Figure 1:
This boat was towed into Truk lagoon (at Baker Dock) several days after an above-ground bomb test.  Note the number "OT-25" (or "OJ-25") that appears on the hull.  Click on an image for a larger picture. Warning:  These are very large images!

Forward:

In the early 1950's, my mother lived, with her mother, stepfather, and siblings for several years on various islands in the South Pacific.

For those familiar with history in any way, one may realize that this time coincided with numerous above-ground tests of thermonuclear devices in this part of the world - some of which have become rather infamous (e.g. the "Lucky Dragon" incident.)  This boat was not the Lucky Dragon:  The story of that vessel is well-publicized and the boat itself is currently on display in Japan.

The Story:

The "back-story" - boiled down to simple facts - is this:

• An above-ground test had happened a several days before.
• The boat had been found (apparently adrift) at sea and had been towed to Truk by another boat.  The top picture was taken before the boat was moved into the lagoon.  For whatever reason, the lagoon was cleared of other boats before this one was brought in.
• The crew consisted of several men of asian descent (Japanese or Chinese?) aboard this boat.  All but one were dead or critically ill when the boat appeared in the lagoon.  The one remaining man was sick when he came ashore and (reportedly) later died.
• My grandmother (and her husband - my "step-grandfather" who was, at the time, one of the hospital/medical personnel) went aboard the boat and observed that it contained equipment that was not, in their opinion, consistent with what you'd expect to see on a typical fishing boat.  My mother (11-12 years old at the time) did not go aboard and took at least some of these pictures from shore.  The people seen in the lower two pictures include my grandmother and step-grandfather.
  
• Within a day or so, U.S. government workers took both the boat and the sailor(s) away immediately with no further information given.
• There was a reported fish kill in the lagoon over the next several days/week.

Figure 2:
Close-up/enhanced images of the sign above the wheelhouse of the boat.
Click on the image for a larger version.
If you are able to translate this script, please let me know.

These are consistent details that I'd heard on different/separate occasions from both my Mother (who was 11-12 years old at the time) and my Grandmother (now deceased, having died of a blood disorder - Myelodysplastic Syndrome) - My "step-grandfather" died long before I would have the opportunity to ask about it.  I have omitted most other details of what they personally speculated happened or what they thought that the purpose of the boat happened to be - most of it based on later rumor and unscientific speculation.  Shortly after posting this web page, I ran across mention on a SCUBA-related web page relating a very similar story (referring to Baker Dock at Truk) in which a boat and its crew was caught in fallout from a test and the boat was later scuttled and is now one of the many wrecks on which enthusiasts dive:  I am still trying to determine the source of this story.

These pictures came from Kodachrome 35mm slides taken at the time and are the only ones known to exist.  Unfortunately, the film for these slides sat, exposed but undeveloped, for a year or two until they could be processed, and the slides mounts themselves bear no imprint of the processing date:  At the moment, the closest narrowing of the date (without further scrutiny of family memorabilia, etc.) would place it in the range of mid 1953 through 1954.

What's in a name?

The pictures contain some information that may aid in the identification of this vessel.  The bottom two pictures, in particular, were taken at a close enough range that some detail of the sign above the wheelhouse can be discerned.  It is unfortunate, however, that these details are somewhat obscured by the resolution of the film and that of the lens on the camera itself:  In other words, these images show all detail that it is possible to extract from the film.

These two pictures show two very different attempts at sharpness/image enhancement (removing color in the process and thus removing much of the chromatic aberration) to attempt to bring out additional detail.  Between this script and the "OT-25" (or possibly "OJ-25" on the hull) it may be possible to identify this boat.

Initial attempts at deciphering this script by Japanese speakers indicate that the left-most of these Kanji characters would appear to be "Maru" - roughly meaning "boat" (or, at least, is commonly used in that manner.)  The far-right character (two boxes) would appear to be a symbol that has the approximate meaning of "prosperous" or "glorious."

To my surprise, the center character seems to be stumping those trying to decipher it.  The current "best guess" would appear to be a symbol meaning "carry" or "move" or even "fortune."  Remembering that this would be read from right to left, this would mean that the boat's name would literally be something like "Prosperous Fortune Boat" or simply "The Prosperous Fortune."  Of course, this is a (mostly uneducated) guess.

For a bit more information about "Maru" and the naming convention of Japanese boats, look at this entry in the Wikipedia.
 

Figure 3:
This picture was taken on Truk, shortly after an above-ground bomb test and soon after or before the above pictures.
Click on the image for a larger version.

The other pictures:

The other pictures have been minimally enhanced:  Only minor color correction was done, the images were upsampled to double size using a cubic algorithm, slightly sharpened, and cropped slightly to remove the slide mount from the frame:  The scratches on the slides and mold/mildew damage are clearly visible.

On a related topic, here is a picture that was taken hours after one such test, having been taken some time hours or a day, perhaps) after a detonation.  The entire reason that this picture was taken was due to the the odd cloud formations and the eerie calmness of the ocean. (This last picture has had some color correction and scratch/dust removal done to compensate for dye fading and damage.)  It is not certain, but it is believed that this picture was taken at about the same time as the arrival of the boat.

If you have any more information or some questions, please send email.

This page last updated 20080212.