What an incredible boat he built! Mr. SS's idea of rescuing
people in distress stemmed from the lessons he had learned from the 1946
Great Nankai Earthquake. The idea was to build a rescue boat which would
not sink in the roughest stormy seas and could navigate close to the bottom
of the sea, a safer method than going on the surface. By that time, the
trial production of the boat had already been made by this inventor Mr.
SS.
This submarine completed the last sailing around the Japanese
Archipelago around 1985 and subsequently retired from active duty. The
captain died in 1990. Thus, all its duty was completed. With the support
of a benefactor, the boat was preserved and to be permanently preserved
in the corner of Ryoma Memorial Museum at Katsurahama giving dreams to
young people.
Another ship-related happening occurred several years earlier.
Mr. Kazuo Kanda, who was an expert narrator for the planetarium of Osaka
City Science Museum, set sail on an around-Japanese Archipelago trip with
his wife and visited me when they arrived at Kochi port from Kagoshima.
Kotengo itself started on an around Japan-voyage later. Mr. SS and Mr.
Kanda knew each other very well through the planetarium project. Mr. SS,
who built East Asia's second planetarium, had been assisted in the project
by Osaka City Museum. Mr. Kanda sometimes visited Kochi to supervise the
planetarium operation. I suspect Kotengo was a result of the exchange of
ideas between them, but don't know how it actually happened.
The following incident occurred soon after the Great Eastern
Japan Earthquake in March, 2011. A friend of mine was right in the calamity.
We occasionally exchanged letters throughout the disaster. One day I received
a peculiar letter from him. According to him, after tsunami waves subsided,
an unusual boat was found moored at the shore of Kesennuma city with the
name "Kotengo" painted on the side. Also a fisherman, while sailing
after the earthquake, had seen a peculiar boat (submarine) sailing in the
bay as if drifting.
Moored "Kotengo"
"It isn't right. Kotengo should be resting at Ryoma
Memorial Museum at Katsurahama", I thought and went there to check
it. To my amazement, the Museum's garden was completely empty with no sign
of Kotengo anywhere. The information board on Kotengo was also missing.
"Where on earth has Kotengo gone?" I can't imagine the ghost
of Mr. SS had taken it away. Kotengo is gone, but when I think of the passion
that the inventor Mr. SS had, I cannot help but think his rescue boat is
working hard somewhere for sea rescue.
"Kotengo" once on display at the garden of Ryoma Memorial
Museum