Hull Adrift

Strange Incident South of Hawaii

Papeete, Oct. 23.

SOMEWHERE between Hawaii and the Gilbert Islands an engine-less craft is drifting at the mercy of the waves.

Aboard her is one man. It is hoped that he and his craft will soon be reported in the Gilberts. This is the culmination of a remarkable story.

During the war two men arrived in Tahiti on a yacht called the “Thelma.”

They were subsequently arrested in Tahiti and sent back to New Zealand on the grounds that they were evading military service. The outcome of that procedure is not known; but, after the war, the owner returned to Papeete, and the “Thelma.”

He sailed the yacht to Honolulu, where he sold it. Then he purchased the former United States submarine chaser No. 671, loaded her with machinery for sale in Oceania and engaged 'the motor shjp “Taurua” to tow the craft (without en gines) to Tahiti. Tire “Taurua” left Papeete for Honolulu on September 6, and left Honolulu with “671” in tow early in October, When 250 miles out of Honolulu, the two vessels ran into heavy weather. The captain of the “Taurua” asked the owner of “671” to leave his ship, come aboard the “Taurua” and cut “671” adrift. The owner flatly refused. The , “Taurua’s” captain then obtained from the owner a document to say that he refused to board the “Taurua”; and the “Taurua” aban doned the tow, and proceeded to Papeete, arriving on October 19.

When “671” was last seen, the owner was rigging a sail on the helpless craft, The "Taurua” was also a submarine chaser but she is equipped with engines and can make 20 knots. Both vessels are registered as 139 tons gross. The “Taurua” has just been sold to a group in Tahiti who propose to use her in bring ing foodstuffs from the Austral and Mar quesas Islands. She has refrigerating capacity of 25 tons.