World War Two came to the Solomon Islands in early 1942 when the Japanese invaded and began construction of a military airfield on Guadalcanal. If completed this would have enabled further Japanese advances into the South Pacific and even Australia.
In August the US marines landed and after several months of extremely bloody fighting the Japanese troops were effectively isolated. Attempts by the Japanese to re-supply their forces on Guadalcanal included beaching the freighters Hirokawa Maru and Kinugawa Maru at Bonegi beach. Gunfire from land based artillery, destroyers and air attacks sank the freighters in the shallows and the resulting wrecks are now simply known as Bonegi 1 and Bonegi 2.
Bonegi 1 is the most dived wreck in the Solomon Islands, and justifiably so because it is an excellent dive. By land it is just a few minutes drive along the coast from Honiara and lies against the beach. The ship rests on its port side on a sloping sand base with the bows at the surface in 5 metres of water and the stern past 50 metres. The wreck is far from intact. In the shallow water at the bows, wave action and rust has reduced it to a rat’s nest of girders and plates. Amidships commercial salvers have blown the engine room area apart. Towards the stern it is possible to swim through semi-intact holds and corridors.
As with any structure in a coral reef area, the wreck is teeming with life. The outer surfaces are covered in an encrusting coat of hard corals with vividly coloured soft corals hanging from walls and overhangs. Brightly coloured sweetlips rest in the shade.
In the remains of the holds rests a variety of cargo including boxes of rifle ammunition, reportedly captured from the British during the Japanese invasion of Singapore. One of the most unusual items on the wreck was a sewing machine. Although an obvious shape, a sewing machine was so out of context that it took me quite a while to work out what it actually was.
Naval actions in the Solomons have resulted in the stretch of water between Guadalcanal and the Floridas earning the name “Iron Bottom Sound” due to the large number of wartime wrecks, though many are beyond sport diving depths.