Million Dollar Point
At the end of the war, the US forces dumped millions of dollars worth
of heavy equipment into the sea, creating a monument to the futility
of war; Located less than half a mile from the resting place of the
President Coolidge, is a dive on surplus trucks, bulldozers and cranes
that would have been too expensive to ship back to the US and instead
were sunk.
Apparently the US offered to sell all the surplus
equipment to the local people and Government at a very low price.
However, in a gamble that failed, the locals refused to pay in the
knowledge that the Americans could only fit a small amount of the
equipment onto their ships. The thought in the back of their minds
was that the Americans would just up and leave and the equipment would
be theirs to have free of charge. This was a bad tactic as the Americans
had other ideas.
After the war, there was some salvaging of the equipment
by locals and fortune seekers. Reece Discombe, a New Zealander now
resident in Port Vila, states that in1948/9 he salvaged 14 bulldozers
and hundreds of tires. The bulldozers, despite being in the water
for more than three years, were simply dragged out, washed in freshwater,
new oil, batteries and electrics installed and they started. These
dozers were sent to Australia where they were sold to the Joint Coal
Board of New South Wales, Australia. He also reports that he salvaged
propellers, propeller shafts, copper and copper wire.
If it was located anywhere other than
a few kilometers from the SS President Coolidge, Million Dollar Point
would be a major attraction in its own right, attracting divers from
all over the world. As it is, the site is an excellent second dive
after a deep morning dive on the Coolidge. This is an extremely easy
dive, either from the shore (so long as the seas are flat) or from
a boat. As soon as you enter the water, masses of equipment can be
seen. One of the first things you can see is the wreck of the Jedele
(also reported as the Dedelle), a small island trader that was scuttled
at Million Dollar Point in the late 1970s or early 1980s. It is the
first thing seen as you approach from the eastern end of the site
with its bow pointing up to the sun.
Five or ten minutes gives you a good look around
the whole ship. Under the wreck there are a number of tracked cranes.
After leaving the wreck, start following the wreckage to the west
along the sand bottom (about 35 meters) and you will be amazed by
the type and quantity of equipment dumped here. As well as dozens
of six wheel drive Studebaker or General Motors trucks and Willys
jeeps, you will see bulldozers, tracked excavators, graders, forklift
trucks, tractors, steam-rollers, motorized scrappers, low loaders,
prime movers, semi-trailers and even scaffolding. It is sometimes
hard to figure out exactly what you are looking at, things are so
intertwined.
Come up a bit into the 15 meter range for the return
trip and you will see more wreckage. Steering wheels, spare tires,
Coke bottles and other items abound everywhere. Soon you see another shipwreck. This vessel is the
El Retiro, a 600 ton vessel, which was being used by Donald Gubbay
in a salvage attempt (both above and below the water). This ship was
apparently anchored while salvaging the equipment (in the late 1940s
or early 50s). When the tide went out, it is rumored that a dozer
blade went though the hull and it sank but Peter Stone in his book
The Lady and the President - The Life and Loss of the S.S. President
Coolidge, says that Reece Discombe (a famous early diver and discoverer
of Laperouse's ships) told him that the ship sank when the wind blew
the ship close to shore and then the tide went out and the hull was
pierced by something, but not a bulldozer blade as he had never seen
one in that area. Just desserts some may say. There is very good coral
growth on the wreck and excellent fishlife in this shallower area.
Further along you come across what looks like packs of sheets of corrugated
iron in between trucks and dozers.
Eventually you return to the bow of the Jedele. There
was a lot of material salvaged during the late 1940s and 1950s but
even so, there is still a huge amount of equipment left to see.
