Schooner Hermes
p. 18 · Read in the full issue
Wreckage Near Witu Islands
IT now is generally accepted that the New Guinea Government schooner Hermes, which sailed from Madang on November 10 for Rabaul with three Euro peans and 17 natives, and which since has not been heard of, has been lost with all hands.
It was reported at the end of December that a table-top, definitely identified as a permanent fixture on the Hermes, had been found on the eastern coast of Unea Island, in the south-west of the Witu Group (off the northern coast of New Britain).
A few days later, a broken piece of painted sawn timber was identified by the manager of Volupai Plantation (on the western coast of Talasea Peninsula, north ern coast of New Britain —south-eastwards of the Witu Islands) as belonging to the schooner Hermes.
These things suggest that the Hermes was lost somewhere near the Witu Islands, which lie on the direct route between Ma dang and Rabaul.