Historians think there are only five boats to have survived to the present day since the 1941 attack by the Japanese military on the United States Navy base in Pearl Harbour. One of them is right here in Tortola waters.
Like other ships designated “YO” by the US Navy in the 1940s, this one was a fuel oil barge. According to US hobby historian Michael Cochran, the ship remained in service fuelling warships throughout World War II.
Mr. Cochran first noticed the 144-foot vessel when he was visiting the territory on vacation.
“I pretty much just take pictures of old things,” said the Texan, who describes himself as a historian and a preservationist. Something about the now rusting Kodiak Queen caught the visitor’s attention, and the more he looked into the boat’s history, the more interested he became.
“It’s got this whole story of Pearl Harbour,” said Mr. Cochran, who has interviewed several sailors from the boat. “Apparently during the attack it was filled with airplane fuel. Luckily, it was small enough to escape the attention of the bombers.”
Four of the six vessels that were sunk or destroyed during the attack were battleships.
Only 12 sailors were stationed on the YO-44 on the day of the attack. One, who was interviewed by a Washington newspaper in 1991 but has since died, recalled his time on the fuel barge vividly.
“It wouldn’t have been so bad if you’d had anything to defend yourself with,” Bob Farnham told the Kitsap Sun. “But without it, you were sitting on a time bomb.”
“They wanted us as far from anything as they could get us,” Mr. Farnham said at the time.
Fellow sailor Bob White, interviewed by a Texas newspaper in 2001, remembered a close call that day for the YO-44 crew, who were standing dockside after one of the moves.
“This plane came over us, and as soon as it passed us it started machine gunning this big tanker,” Mr. White told The Messenger. “If he started a little earlier, he’d got all of us.”
Not that the ship survived the war unscathed. In 1944, Navy records show, the YO-44 was damaged by fire while in the Solomon Islands.
After the Navy
According to NavSource, a volunteer organisation dedicated to preserving US Navy history, the ship earned a battle star for its service in WWII before it was struck from the Navy register sometime in the early 1960s.
The ship then sailed under the Liberian flag for several years, according to the book World War II US Navy Vessels in Private Hands by Greg Williams. In 1967, the boat was sold to Kodiak Queen Fisheries, a Seattle, Washington-based fishing company.
In 1983, the boat again had a brush with heroism, according to a record of Alaska shipwrecks. On Sept. 5 of that year, another fishing vessel, the Sacco, caught fire near False Pass, Alaska. Forced to abandon ship in a skiff, crewmembers were rescued by the Kodiak Queen.
Faced with declining fishing stocks in 2004, the Deep Sea Fishers Union voted to downsize their fleet, accepting a $100 million government buyout to remove 25 vessels from the fishery in an attempt to keep fishing viable for the remaining fishing boats, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. The Kodiak Queen was one of those cut.
The following year, the ship was registered in Cruz Bay, St. John by Global Marine LLC. The company, whose vessels are ferries and tour boats in that territory, still owns the boat, said Stanley Hedrington, the company’s owner. The boat hasn’t been registered with US authorities since 2007.
Mr. Hedrington said recently that he has been in contact with officials in the VI for some time about the vessel and others in the territory. He also said he’s had some interest from possible buyers.
“We’re going to be sailing it down to Trinidad to restore it,” he said, adding that the moving process for the boat would get under way soon.
The boat is one of eight vessels declared derelict by the BVI Ports Authority slated for removal under an upcoming government contract. Potential bidders for the removal were asked to submit their bids by Sept. 12, and one bidder will be selected “shortly,” said BVIPA Public Relations Officer April Glasgow.
Possible preservation
Full restoration for such a vessel would be a massive undertaking, said VI marine historian Geoffrey Brooks.
“I haven’t taken a close look at it, but as a steel boat, you’d have a lot of work to do on it,” Mr. Brooks said.
He added that the boat’s planned purpose would dictate the cost of any repairs.
“If you were going to park it and make it a floating museum, that would be a little easier than if it would be moving around,” he said.
Although there may not be many who feel a strong connection to World War II in the VI, there is a significant VI affiliation to that war, Mr. Brooks said. In the 1940s, Bourne Field, a US military base in St. Thomas, provided substantial employment for people from this territory.
Today, the boat would make a good dive site, added Erik Miles, executive director at the St. Thomas Historical Trust.
Even though a fuel tanker isn’t very glamorous as far as military ships go, the fact that the vessel is one of only five to have survived this long means it has a significant historical value, which could translate into a popular attraction for divers, he explained.
The practice of turning old vessels into artificial reefs is common, he said, adding that decommissioned Coast Guard cutters are often used for this purpose.
Sinking the boat would also mean a lower cost than restoration, Mr. Miles said, although associated clean-up costs would still be significant.
Because of its connection to the Pearl Harbour attack, the vessel is historically important, said VI historian Dr. Mitch Kent.
“Pearl Harbour is very much a seminal moment in American history,” Dr. Kent said. “To some Hawaiian investor it might be really valuable to give tours.”
{fcomment}