The “Bellatrix” Sails
p. 28 · Read in the full issue
From Papeete.
From Our Own Correspondent.
Papeete, June 16.
A LARGE gathering of people wit nessed the departure of the gunboat “Bellatrix” for Noumea on May 21.
During the vessel’s long stay on this station, its officers and men made themselves extremely popular ashore, and it was with real regret that our community saw the ship steaming out of the pass, on what is stated to be her last voyage.
Some of the gunboat’s company, who leave wives and children behind them, will doubtless return to Tahiti again, when the conditions of their service permit them to do so.
The “Bellatrix” is a British-built ves sel, and a sister ship to the “Veronica,” belonging to New Zealand. She was handed over to France at the end of the War, together with the “Cassiope,” another vessel of the same type.
The “Bellatrix” has had boiler trouble for some time past, and it is understood here that, after a short stay in New Caledonia, she will proceed to France to be scrapped.
In the meantime, the policing of the French possessions in this part of the Pacific is being carried on by the “Zee lee,” a specially fitted auxiliary power schooner with a complement of French officers and local sailors.