もう一隻の「武蔵艦」

焼尻島と天売島のあいだの海は「武蔵水道」、
そして天売沖の漁礁は「武蔵堆」と呼ばれていることをご存じでしょうか。
日本海には「大和堆」という漁礁もあり、いずれも豊かな漁場として知られています。

実はこの二つの漁礁は、かつて海軍の測量艦として活躍した
「大和」と「武蔵」が発見・測量し、その名を残した場所なのです。

この両艦は、排水量や建造年こそ詳しく伝わっていませんが、
日本海軍の創世期に外国から輸入された木造艦だったといいます。
のちに戦列から離れ、測量艦として静かな任務に従事しました。

「大和」「武蔵」といえば、多くの人が第二次大戦で沈んだ巨大戦艦を思い浮かべます。
しかし、その前の時代に、もう一隻ずつ――
名を同じくしながら、別の海を測り、静かに働いた「大和艦」と「武蔵艦」がいたことを
知る人は、もうわずかとなりました。

The Other “Musashi”

Between Yagishiri Island and Teuri Island lies a stretch of sea known as the Musashi Strait.
Off the coast of Teuri, there is also a rich fishing ground called the Musashi Bank.
And in another part of the Sea of Japan, fishermen know well the Yamato Bank.

What few people realize is that both fishing grounds were discovered and surveyed by two early survey ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy—Yamato and Musashi. Their names were recorded on nautical charts and passed down to the present.

Details of these vessels—their displacement or exact year of construction—are unclear.
But it is said that in the early days of the Japanese Navy, they were wooden ships imported from overseas.
Later removed from the battle line, they spent their years quietly serving as survey ships.

Today, when we hear Yamato or Musashi, most of us think of the giant battleships that sank during World War II.
Yet long before them, there were earlier ships bearing those same names—vessels that measured distant seas and worked in silence.
Few people now remember that other Yamato and Musashi.