Tahiti Schooner

Wrecked.

In Treacherous Tuamotus Pass.

From Our Own Correspondent

Papeete, Jan. 8.

THE Government schooner “Mouette” was wrecked at Amanu, one of the islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago in December.

The passage into the lagoon at Amanu is narrow and dangerous. For nine hours each day a strong current rushes through it as the high tide of the open sea rises above the level of the lagoon. At low tide this current is reversed as the piled up waters in the lagoon drain into the surrounding ocean.

The “Mouette”, carrying the Adminis trator of the Tuamotus (Monsieur Senac) and Doctor Massal on a tour of inspec tion, entered the pass at the time the out flowing current was at its maximum. Her engine is said to have failed at the moment of the schooner’s arrival at the most perilous point in the pass, and the current, laying hold of her, cast her broadside on the edge of the reef. The “Mouette” immediately sent out an S.O.S. call which was picked up by the Marquesas Islands radio station and thence relayed to Papeete.

The schooner “Denys” (Captain Alex ander Mervin) had left Amanu the night before and was at Hao, nine miles away, when the broadcast from Papeete an nouncing the mishap to the “Mouette” was heard. Captain Mervin immediately sailed to Amanu, arriving there late at night. Entering the pass, he could see no sign of the “Mouette”, and it was not until he arrived at the settlement

that he found out what had happened.

It appears that at the turn of the tide the inrushing current had lifted the “Mouette” from the reef and carried her into the lagoon. Her hull had been badly damaged and, as she floated, she filled rapidly and sank in the calm waters within the reef—3o metres below the surface. The ship’s company were res cued and cared for by the natives.

Captain Mervin offered to carry them to Papeete. Meanwhile, word came that the authorities at Tahiti had despatched the schooner “Tamara” and, as there was no radio-transmitting apparatus at Am anu to notify Papeete that the “Denys” was there, the “Mouette” passengers felt obliged to await the coming of the “Ta mara”.

Amanu is a large atoll shaped like a vast bow. It is, without doubt, the “Sagittaria” of the Spaniard Quiros, who passed through the Tuamotu Archipelago in 1606. Quiros’ description of his land ing on an island he named “Sagittaria” once led historians to believe that his ac tual landing place was the isthmus of Taravao on Tahiti; but that has since been disproved. The form of Amanu would suggest to a discoverer the name “Sagittaria” and probably Quiros was so influenced. 3,000 Books for Islands.

ABOUT 3,000 books, comprising novels and general literature, are to be cir culated through Australia’s Islands territories as a result of a grant of £625 a year for three years made by the American Carnegie Foundation. The books were being packed in Canberra in February, under the supervision of the Commonwealth Librarian (Mr. Binns) and will be shipped at the end of the month.