombs came and the invasion of Japan was called off. Suddenly, all the equipment carefully assembled for the upcoming battle was superfluous. As the ports and warehouses in the United States were already clogged with the implements of war, the Americans did not want to ship all the equipment back home. Besides, the costs of moving all those trucks and spare parts would have been astronomical.
Instead, the American government offered to sell the equipment to the locals. When they refused, the items were offered for pennies on the dollar. A person could buy a truck for around $75, a jeep for about $50. It was the greatest garage sale of all time, but the islanders still were not buying.
The Americans then offered to sell the equipment to the nearby French, who were hastily putting their Pacific empire back into shape and were also facing the prospect of a war in Indochina. But they, too, declined to buy the equipment at rock-bottom prices.
So, rather than pay to move the unwanted equipment back to the mainland, they simply shoved it off the cliff into the ocean. Tens of millions of dollars’ worth sunk beneath the waves, doomed to rust away, forgotten, until divers and snorkelers found it.
Why did the islanders or the French not buy the equipment for pennies on the dollar? It seems ridiculous that they should have turned it down. I have asked around and got a few interesting answers.
Some say the islanders did not want to buy the equipment because they would not be able to maintain it. A new jeep is nice, but where can you buy gasoline in Vanuatu in 1945? Where will you get spare parts when it breaks? Without a supply chain, the equipment might only be good for short while.
Some say the Americans would have taken care of all that, but the islanders did not want to become dependent on American supplies, even if they were cheap and easy to obtain. It would open the door to economic imperialism.
I have heard another point of view that explains both the islanders and French. They believed that the Americans would eventually give them the equipment for free, so they simply held out until then. The Americans, sensing what they were up to, decided to throw the equipment away rather than be taken advantage of. After all, they were already making a most generous offer. “I sell you a new truck for $75 and you want it for free? Forget it. I would rather push it into the sea than give it to you for free.” So that is what they did.
Were the Americans right? Did the islanders and French miss a great opportunity? Hard to answer, but scuba divers sure are glad it happened the way it did.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
BC Cook
