This was a deeper dive to 136 feet to see numerous trucks, tractors, and a large bulldozer resting precariously on sagging hatch cover beams. The beams are bent even more than when I first dived the Hoki in 2007. There are several Isuzu and Nissan trucks lower in cargo hold #5 below the bulldozer. There is little space below decks and caustic aviation gasoline can be seen floating in the darkness. For this reason the wreck was off limits for almost 2 decades until much of the fluid dissipated.
The Hoki Maru was sank by Helldivers on February 18, 1944. She was found by the Cousteau expedition in 1969. Originally the ship was the New Zealand M/V Hauraki before being captured by the Japanese in 1942. She was a diesel powered passenger-cargo ship different from many of the steam ships of that era.
© Mark Etter Underwater Photography
