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National Park of American Samoa
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A team from the SRC visited this area in July 1992. At this point the park was authorized but it was a year before the 50-year lease for the land had been signed. Superintendent Doug Cuillard was on board but had yet to hire a staff. He accompanied SRC divers on visits to all units of the proposed park. Dives were executed at several points off Tutuila including Pago Pago Harbor, and off the island of Ofu. The team visited Ta'U but did no diving there.
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| Although much of the submerged bottoms have excellent visibility and Ofu has an extraordinary coral reef system in park boundaries, we found no indications of significant cultural resources directly or indirectly related to park property. There are several shipwreck sites in the Trust Territory that would be worth investigating but none are in NPS holdings.
Also, two members of the SRC team did a brief dive in Pago Pago Harbor in an effort to locate the USS Chehalis, a fleet oiler that caught fire and was intentionally sunk just off a fueling dock. We were unsuccessful in finding the shipwe only had a window for one dive with single tankswe are told it is at a depth between 150-190 feet. We hooked something with a lead weight at 150 foot and dived there but it wasnt the ship. It should be very easy to find over a couple days even without instrumentation. Since our visit the Coast Guard and Navy have become increasingly interested in the ship and intend to conduct dives to determine what sort of environmental hazard it may present.
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- July 1992SRC team visits the island for several days to reconnoiter submerged lands of the new park. Dan Lenihan, Project Director, with archeologist Jim Bradford and photographer John Brooks.
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Related Links
National Park of American Samoa
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