SEALARK Exploration is a New Zealand-based search and recovery company that researches and locates historic shipwrecks and downed aircraft. On a recent trip to the Solomon Islands, the team dove the area around Tulagi, the seat of colonial government in pre-war times and a major military installation during the Second World War. Follow along as Ewan Stevenson describes the dive where they found the HMCS Ranadi:
“The HMCS Ranadi (Official No. 118258) was the British Solomon Islands Protectorate vessel used by several Resident Commissioners in the 1920 -1930s and was built in 1903. It was described as a ‘wood burner’ and was some 300-tons in size. Locals called it the ‘Government’ ship.
“In October 1927, the steamer was infamously used by Resident Commissioner Captain Richard R. Kane for a punitive expedition in response to the assassination of the Malaita District Officer William Bell, cadet officer Kenneth C. Lillies, and thirteen police officers on 5 October 1927. Kane armed the vessel with a BSA 1915 Mk. II Lewis .303-inch machine gun. The little steamer accompanied the 5,560-ton cruiser HMAS Adelaide (I47) and the 9,390-ton collier HMAS Biloela to the murder site at Sinalagu Harbour on Malaita’s east coast. A few Kwaio people were responsible, but all were hunted down, innocent or not, and about sixty were shot and killed. Some 198 were captured and imprisoned on Tulagi. It is estimated that about thirty died in prison mostly due to dysentery and six were hanged.
“Official correspondence eventually complained about the running costs of Ranadi and by the start of 1930’s, the vessel was derelict on a mooring in the backwater of Tulagi Harbour. By 1931, the ship’s registry had closed, and the Ranadi had sunk on the mooring due to neglect. In October 1942, a radical geopolitical change occurred in the region, a world war was raging, and the U.S. Navy established Motor Torpedo Base No. 1 in the calm of Sasape Bay. The base became the headquarters for the Motor Torpedo Boats, South Pacific. For the next four years, the Ranadi was subjected to PT Boat’s powerful 1200 horsepower 4M-2500 Packard gasoline engines rumbling overhead almost every day.
“The wreck of the Ranadi is known but not common knowledge. The Dontas salvage group worked the wreck for non-ferrous metals in the early 1970’s. Sealark has worked consistently over some years to track the site down. Search dives were conducted northwards from the USS Minneapolis (CA-36) bow wreck but results were negative. There had been much misinformation and false leads, and a more recent failed search dive on the 23 November 2024. In April 2024, Sealark used a YUCO AUV to obtain images and positional data of the wreck and on the 4 May 2025, MPF MBES survey ran over the wreck and a super-accurate WADGPS was obtained.
“Confidently, on the morning of 11 June 2025, Matt Wray and Ewan Stevenson dropped a shot line on the WADGPS mark. The harbour was like glass and a bright, beautiful, day. Descending the line, the wreck came into view with about eight meters of visibility. The shot line was on the mid-line inside the wreck, just in front of the bridge. This was perhaps the first dive in more than twenty years and the culmination of a lot of work on the part of Sealark. For a vessel built in 1901, the wreck was found to be in good condition, with the hull still complete and intact.
“Matt Wray documented with video assisted by Bigblue lights which cut through the gloom. I shot still images. This may be the first occasion the site had been recorded in photographs and video. For extra safety on the ascent, a long decompression stop was made despite no decompression stop being required for our dive profile. The exciting, interesting dive was over too quickly.
“The Ranadi is a rare archaeological site. It may be the only colonial government shipwreck in the South Pacific and is certainly the most accessible and complete vessel of such vintage known in the Solomon Islands at present.”
The Sealark Exploration team is currently processing the information obtained regarding the Ranadi and hopes to deliver it to the Solomon Islands government soon. Another chapter in their history has been written. To keep up with what Sealark is doing, visit their website, follow them on Facebook, and tell your friends.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
