Karl is being modest in his tale of reaching the Battery Koehler Fire Control as the undergrowth is vicious and unrelenting. Conrad and myself visited the same FC a couple of days later - we exited the battery from the same point but crossed between the two gun pits and then along the ridge facing Battery Crofton. It was a painful and tiring process, and worst (as Karl found) even though you have cut a path getting there it is still easy to loose your way on the return.
Over the last few visits I have concentrated on two aspects:
Service TunnelsFirst, looking through the various service tunnels and ducts of which Battery Greer has the most (or at least it appears that way as they are the most accessible). Is there much to see - No.
But, they have a couple of surprises:
Given its location (ie. if you wanted a piece of wood it would be far easier to cut down a tree than lug this bit up) I think this is the last remains of wooden fixtures or furniture from the Fort. Maybe I am wrong but I like the idea:
And then this third cliff entrance, which faces into the inlet on the eastern side of the Fort - the cliff you see at the end is actually the far side of the inlet:
Photo no longer available (will repost once I have the chance)
To clarify the numbering used, I consider the first cliff entrance as the well known one off the Battery Greer main tunnel (with a view of the desalination plant bay).
The second being the powerhouse discharge (?) on the western side, with the vertical opening. Again, a familiar site from the boat if traveling along the north west side of the island. This tunnel
may also serve as access to the secondary FC station
Gillespie (others on this site will no doubt be able to immediately understand the various coastal defense symbols used on the maps - I do not so at times my
naming may be wrong), as there is a vertical shaft to the surface:
Command and Fire Control Posts:The other aspect I have been concentrating on are the Battery Command and Fire Control posts and other structures around the island:
The Japanese, and Chinese writing, came from the plotting room in the Turrets Drum / Greer Fire Control installation - One wall from left to right:
Zg654
My brother had this to say:
The left side of the left photo looks like Japanese, although I
can't really make it out, but the parts shown in the righthand and
middle photos are poems written in Chinese (I suppose that an
educated Japanese officer could have written Chinese poetry, but I
don't really know). It is hard to make out all the characters, but
the first two lines of the poem on the middle photo is something like"This year to repay my feelings for my country, if I sacrifice my life
in righteousness it will be of no consequence".I have been surprised that this has not attracted interest as I found it quite intriguing. While many troops from Taiwan served in the Japanese army (and who I guess could write Chinese) the poem seems to be from someone who was ready to die for their own country. If I was Taiwanese sacrificing my life for Japan would not be high on my list of priorities. As for a Manchurian ....
The lower plotting room at Battery Koehler FC, as visited by Karl, is empty:
That is except for a small pipe in the corner through which you can see light. At the time I did not realise the significance (so did not take a photo or even think to look through it....or even wonder why there was light ... odd) but from the sea looking up there is a corner overhanging the cliff with that same pipe seen:
To finish off the trio of major fire control installations is Battery Crofton. Like the rest empty and damaged but still with interesting points:
For these three installations access to the lower level plotting rooms is only possible by (a) using the tree branch /trunk as favoured by the scrapper or (b) using a rope etc. as favoured by myself. While carrying the extra equipment is annoying (especially since quite a long rope is required to ensure safe anchorage) it is preferable to the semi decayed branch of unknown age or strength:
Aside from this my travels have taken me from one end of the island to almost the other end, encompassing three major searchlight positions, one large (and deep) shelter, trenches, stairs & concrete paths and various remains of buildings and mounts. As Karl's pictures show, another quite common feature (and a dangerous one) are the various vertical shafts.
Walking through the undergrowth is hard and so there are other features which I failed to investigate, including two possible underground shelters where I could see there was something but did not have the energy to go beyond a superficial (but unsuccessful) look for an entrance. There are also areas where I found numerous bits and pieces (ranging from small shelters to trenches & concrete blocks/bases/walls) but which warrant further investigation. This includes the area stretching down from Battery Crofton Fire Control towards the battery entrance / bridge /steps from beach, and the area just to the south of Battery Greer (to the East of the Turrets Drum FC):
South West Searchlight position:
Typical small shelter, this one from area north of Battery Greer but they are scattered around the island. From its location it was probably part of Battery Hoyle:
Deep shelter - the ceilings are high and I had my camera held above my head when I took this picture:
and a beautiful access ladder:
Trench:
Structure - some are larger while others are just scattered blocks:
There is more to see but finding it is hard as it is easy to miss something just meters away.
Scrappers:Moving on to the subject of scrappers, and my own thoughts on them:
There is no dispute that they are damaging Fort Frank, and everywhere else, but they are doing it for reward of PHP 12 to 15 per kilo! They are not doing it for easy money but rather because they need to not just to eat but also because we live in a cash economy and they need money to pay for school books, electricity or kerosine and maybe even a beer or two.
Do I like the impact they are having, NO. But what they are doing pales compared with what companies and people with money are doing:
Manila - Santa Ana Horseracing track a priceless piece of heritage destroyed and now just a vacant lot waiting for a Mall and apartment development.
Clark: Compare google earth images (yr 2003 then 2009) for much of the old base housing and it seems like it has suddenly disappeared.
15 11 12N 120 29 45E
No, its still there but now beyond repair and being reclaimed by the jungle (before becoming another golfcourse)
Subic: Huge areas leased off but never developed, combined with a steady stream of ex-base buildings being demolished or allowed to rot away.
But moving back to Fort Frank, on my last visit I met with two locals who were collecting birds nests rather than rebar. Now a bird lover might not be so pleased but I thought it was good to see (although thats not to say its all they do)
