Ship History
Orrigianlly classifed as FP-Type (Freight & Cargo), later the designation was changed to FS-Type (Freight & Suppy). The ship was design 330-D, built by Higgins Industries Shipyard, New Orleans, Louisiana. Comissioned May 19, 1944 and assigned to the South-West Pacific Area, with US Coast Guard and some Australian crew members.

Sinking History
After the war, in July 1946 the ship was being used to transport surplus US supplies and records from Sydney to Guam or Manila. It is possible that the ship was carrying all the records for the small ships operations in the South Pacific. The captain miscalculated the tides in the early morning and hit rocks near Bonu village, north of Madang, and drifted into the coral cleavers near Cape Croisilles and sank in 60-120' of water.  Its small crew were rescued by Catholic Bishop John E. Cohill, and later flown out from Madang in a B-25.

Salvage
In the late 1960s Volker Leidner salvaged the propeller from the ship, but was unable to recover it fully, only moving it closer to shore. The ship's spare prop was salvaged in 1970 by salvager Fritz Herscheid, including a bell that confirmed the ship's identity to be FS-172. He also removed copper piping, and a spare propeller. Later, the ship's propellers were removed by Kevin Baldwin and Dave Barnet.

Shipwreck
The identity of this ship was incorrectly stated to be a minesweeper that sunk after the war during a storm.

The wreck is about 45 minutes run north of Jais Aben Resort (about 50 km). There is now a large amount of coral and fish around the wreck. The wreck is still intact, has winches and cables on the deck, office items in the one hold and large object (refrigerators or freezers) in another. Much sea life is reported around the wreck.

References
New Guinea Salvage Pirate, page 108 - 113