Ehime Maru brought to final resting place
| • | Advertiser special: Collision at Sea: The Ehime Maru and Greeneville |
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
This morning, provided the winds and fates cooperated, the Ehime Maru completed its final journey though the waters off O'ahu.
Suspended beneath a Crowley Maritime barge, the Japanese fishing vessel slowly traversed 21 nautical miles yesterday and this morning before it was to be released to what will surely be its last resting place, 12 miles off Kalaeloa Point and 1,000 fathoms below the surface.
As the Ehime Maru sank to 6,000 feet, representatives from the Japanese fishing village of its origin, Uwajima, were to pay respects from aboard the JDS Chihaya, a Japan Self-Defense Force ship that accompanied the barge.
The Ehime Maru had carried nine of Uwajima's sons and brothers to their deaths.
Relatives of Ehime Maru crewman Hiroshi Nishida, Uwajima Fisheries High School teacher Hiroshi Makizawa and high school student Takeshi Mizuguchi arrived yesterday in Honolulu and were expected to take part in the brief ceremony above the Ehime Maru this morning, officials said.
Navy and Japanese officials shunned publicity for the final stages of a saga that began with one of the most tragic peacetime accidents in U.S. Navy history, and ended with a recovery effort that put its participants in the history books and returned the remains of eight of the nine victims to loved ones.
Coast Guard Capt. Gilbert Kanazawa, a federal coordinator for the Ehime Maru recovery project, said the project was an emotional and difficult one from the beginning.
The beginning almost defied belief, as the odds against its occurrence were so overwhelming.
On Feb. 9, the Ehime Maru was off Diamond Head, its crewmen and faculty and students of the Uwajima fisheries school putting training into practice.
Below them the captain and crew of the USS Greeneville, a Navy submarine, also practiced the skills of their trade. With a group of civilian dignitaries watching, Greeneville skipper Scott Waddle ordered the crew to conduct an emergency surfacing drill.
The Greeneville sliced into the Ehime Maru, sinking the vessel and nine members of its crew in 2,000 feet of water.
Waddle's career was ended by his failure to detect the Ehime Maru above his boat. The Navy chain of command, up to the commander in chief, apologized profusely to Japan and to the families of the men and boys who were killed.
But the families wanted more. They wanted the bodies of the victims recovered, and the fact that the salvage of a ship from water 2,000 feet deep had never been accomplished meant little to them. In the funeral rituals practiced by the families, the body of the dead plays an important role in the belief that the soul can move on.
So the Navy agreed to the salvage and recovery operation, despite a $60 million price tag. At first, the odds against success seemed high, but Kanazawa said the Navy had the best salvage and recovery teams and contractors in the world, as well as a motivation too strong to be denied.
"Everyone in the Navy felt very badly that this had happened," he said. "I think everyone wanted to do everything in their power to make the recovery operation a success."
In addition to the watchful families, the eyes of the world were on the recovery team at the beginning, as the Navy's first attempts to lift the ship in late August and early September met setbacks when parts of the lifting apparatus failed.
The team kept working, demonstrating a focus that Kanazawa attributed to the leadership of Rear Adm. William Klemm, who led the mission. Klemm's skills became particularly apparent as his team continued to work while the rest of the country grieved over the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
"It was a tremendous challenge for Admiral Klemm to keep it all focused," Kanazawa said. "He did an outstanding job."
The team successfully lifted the ship in October, slowly moved it toward a shallow-water site off Ho-nolulu International Airport's reef runway, and set the Ehime Maru down on Oct. 15.
Out of respect for the families, the Navy was careful not to seem to be celebrating its success when the fishing vessel held together throughout the operation. Instead, the divers were directed to begin their work.
Eight bodies were more than the Navy had expected to find, based on witness accounts of the position of the students, teachers and crew as the Ehime Maru went down. But Kanazawa said more than expected wasn't enough.
Seventeen-year-old Mizuguchi was the only victim whose body was not recovered, and Kanazawa said thoughts of the boy and his family weigh heavily on the minds of those who worked hard to recover him.
Klemm, upon announcing the end of the search, said Mizuguchi's mother told him her son had watched over the operation, and would remain in Hawaiian waters, watching out for all seamen.
Despite the sadness for Mizuguchi's family and the intense emotions experienced by everyone connected with the mission, Kanazawa said he thought the Navy's salvage and recovery team, and all those who assisted them, needed to take a moment to reflect on the good they had done.
The story of the Ehime Maru isn't completely over yet: Some family members have said they are considering legal action, and the Japanese government has asked the Navy to provide it with a new training vessel.
There are plans for a new Ehime memorial, and Waddle has said he still hopes to travel to Uwajima to apologize first-hand, once the legal issues are completed.
The families must learn to live with terrible holes in their lives.
Still, at least a degree of closure is warranted, Kanazawa said.
"The Navy took on this humanitarian mission, and they have completed it safely and with due respect for the Japanese people and while preserving the environment," he said. "Everyone involved can be proud that they did everything within their power and authority in the best possible manner."
