Not so floating crane
This is the remains of the Japanese floating crane sunk by allied aircraft in WWII. They followed it all the way from
It lies where it was bombed, on the edge of the Rabaul/Kokopo road, at Blue Lagoon.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
With the volcano in the back ground and the shipwreck in the front...I think I will enjoy my traffic jams here and live vicariously through you!
Hi Jules-in-Queensland,
Well I remember this wrecked crane at Tavui Pt on the Rabaul-Kokopo Rd only 50 odd years ago it sat considerable higher. I knew we were nearing Kokopo when we passed it and the long hot drive was soon to be over with a drink at our friends place or a picnic at the Kokopo Sports Ground.
The crane had been transported by the Japanese to lift their subs from the water and put them onto tracks to take them into the man made caves for repair and servicing.
Rabaul in the early fifties was a town covered in war debris. My schooldays were punctuated with the sound of the bomb demolition teams siren followed by the whump of the charges destroying yet another discovery of unexploded ordinance. Gordon was still assisting his army demolition friend explode this left over ordinance in the early 70's!
the main wharf at Rabaul was for many years a collection of left over fuel tanks joined together by chain. I remember it vividly because my father saved me from slipping through the bobbing tanks, narrowly. One of life's big moments.
We even lived in a tar paper house behind the New Guinea Club near Admiral Yamamoto's underground bunker which I was forbidden to enter and which I took no notice of. It smelled horrible and was spooky but going in there was a rite of passage. At Rabaul Primary there were undergroung bunkers in the school playground which daring boys would slip in to-against orders of course.
It was not uncommon to come across craters in the newly opened estates in town. We even had a Japanese skeleton in the school yard so to speak.
Poor Mum, she expected a colonial paradise and got the remains of Fortress Rabaul instead!
Your pictures sure do bring back memories. Pia
Frasier crane, perhaps!
Living history - well, sort of.
Interesting!
Happy Independence Day there Sunday - I believe
Dear Jules, we have not forgotten you. We are just a bit too busy for the moment. We hope you are having a great vacation.
Your photos are wonderful, even when you are not there :-)
Great view but why follow it from Singapure to Papua? Didn't they have nothing else to do?
Cool!
That's a great shot, too.
It's no wonder you enjoy boating around in these waters. There's so much to see.
I hope Benson is seeing his master is fed properly too !
A beautiful, majestic image. :-)
Planet Earth Daily Photo.
I read "Pia" with great interest because, as I told you, I once knew a Japanese man who was stationed on Rabaul while in the Imperial Army. And his tales were astonishing. But then I did go to Iwo Jima and did get to see the caves and skeletons and rusty rifles and things like pieces of human bones and blunted rifle rounds -- lots of this stuff just laying in the sand. It is a powerful place where you live.
I hope pia can get a hold of me as I have some questions to ask.
Thats is a true Monster of the Blue Lagoon. The history of this place blows me away, such a beautiful place yet much sadness and horror.
....some sobering stuff. Good post, Jules
Loader cranes have hydraulic powered booms fitted onto trailers. They load goods onto the trailer and the jointed sections of the boom are folded down when not in use. The loader may also be considered telescopic, as one section of the boom, in some designs, may telescope for ease of use. Look on: workboathire.com
I like your blog thanks for sharing it have a look at
Crane Service
Farana Crane
Crane Hire
Crane Rental
Post a Comment