Deep Dive
Member Sean Corrigan explains the appeal of the world beneath the waves.
Around 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, a large gun on a barnacle-encrusted hull points toward the Pacific waves above. The remains of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s No 50 submarine hunter, sunk during World War II, lie 30 meters below the surface.
It’s wrecks like this one in Japan’s subtropical Ogasawara archipelago that draw both recreational scuba divers and maritime archeologists.
“When you dive a wreck, you realize it’s frozen in time,” Member Sean Corrigan says. “Whatever was going on in that moment is locked in and you’re seeing it where few other people can. There’s tragedy, too, sometimes, especially with the wartime wrecks, and you think about those things when you’re down there.”
A Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)-certified master scuba diver, Corrigan, 52, pursues his passion for the deep around the Kanto coast, Okinawa and overseas to wreck sites in the United States, the Philippines and Micronesia.
Chuuk Lagoon, formerly known as Truk, is a remote atoll in the central Pacific and the final resting place of Japan’s so-called “ghost fleet”: dozens of ships and aircraft from World War II. Described by Corrigan as the “Mount Everest of wreck diving,” Chuuk is the place that inspired his interest in wrecks.
After watching a documentary on the Micronesian lagoon by Jacques Cousteau, the legendary undersea explorer, Corrigan began taking courses to understand the hazards of wreck diving, including disorientation and leftover ordnance.
He learned the dangers of exploring the remnants of naval battles firsthand when he was helping a fellow diver out of the water. The man’s buoyancy vest burst into flames after he had ignored warnings and touched tracer ammunition containing phosphorous. Their boat caught fire—nearly forcing Corrigan to swim for shore—but they managed to bring the blaze under control.
Corrigan, whose grandfather fought in the Pacific War, has long held an interest in military history. A native of Pennsylvania, he began diving with his father at 19 years old in murky strip-mine lakes. He now takes up to 30 dive trips a year around Japan and one or two abroad.
But wrecks aren’t the only attraction.
“The Kuroshio current runs up the coast and brings up wildlife because of all the food and nutrients in the water,” says Corrigan, who works in finance. “Off the coast of Shimoda in Izu, you can get schools of 200-plus hammerhead sharks, so there’s a really fascinating ocean ecosystem around Tokyo.”
Over the last decade, Corrigan has noticed a decline in the number of younger divers. In an effort to share the hobby he loves and to encourage participation (Corrigan points novices to local dive clubs like Discovery Divers Tokyo, Tokyo Frogs and Divezone Tokyo), he took up underwater photography.
The stunning images and video he shoots of wrecks and marine life, such as sand tiger sharks off the North Carolina coast, appear on social media and diving websites and in magazines.
“I feel that through photography I can get more young people into the sport,” he says. “And, for those who will never dive, this is a way to bring these stories to light.”
Sean Corrigan posts photography from his dives on Instagram.
Words: Tim Hornyak
Top image of Sean Corrigan diving off the North Carolina coast in 2019: Mike Gerken
