At 0430, just as the sky was turning pink at still and serene Banam Bay, all hands heaved Picton Castle‘s anchor up and set sail for the island of Espiritu Santo, 50 miles to our north. The previous evening had been our farewell gathering ashore with crew and villagers dancing to homemade string band music and tasting of kava. Even Dawson tasted it. I knew he would not like it so I said ok when he asked to try. One tablespoon was enough for him! Wise in his youth. While the party was going on Dan was building a table for Dixon nearby.
The crew sailed the ship off the hook quite smartly. No engine noise. No noise at all except when we blew the big horn to say goodbye. Folks get up early at Banam Bay anyway. It looked like we would be having a swift transit under sail, but the wind slackened too much to get there in daylight so we fired up the trusty main engine, the Danish Alpha. Once along the coast of Malekula, then past Malo, Tutuba Islands and with Aore Island to port we entered the Segund Channel off the town of Luganville on the island of Espritu Santo. We got anchored before dark off what’s called the BP wharf, named for it being once belonging to Burns Philp, a major trading firm back in the day. The anchorage was deep with good holding. The problem was we were quite close to shore. If we dragged or had a problem there would be little time to get sorted. I wanted to get alongside the big solid commercial wharf as it was going to breeze up.
If alongside we could have a lighter watch system for the crew so they could get off and see more of Santo. But for the time being there were two container ships at the dock and another one awaiting a turn at the wharf. We would need to wait for them to sail. The port captain/ship’s pilot was both an impressively excellent ship handler getting those big ships shoehorned in and very accommodating to us. A true gent. After a couple days at anchor and with night descending, these ships barely gone, we got the anchor back and went alongside for the evening – we did this with only half the crew aboard, in a rain squall and they did an outstanding job. And now I felt much more secure in this large and very deep harbour. Anchoring in 150 feet of water is fine for an aircraft carrier or troop ship but a bit deep for the Picton Castle.
Of course, this sound and town were a massive WWII military base. There is so much to see in this regard alone. Old abandoned bomber and fighter plane air strips, downed aircraft in the bush, and even underwater. These fighter bombers and B-17s would be ditching lacking fuel after fighting over the Solomons to the northwest. There was no combat in this area. But it was where James Michner was posted and later wrote “Tales Of The South Pacific” which evidently was based very solidly on real events and people, all cleverly muddled to avoid hurt feelings. Maybe the musical is not so much a history.
What to do? What did the crew do?
Well, Million Dollar Point is must-see. The story is told that the Americans offered the rather huge inventory of jeeps, bulldozers, tractors and trucks to the French/English condominium government return to power at pennies on the dollar. These two thought that the Yanks would just leave it all anyway so they declined to buy any of it for cash. They would just take it over when the Americans went home. So the Yanks just drove it all into the sea, and had fun doing so. Put on a swim suit, drive a jeep off a dock at speed, jump out, swim ashore, do it again. This is a great snorkleing and dive site, but even just walking along the shore there is so much rusted material and ankle deep in broken thick coke bottles that have been getting worn down for almost 80 years. All embedded into the coral matrix now or rolling about in the small waves. But still easily recognisable. We also saw a downed fighter bomber in the woods with a nine cylinder radial engine. Pretty banged up. Not looking like anyone walked away from that? It was just a short walk from the road. This stuff is still everywhere.
Some dove on the SS Coolidge, an ocean liner troop carrier that hit a mine on the way in so the Captain rammed the ship on to the shore. Of the 5,000 men aboard two died. But there she lays with all her holds still full of gear. Chockablock. Now a famous dive site.
Champagne Beach. Maybe the prettiest beach you ever saw anywhere, with the finest creamy sand. Dawson and Donald loved it. About an hour out of town.
Blue holes: these are freshwater swimming holes deep in the woods that are just stunning. There are four of them nearby. Just beautiful.
And what a diverse population in Santo. People looking and dressing so different from each other. There were even guys walking around in loin cloths. Just in line in front of you at any one of the zillion Chinese stores.
And maybe what must be the best hardware store, Santo Hardware, I have ever seen in my life. Had everything! Never seen the like – anywhere.
Brad Wood, managing director of said store, came up to the ship one morning, accompanied by two staff members, and bearing gifts. In his view, Picton Castle had been a loyal customer of theirs over the many years she had called at Luganville. True that. So an exchange of gifts took place: two genuine WWII Coke bottles, one deliciously sweet pineapple and one Santo Hardware umbrella for Picton Castle, we reciprocated with hats, photographs and bumper stickers. All after giving our three visitors a cook’s tour of the ship.
It turns out that Brad is one very active Luganville community member. He also happens to be the chair of the South Pacific WWII Museum in Luganville. The two Coke bottles were from the museum’s collection, being representative of two eras: one early bottle with its signature green tinge, featuring date and manufacturing location marks, in excellent shape. The other a 1944 iteration, clear glass (the copper removed from the silica to boost the war effort). Brad imported new-old-stock original wartime bottle caps, filled the bottle with Coke, and sealed it up. Voila! As if it came straight from the Coke machine, 1944.
Is a government that exports millions of Coke bottles to the benefit of their troops in the Pacific really concerned about losing the war? You make up your own mind.
The Hotel Espiritu became the crew headquarters. With a nice swimming pool and billiards table and gracious staff who looked after all with such charm and friendliness. Hats off to Cindy, Jane and Bizzy. They all came to vist the ship as well.
And even the folks at Customs and Immigration could not have been any nicer.
But sail we must, ever westward….