Meeting the President

SportDIVER, March 2005 by Neil Bennett

Visit Neil’s website at www.sevenseasexplorer.net

Vanuatu is a small island in the south Pacific which would, perhaps, be dismissed as “just another tropical dive destination” if it wasn’t for the presence of a hulking great 196-metre-long Vessel, the SS President Coolidge — one of the largest diveable Military wrecks in the world.

For anybody who is serious about wreck diving, this has to be in the top-five wreck dives in the world.

At long last, my epic journey around the world was coming to an end and, finally, I arrived in a small country known as Vanuatu, located in the south pacific not too far away from Fiji. Vanuatu consists of a number of small islands and the largest, Santo, was to be my final destination.

As I left the aero plane at Santo airport, the hot, humid afternoon air hit me like a boxer’s punch. I walked swiftly across the hot tarmac and into a small departure and arrival’s lounge consisting of one room. A mass of people were gathered together — some waiting to board the plane that I had arrived on, some waiting to collect passengers — all mixed together and impossible to separate. Collecting the baggage took no time at all as it was simply dumped on to a wooden counter and left for you to retrieve. It was with great relief when, at last, I saw the smiling, friendly face of Tim Gilder, who I had met some 12 months earlier in London when I was trying to plan this venture. I couldn’t believe that I was finally going to meet him. After several failed attempts and almost two years of planning, all was now coming together.

Tim was going to drop me at the Deco Stop Lodge and informed me that everything had been arranged for the briefing before the initial meeting the following day. The excitement grew with the anticipation of this encounter and of her enormous reputation.

The Deco Stop was a breath of fresh air in the hot day. Situated at the top of a hill above a small town called Luganville, the Deco Stop commanded panoramic views over the bay and across to a neighboring island called Aore, which itself was covered in lush rainforests and completed the setting for a relaxing stay in Vanuatu.

We were up bright and early the following morning and set off to the meeting area. This was well hidden along a beach and within a small palm-tree wood with dense vegetation. My guides for the coming week were going to be two gentlemen from different centres: Tim Guilder from Alan Power Dive Tours, and Barry Holland, owner of Aquamarine. Both are extremely experienced with the President Coolidge and, I was to find out, both excellent divers.

The two dive centres work closely together, complementing each other in their respective specialist fields on promoting the finer aspects of diving on the President Coolidge. The wreck has massive potential for everybody, yet it needs the operators who managed it to be co-operative in how the diving is to be conducted — and the reef protected — if the Coolidge is to become a true diving Mecca. On the evidence that I have seen, the future looks very good.

As you descend to the bow you are left in no uncertain terms that this is, indeed, a huge vessel.

The briefing covered the agenda for the week ahead and was to include safety procedures and decompression techniques – all standard procedure for divers about to visit to the Coolidge for the first time.

All decompression stops would take place on the reef at the various staged levels of 12m, 9m, 6m, and 3m.Additional gas cylinders were all set up at each point in the event of an air problem. Hip-slung stage cylinders would be carried for the decompression routines containing a 60 per cent Nitrox mix-we would be running on air tables, and the Nitrox was to be used to provide an extra margin of safety.

The wreck itself couldn’t be easier to find. Fully kitted up on the beach, you can simply stroll into the sea for about 40 metres and then descend past the deco stop and follow a line that runs directly to the tip of the bow 20m below.

Divers wishing to access areas of the wreck at various points towards the bow are required to undertake a surface swim to one of several buoys marking various sections of the ship, at approximately 50 metres and 150 metres (midships), thereby maximizing both air and bottom times. This is a sensible thing to do when you consider that the overall length of the vessel is 196m. While the Coolidge is still fully intact and lying on her port side, she is also resting on a slope and this account for the bow lying in a depth of 30m and the stern at 72m.

To fully appreciate the size of the vessel, you need to compare the President Coolidge to other ships that everybody uses as a benchmark for scale, such as the 294metre Titanic, or her sister ship the slightly smaller, 259metre Britannic. It is also worth nothing that while the Titanic is in depths only reachable by submersible vehicles and not free-swimming divers, the Britannic also resides in such a depth that she can also be reached by the most highly trained divers involved in detailed expeditions. The President Coolidge, on the other hand, is accessible to all competent divers, and the deeper, lower decks to trained technical Trimix divers.

The President Coolidge has been thoroughly documented in the past, ranging from best-selling books to many magazine articles, describing the onset of her construction with the majestic fittings and a style fit for any true president, past or present, to her fateful end in Espiritu Santo in World War Two. On 26 October 1942, when trying to access the segond channel for safe passage into Luganville, the President Coolidge struck two US mines that brought an early end to this great vessel.

Incredibly, the Coolidge had over 5,500 US troops on board and the quick action from Captain Henry Nelson in breaching the Coolidge certainly prevented a major disaster in the loss of life, with only two men dying in the sinking. Firemen Robert Reid lost his life in the initial explosion, and Captain Elwood Euart died after refusing to leave any of his men on board-he stayed until every last man reached safety, unfortunately leaving no time for his own evacuation. Captain Elwood Euart went down with the ship and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery.

After the incident, the US Navy tried to charge Captain Nelson with various accounts of negligence but, in the subsequent trial, the military tribunal acquitted the captain on the grounds that the US Navy had failed to equip the captain with the correct details about the mines in the segond channel.

