Hello!
The boat ride out to the SS Cormoran was very interesting. Only 35 people, including a TV crew, had tickets, and we were honored to be along to remember the first shot fired for the U.S. in WWI, and the scuttling of the German ship Cormoran.
Basically, we took a boat out to the ship's grave, some native seafarers came along, and they placed a wreath and some coconuts in the water after a brief ceremony and some scriptures. The coconuts were VERY significant to the South Pacific seafaring population, and also to the battleships of both World Wars. The coconut provided food, water, and even burnable material if need be, when they ran low on coal. They also float, so a coconut provided a sanitary, safe, floatable food and water source.
Later on that day, there was a cemetary service by the graves of the German soldiers who died (most survived, but a few were discovered later to have drowned). Werner had the privledge to lay the wreath at the memorial obelisk at the cemetary. While the German POW's from this ship had nothing much to do as POW's they built this obelisk back in 1914. It is still there today, with a yearly ceremony, even though the original soldiers are long deceased.
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