The Espiritu Santo island It is the largest of all those that make up the Melanesian country of Vanuatu , northeastern Australia. All of Vanuatu is a popular destination for diving tourism, but this island also has an extra attraction, the Million Dollar Point , where submerging a few meters can report the discovery of tanks, jeeps and all kinds of military equipment.
Espiritu Santo was used by the Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor as a fleet supply base, port and airfield, becoming the place from which the war against the Japanese in the Pacific was organized.
At the same time, the rest of Vanuatu remained under British and French control through the New Hebrides condominium. , a fascinating political situation that we already talked about here, because everything was duplicated.
When the war ended, the Americans decided to leave the island, on which they had built roads, buildings and landing strips during the time the conflict had lasted.
The problem arose when it was considered what to do with all the weapons, military and civilian equipment and even food , which had left over of the war effort. It seems that the cost of repatriating them to the United States was too high.
So they offered them to the British and the French , at a special price, with a 94 percent discount on its value (about 6 cents for every dollar).
But they refused to accept the deal, thinking that the Americans would end up abandoning everything and, thus, they would have it for free without having to pay anything.
What they did not expect is that the US Army finally made an unusual decision, throwing everything into the sea . Vehicles, food, furniture, clothing, drinks, even tanks, were dumped off the docks on the southern coast of the island using bulldozers.
They eventually dumped these into the sea as well, making sure neither the British nor the French could get them for free.
In two days millions of dollars in material and food were destroyed or buried at the bottom of the sea, polluting the waters with fuel, metal and other waste. Of course, the local inhabitants recovered everything they could once the Americans had left.
Today anyone can snorkel or dive at Million Dollar Point among vehicles, cannons, cranes, crockery, and abandoned Coca-Cola bottles, or take something as a souvenir.
At least until the US Army comes back to clean up that mess, something that has been discussed for years.