News Of The Small-Ships

It Happened In This Month:

There arrived in Auckland from Apia aboard the Manapouri on De cember 9, 1903 —just 50 years ago— ten Scandinavian seamen, sur vivors of the Norwegian barque Kalisto. They related how Kalisto, svith 1,100 tons of copra aboard and about to clear for Europe, was set Dnto the reef at Matauta, Savaii, >n November 27, by a sudden change Df wind as sail was being made. 3he was soon holed, and slipped off into deep water. All hands got ashore and were taken to Apia by ;he German despatch-launch O Le leto, where Captain Getmark and lis officers remained for a marine nquiry.

By a strange coincidence, O Le leto, on December 2, was also lost —totally destroyed by fire in Apia harbour, and the three-masted ichooner Samoa, a German Gov ernment recruiting vessel, also aarrowly escaped destruction when ;ases of blazing gasoline, floating ibout the harbour, set her alight. she was saved by the prompt action )f a boat’s crew from the German varship Condor. Only man to suffer njury in these various events was i Rotuman who was slightly burned before diving overboard from the D Le Aeto; he was the only person iboard at the time.

JAP PEARLERS: —The Japanese jearling fleet of 25 luggers, a nother-ship and a Japanese Fish iries Department patrol vessel, ifter five months of operations in he Arafura Sea, headed north for rapan on November 11.

The harvest of MOP taken by he fleet was reported as “very sat sfactory”—the value being esti mated by £i million, Australian cur ency.

Magnetic Survey Planned:

-A nautical adventure that seems 0 have the blessing of the British Admiralty and various scientific Jodies has just commenced from Southampton, England. Dr. Bohdon

Cwilong (pronounced Sweelong), a

:5-year-old Polish physicist, will lead a small expedition which will :onduct a lengthy magnetic survey >f the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Dceans, taking in all about seven 'ears to complete.

Backed by the University of British Columbia, where he has been 1 lecturer, Dr. Cwilong designed, md is now having built at Van couver, a small non-magnetic vessel o be named Non-Magnetic 111. The irst non-magnetic survey ship was he Carnegie, which was destroyed >y fire at Apia, The second was he British vessel Research, which vas never completed due to the cost. The latest vessel is very much smaller —too small to live aboard or a lengthy period. For use as a >ase-ship, Dr. Cwilong has pur :hased the English yacht Celia, a

60-foot wooden yawl with a beam of 14 feet and a draft of 10 feet 3 inches, built in 1909. He has re named her Princess Waimai —“after a Maori Princess whom he met whilst employed as a lecturer at Vic toria University College, Welling ton, shortly after the war.”

Aboard Princess Waimai, which has now sailed from England for Honolulu, is Dr. Cwilong and his wife (who is English), an Irishman, two Poles and a 16-year-old London boy, and it is possible that the French scientist, Dr. Alain Bombard, who made a drift voyage across the Atlantic in a rubber dinghy re cently, may join the party at Lis bon.

From Honolulu, Dr. Cwilong and one other will fly to Vancouver to bring the non-magnetic yacht south to Honolulu from where the survey will commence. However, while in the Atlantic Dr. Cwilong will carry out research work in the doldrums in connection with waterspouts and

thunder-clouds for the British Meteorological Office who are sup plying certain equipment. Magnetic research equipment for the Non magnetic 111 is being provided by the National Research Council of Canada. The base-yacht is flying the triangular blue burgee with white cross of the Oxford Uni versity Yacht Club, of which Dr.

Cwilong is a member.

If all goes according to plan, Dr.

Cwilong and his two vessels will be seen in various Pacific Groups dur ing the next year or two. The work that he will do is regarded as of great importance to mariners.

Long Voyage For Vasu :

Tasman Steamship's 300-ton tramp Vasu had a long voyage ahead of her when she left Auckland late No vember on her third Islands sortie from that port. Captain Ross was to load building materials and a construction gang for Whan Con struction Co. at Suva, then head north for Tarawa to take aboard Gilbertese labourers for Fanning Island. At Fanning, Whan’s team will rebuild the cable station build ings which are now in poor condi tion. Vasu will also make a call at Christmas Island before returning to Tarawa and Suva.

Masters Change Ships;

Captain H. Simpson, who has been Master of the Fiji trader Ax Sokula since she was put into ser vice by her present owners in 1952, handed over the command to Cap

tain N. W. Macdonald, late of the BSIP vessel Kurimarau, recently.

Captain Simpson went to Auck land on leave, was offered a voyage as Second Officer in the Cook Islands vessel Rannah and left for the Cooks in that capacity Novem ber 4.

