Watom Island is an inhabited island in the

Bismarck Sea The Bismarck Sea (, ) lies in the south-western Pacific Ocean within the Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinean exclusive economic zone. It is located north-east of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines i ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, located just off the mainland of the northern coast of

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, near

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...

. It lies to the north-east of Urara Island. The island is almost entirely forested except for a few scattered settlements. The highest point of the island approaches 320 metres. Watom's Wall, a "classic wall dive well", located on the northern coast, is a notable diving location. The island is administered under Watom Island Rural LLG in

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely ...

. During World War II, the island served as a prisoner of war camp for British soldiers captured at Singapore. Only 18 survived out of the original 600 shipped out on the ''Matsa Maru'' in November 1942. The last surviving 21 POWs were incarcerated on the island at the beginning of 1944, a further three dying by the end of the war leaving only 18 to return home.

References

External links

Google Earth
Islands of New Britain East New Britain Province Papua New Guinea in World War II Uninhabited islands of Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-island-stub