History

Sampan Which Makes History How Captain Houssard Caught a Poacher

THE “Ouvea”, former Jap-owned sam pan now trading under French ownership along the coasts of New Caledonia, and sometimes to the Loy alty Islands and the New Hebrides, has played a remarkable part in recent history.

She was one of the first ships in Nou mea Harbour to hoist the de Gaulle flag,

an act of defiance, under the Denis regime, which much angered the com mander of the sloop “Dumont d’Urville”.

A week or two later it was she who bore her owner, Monsieur Houssard, to Port Vila, following instructions re ceived from General de Gaulle in London, to ask Henri Sautot to come to Noumea to assume office as Free French Gov ernor of New Caledonia. Colonel Denis believed that Monsieur Sautot would arrive on board the sampan, and threat ened to have him arrested; but he came by other means.

As it was, the sampan got back in time for Capt. Houssard to fetch men in from the bush (by car) in time for the bust ing of Colonel Denis. They were held

up eight kilometres from Noumea, by sailors from the sloop, with machine guns. Both sides were ready to fire when the sailors thought better of it and allowed the “broussards” to pass, pro vided they went through unarmed.

HOW Captain Houssard came into possession of the “Ouvea” is a story that bears repetition.

In recent years, the Caledonian coast line and barrier reef, like the vast coast lines of Northern Australia and New Guinea, have suffered from the depreda tions of unauthorised stealers of copra, trepang and trochus.

Early in July, 1936, Captain Houssard, returning from a trading trip along the east coast, was in the neighbourhood of the Havannah Passage, in the south, on his way back to Noumea, when he saw a sampan illegally fishing trochus oppo site the little reef of Kouanne. He was on board his 90-ton ketch “Le Caledo nien”, equipped with an auxiliary engine, which he had built in Noumea the pre vious year.

He decided it was up to him to seize the sampan, with its cargo and fishing equipment. Favoured by a sudden squall, he was able to approach within three miles of the suspect.

Seeing she was observed, the sampan immediately called in her fishing canoes and set off in a north-easterly direc tion. The pursuit lasted from about 11 a.m. to 1.15 p.m„ before the “Caledonien” came close enough for Captain Houssard to threaten to open fire with the only gun he had on board (it was of the nature of a pea-rifle) if the sampan did not obey orders and make straightway for the coast.

There was excitement and hesitation on board the poaching vessel, so the “Caledonien” was run alongside, and the other vessel boarded while still under way. For this difficult but admirably executed operation the six Loyalty “boys” who formed the crew of the French ketch

M. Houssard (left) and his ship “Ouvea”.

were armed with tomahawks and fish ing-spears.

The sampan’s captain tried to say that his engine had broken down; but being somewhat sceptical of this—thinking, in fact, that it might be a ruse and that she might try a getaway when darkness set in—Captain Houssard took her in tow.

The nearest settlement was a little place called Ounia. The long coconut fringed beach of this place is remark able for its black chrome sand (which will some day be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, if a suitable method can be found to separate the chrome from the iron particles united with it). What interested Captain Hous sard was that at Ounia was a suitable landing-place and on shore a Japanese storekeeper, named Noda, who would be able to help him question the sampan’s captain and crew. There was also a telephone, so that he would be able to advise the Governor in Noumea and the gendarme at Yate, a short distance along the coast, of his capture.

ON arrival, the sampan’s compass was removed, and 13 of her crew of 22 were sent on shore, while the Loy alty “boys” mounted guard on board throughout the night. The Japanese captain and his engineer dined that night on board the “Caledonien”, Their story, told through the inter preter, was that they had been fishing off the North Australian coast and had then come to New Caledonia to replenish their water supplies. It appeared that the ship, the Gistaku Maru, equipped with a 50 h.p. engine as well as with sail, came from Formosa, and that the crew, Okinawas, hailed from the same region.

At first the captain swore that there was no trochus on board, but afterwards he admitted having four tons. This, he said, he had fished on the Australian coast, but his captor insisted on inspect ing it and found that some of it, at any rate, was still alive.

Two days later, at nearly 5 p.ni., a crowd assembled, as crowds have a habit of doing when there is anything to ward, on the wharf at Noumea. They were awaiting the arrival of Captain Houssard with his capture. Presently she was seen rounding Artillery Point.

Grey, with masts lowered, and low in the water, she looked almost like a barge as, in tow, she came in sight. Crude-oil containers, and the canoes she had used for trochus fishing were visible on her ripnk

The two vessels tied up side by side.

The barefooted Japanese crew of the sampan came impassively ashore. They were taken into custody, and after wards examined by the Public Prosecu tor, with the help of official interpreter Nishiyama.

As a result of the inquiry, the ship was taken possession of in the name of the French Government, while the trochus on board was seized and sold at public auction. The crew was subsequently returned to Japan on board a Japanese cargo steamer conveying nickel ore.

The sampan, too, was put up for auc tion, She was bought by her captor, Captain Houssard, for 5,000 francs.