The Manawanui is built for diving missions in the middle of the sea. It has a recompression chamber, a domed bell for deep diving and a 15-tonne crane for heavy lifting overboard.
The Adamses plan to use their ship, bought for a sum in the vicinity of "a few hundred thousand dollars", to preserve the fuel-laden, mostly Japanese vessels that sank in the South Pacific during World War II.
Many of the wrecks are corroded and starting to leak oil from the ocean floor.
The Adamses have feared a looming ecological disaster ever since they visited Micronesia's Chuuk Lagoon, where the US Navy sank dozens of Japanese ships in Operation Hailstone in 1944.
"While we were diving on one of the ships we saw this huge blob of black oil come out, drift up to the top and disperse," Mr Adams said.
"Each wreck we dived on had oil come out of it.
"There's a time bomb waiting to happen right through the Pacific.
"There's about 3,000 wrecks out there. Three hundred of those were oil tankers. They're at the bottom of the ocean, and they're starting to leak."
"The long and the short of it is, nothing's being done.
""So we decided we'd do something."
Great initiative
'You can't find these in Kmart': NSW couple buys warship
The Adamses plan to use their ship, bought for a sum in the vicinity of "a few hundred thousand dollars", to preserve the fuel-laden, mostly Japanese vessels that sank in the South Pacific during World War II.
Many of the wrecks are corroded and starting to leak oil from the ocean floor.
The Adamses have feared a looming ecological disaster ever since they visited Micronesia's Chuuk Lagoon, where the US Navy sank dozens of Japanese ships in Operation Hailstone in 1944.
"While we were diving on one of the ships we saw this huge blob of black oil come out, drift up to the top and disperse," Mr Adams said.
"Each wreck we dived on had oil come out of it.
"There's a time bomb waiting to happen right through the Pacific.
"There's about 3,000 wrecks out there. Three hundred of those were oil tankers. They're at the bottom of the ocean, and they're starting to leak."
"The long and the short of it is, nothing's being done.
""So we decided we'd do something."
Great initiative
'You can't find these in Kmart': NSW couple buys warship