Inside The Lucky Dragon No. 5

Above, the bow of the Lucky Dragon No. 5. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Many of us, particularly Godzilla fans, are familiar with the story of the ill-fated crew of the Lucky Dragon No. 5 (Daigo Fukuryu Maru No. 5) tuna fishing boat. 

Articles have appeared over the years in print (including G-FAN) and online describing how the boat got caught in a rain of nuclear fallout from a H-bomb test in 1954. Many of these articles included photos of the boat.

Above, the forward deck. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I visited the Lucky Dragon at the Dream Island Park exhibition hall in Tokyo in 2007. The photographs that accompany this blog post are from that visit.

What people have rarely seen are photos of the interior of the Lucky Dragon.

Thanks to Kyodo News, we now have a chance to see what the interior of the boat now looks like.

Above, the port side of the Lucky Dragon No. 5. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The article that accompanies the photos begins with:

A tuna fishing boat hit by the fallout from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in 1954, and preserved since the 1970s, was recently opened to Kyodo News reporters for a rare view inside the vessel that is otherwise off limits at an exhibition hall in Tokyo. 

The Fukuryu Maru No. 5, with 23 fishermen onboard, was exposed to the radioactive fallout of the test conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954.  

The wooden vessel was decommissioned in 1967 and abandoned until the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall was set up in Tokyo to put it on public display in 1976. 

The bow of the wooden vessel has been refurbished but the original hull remains intact. Kazuya Yasuda, chief curator at the exhibition hall, says the boat is an unusual example of a well-preserved vessel.

Above, the stern section. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more and to see the photos of the interior, go here.