Mystery at Sea (page 3 of 6)

Finally, a Clue

The Japanese historian who responded to Lt. Col. Richard Lane's request for information on the Kano Maru sent these notes about a battle that took place off Kiska, an island in the Aleutians, in 1942.



31 July
05:47 Torpedoed by submarine Grunion (SS-216). One hit at machinery room starboard; main engine and generator stopped.

05:57 Second torpedo came but passed below the ship.

06:07 Third and fourth torpedoes came, hit forebridge and amidships on the port, but both duds. Grunion surfaced. Kano Maru's forecastle gun fired; fourth shot hit the conning tower of the sub. It is thought the last of Grunion.



Lane's find was posted on the Grunion's page on the website of COMSUBPAC, the U.S. Navy's submarine command for the Pacific Fleet. The fate of the long-lost sub would now reach families who'd spent six decades wondering.

But the discovery raised a new question: If the Grunion was sunk near Kiska, could anyone locate it?

Commander Abele's youngest son, John, got lucky. First he found himself in the company of Robert Ballard when he attended a speech given by the famed oceanographer. Ballard is credited with, among other things, finding the wreck of the Titanic in 1985. When John told him all about the Grunion and the recent developments, Ballard was hooked. He offered advice and put John in touch with a Seattle-based underwater search and salvage company, Williamson & Associates. Then it turned out that an Abele neighbor in Massachusetts was a part-time fisherman in Alaska. He helped engage the 165-foot commercial fishing vessel Aquila as a platform for the search expedition.

All this costs money, something the Abele brothers had -- John cofounded the biotech giant Boston Scientific, and Bruce coinvented Polaroid's Big Shot camera. They underwrote the entire cost of the search.

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