As you descend to the bow you are left in no certain terms that this is, indeed, a huge vessel. The bow is still fully intact and points forcefully towards you as you move over her. The hull is an entire coral reef in its own right and is covered in life, to the extent that is difficult to distinguished between the artillery shells and the coral that has grown around and over them. Beautiful staghorn coral and gorgonian seafans hang from the keel like curtains draping on the centre stage of a theatre, and all across the side of the hull are anemones and hard corals that shelter an abundance of reef fish. Juvenile species of fish could be found everywhere- Velvet-black batfish with a bar of shinning orange across their backs, tiny rock wrasse who resemble a piece of dead leave washing around in the surge, and young sweetlips that resemble a mambo dancer twirling her skirts as they swim between the corals.

An even more-stunning area is the hole that runs across the hull on cargo holds one and two. Coral growths have become so strong it is difficult to move safely inside the wreck without the fear of brushing against the growths. The corals hung in massive clumps of all colours on both walls, grabbing every inch of space that point towards the light. It won’t belong before this entry point is closed due to coral growth.

Those of you who want to become certified to dive mixed gases or extended-range qualifications, Aquamarine presents the perfect opportunity to train and qualify.

Everywhere you move there is stunning evidence of how the Coolidge is transforming into a beautiful reef. Every gaping hole is occupied by schools of fish taking refuge in the Coolidge’s protective shell, and every change in contour provides an anchorage to some form of coral life.

It is not until you move into the interior of the ship do you truly get the impression of a lonely, dark, forbidden place. As you move deeper into the depths, her silence and stillness have an overwhelming fascination that beckons you to search deeper and deeper. Time is beginning to take its toll on the Coolidge, and certain areas that have been more exposed are beginning to suffer from the corrosion that inevitably takes place. But this doesn’t spell the end of the Coolidge because as one door closes with the collapse of its surrounds, another door opens revealing new passages, rooms and pathways to unexplored parts of the ship. The ship is far from being completely explored, and all of the rooms contain artifacts that were in place when the ship sunk.

Testimony to this is the trip to the doctor’s surgery, which involves a long surface swim to the midship mooring and a subsequent deep dive entering the hull at approximately 45m. After moving along a few corridors and then making a sharp turn, as you roll over on to your back you are faced with an eerie sight. Objects lay on the floor covered with silt — capsules of valium, stethoscopes, first-aid boxes and even a container that contains an appendix in preservative are all visible.

There are many routes and many subjects of interest, ranging from jeeps stacked together and rifles and helmets scattered around the decks to the fittings of the original ballroom and the “Lady”, who keeps watch over the Coolidge. While there are plenty of areas to explore that are in reach for most divers, deeper areas such as the doctor’s surgery are only open to advanced divers, and even a lot of these areas are only suitable for Trimix divers.

One such dive is to investigate the engine room, deep in the dark depths of the wreck. The dive is again a deep dive to approximately 48m, and to gain access involves moving along a corridor and into the confinement of the engine room.

There is an extra hazard to contend with — silt, and lots of it! A careless fin stroke will certainly result in zero visibility. If care is taken, you will be rewarded with a spectacular dive. The brass instruments and gauges are still reading the final actions of the captain as he stopped all engines. Next to these instruments is one of the huge propulsion motors, which tower above you. You can still see the details of the electrical coils inside whose size defies any description. Next to these are massive condensers, equal in scale to the engine itself. It is very rare to be able to see an intact engine room in a shipwreck, however the Coolidge provides you with that opportunity.

Heading back up from the engine room you can explore some more areas of the wreck. Passing through a few more passages, you come across the galley, containing plates stacked in a holder that resembles a magazine rack loaded in preparation to eject the next shell. Next to this are two cookers and the counter, in readiness to serve the next customer.

As you move up the ship, more of the interior is revealed to you. This is one reason why Trimix is a must — to really justify the dive you need to spend some time here and explore this areas rather than rushing the dive to reduce decompression times.

You may be surprised to hear that Nitrox is provided by both dive operators, and Trimix is available to qualified divers from Aquamarine. Those of you who want to become certified to dive mixed gases or extended-range qualifications, Aquamarine presents the perfect opportunity to train and qualify under TDI. The Coolidge has got to be the perfect place to learn to dive at depth in clear, warm waters in the most-interesting environment. In stark contrast to the technical world, Allan Power Dive Tours offer training and courses in underwater photography, with the ability to edit and view your images in a relaxed, comfortable setting at HQ. The Coolidge provides an ideal setting for macro images and wide-angle wreck shots. The contrast between reef life and historic wreck provides endless subject matter.

Summary

While the President Coolidge lies in her final resting place, this is by no means the end of the story. In the death of this great ship, new life has been given to an incredible reef system. As the ship decays, rich minerals feed the coral system that are flourishing in vast sizes and colours, even at a depth of 35m. And as you expect with a rich coral reef, there are prolific numbers of fish. Even better still is the fact that a large part of the wreck lies in deeper water, attracting fish such as pelagics and other ocean species.

For anybody who is serious about wreck diving, this has to be in the top-five wreck dives in the world. It has everything you could want in this category of adventure diving, and offers the opportunity to advance your diving with specialist courses run by two outfits that really know what they are doing. And all of this in warm, crystal-clear water!

Don’t be put off by the distance, it really isn’t that bad. Just sit back and relax, you will truly have an experience of a lifetime.