Ghost Ship Exploration with UnCruise

 

I've always been fascinated with the giant shipwreck grounded on the shallow reef on the windward side of the island of Lana'i in Hawaii. The channel here is almost always windy and wavy, which means that you can't easily get to the wreck. You especially can't get close to it. But every once in a while the winds will shift... and today was one of those days.

So I grabbed my crew and we headed out to explore the wreck with our small boats. The sun came out, really showing off the rusty red color of the hulking ship. It was a self propelled, Navy fuel barge, made out of ferro-cement. It is very strong, hence why it is still here.

The ship was contracted out to a company that was supposed to scuttle it in the mid 1950's, but instead they lost control of it in the channel, and it washed up on the shallow reef of Lana'i, where it sits today. It looks like a ghost ship, and even more so when you get up close.

The color of rust is everywhere on the ship. Steel rebar sticks out at weird angles from the crumbling cement hull. The fact that anyone built a ship out of cement is still boggling my mind.

I was surprised even more when I saw a rope strung up along the side of the ship. It looked like tetnus just waiting to happen. I would not want to try and climb through all that rusty metal, or walk on top of the deck which was sure to cave in at any moment.

One of my favorite parts were some holes in the bow. Waves would enter the holes and then pour out of the bow moments later. There is something very eerie about shipwrecks. This one in particular. But there is also something so fascinating and picturesque. We caught it on the perfect day and now I get to share it with you.