Unsolved Mystery Of The

War

Prom Our Own Correspondent PAPEETE. March 15.

TT is probable, now, that the fate of the 1 Tahitian schooner “Tereora” will never be known. On January 16, 1942, with several passengers she sailed out of Papeete for Uturoa, Raiatea; and was never seen again. She is thought to have been destroyed by an enemy raider.

The “Tereora” had been built in Auck land 20 years before, and she traded in the Tuamotu and Marquesas groups for many years, for her owners, Messrs. A. B.

Donald, Ltd.

About the time of her disappearance, a Japanese raider was in the vicinity—it sank the American Matson steamer “Malama,” Captain Malcolm Peters formerly an executive officer on the “Mari posa.” The “Malama” left Honolulu for French Oceania to load copra, a few days before Pearl Harbour. She suspected a raider, and she zigzagged through the Tuamotus to Tubuai.

On New Years Day, 1942, Captain Peters radio’d: “Plane overhead, pro bably enemy.” Then came silence —nothing more of the “Malama” was heard until the end of the war. Then Captain Peters and his crew were found in a prison camp in Japan. They said the “Malama” was torpedoed and they were taken by the raider to Japan. It seems likely that the raider disposed of the “Tereora”; but Captain Peters knew noth ing of the fate of the schooner.