Searchers to Hunt for JFK’s WWII Boat in Pacific Depths
The undersea explorer who found the Titanic will search the Pacific Ocean around the Solomon Islands for the remains of PT-109, John F. Kennedy’s World War II boat.
Robert Ballard plans to use remote cameras to look for the 80-foot wooden-hulled patrol torpedo boat that Kennedy commanded. National Geographic is aiding the search, set for this month.
It may prove a difficult task. PT-109 sank on Aug. 2, 1943, after it was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer. Two members of Kennedy’s crew died in the collision. The young naval officer and 10 other survivors swam 15 hours to reach an island.
Kennedy pulled an injured crewmate to safety by swimming with a strap from the man’s lifejacket in his teeth. They later swam to another island, where Kennedy carved a message into a coconut and gave it to a native islander to bring to rescuers.
Ballard said PT-109 is “not lost, just misplaced, but it’s like looking for a coffin from an airplane in a zone where they’ve dumped a lot of unexploded ordnance. It’s no fun.”
A film and magazine article on the expedition are planned as part of a presentation on the 60th anniversary of World War II battles in the Pacific.
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