Brown Line:—Mr. D. C. Brown,

of Rarotonga, reported early No

vember that his Rannah, 304 GT r cannot carry a payable load ot tomatoes or pineapples from the Cooks to Auckland at ruling freight rates. She is capable of lifting about 12,000 cases of tomatoes on 4,000 cases of pineapples in hen cooler space. Rannah will be dis posed of and replaced by a 600tonner currently building in Hol

land, according to Mr. Brown’s pre sent plans. Rannah was purchased by her present owner last August.

Rannah In Trouble:—Mr.

D. C. Brown’s 300-tonner Rannah experienced engine trouble soon after clearing Auckland on her No vember voyage to the Cooks. She was to have picked up a cargo of 4,000 cases of pineapples at Man gaia to connect with the Waitemata at Rarotonga bound for Auckland, then to return to Mangaia to bring a further cargo of pineapples to New Zealand. Waitemata was un able to wait and Maui Pomare, in stead of doing a South Island run from the Cooks, as scheduled, loaded the pineapples at Mangaia for Auckland. Rannah meanwhile limped north, days late in reaching Rarotonga where she was under re pair late in November.

Pml Retrenchment: —Pacific

Micronesian Lines, of Guam, which provides the inter-island and some of the overseas communications in the American Trust Territory, is in the process of disposing of some of its present tonnage and in chang ing over to the auxiliary schooner type of vessel, which has proved far more economical and suitable for the Islands trade than the war-built motor vessels in use. The change over has been forced by heavy Gov ernment budget cuts this year.

Auxiliaries in use by the Line in clude the 140-ton ketch Mileeta and the 30-ton ketch Frey la, both formerly of Tasmania. Six 500tonners similar to Camano, which came to Australia in 1951, are for disposal.

NEW FIJI CHART:—A chart of the Natewa Bay area of Vanua Levu, Fiji, has just been issued by the Lands Department, Suva. With a scale of one inch to the mile and based on a recent aerial survey, the chart should be of considerable value to local mariners.

Stanley Angwin Drags

AND DRAGS —The cable ship Stanley Angwin brought from Singapore to repair submarine telegraph cables damaged in Fiji’s September earthquake, has had plenty of trouble with the Nor folk Island cable. Four cables connect Suva with the out side world, two—to Auckland and Fanning Island respectively—pass through the Nukulau Passage to the “ast of Suva. These were easily located and repaired. The other two pass through the main Suva Harbour entrance passage. One of these also goes to Fanning, head ing abruptly north-east as it clears the land. It, too, was readily located md repaired. But the cable head ing south-west towards Norfolk has obviously passed through an area )f considerable undersea disturb ance. As Stanley Angwin has iragged back and forth across the ine she has either failed to locate ;he cable, or has brought up tangled md twisted spans. Not till she had nade 57 separate “drives” and

reached a point nearly 70 miles from Suva and 1,200 fathoms deep was an unsevered end picked up. Late in November the ship returned to Suva to load that length of new cable from the Walu Bay cable ta JL s ‘ ~. . ..

The indications are that if the disturbance that occurred on the sea bottom southwest of Suva had been

luva r mfghf Lve suffe?ed ve?y

severely. tto ATDTv/rxr nTAOTMP

Us Army Closing Port.

The US Army, as an economy measure, is closing down its $5,000,000 port at Honolulu. Construction of the cargo and passenger terminal at Kapalama was commenced in

1942. Last year the port handled 327,600 tons of military cargo. It is understood that the Navy will take over Army cargo handling operations, at Pearl Harbour,

Suva Harbour Master:—

Captain E. Harness returned to Suva in November after leave spent partly on a voyage to the Gilberts f n T^man steamship’s Vasu (then ™™ ed Aia) and partly in New Zea ’

Canoe Fleet At Suva;—Six

sailing canoes from Fulaga, Lau, sailed into Suva harbour on No vember 19, first of a fleet of similar craft that will welcome the Royal visitors in the Gothic in December, A further eleven sailing canoes were due from Kadavu early in December.

Ketch For New Guinea:—A

45-ft. auxiliary ketch Manmo has been built by W. S. Breden & Co., near Newcastle, NSW, and has left to trade in New Guinea waters. The ketch cost £lO,OOO and carries more than 700 sq. ft. of sail.

The builders have other Islands craft on order.

Us Naval Radio Station:

On November 18, the US Navy put into operation the world’s most powerful long-wave (low frequency) morse transmitter. Located at Jim Creek, Washington State, the trans mitter has a power of H million watts and is designed to provide communication with naval shipping in any part of the world, at any time of day or night, regardless of ionispheric disturbances which dis rupt high-frequency communica tions. The 14 million dollar station was commenced in 1947 and has an enormous aerial system extending across a valley between two moun tains. Ordinary radio receivers do not cover the very low frequency in use.

LOSS OF NORA :—A preliminary inquiry into the loss of the 11-ton. 35-foot cutter Nora, of Levuka, Fiji, on October 21, held in Suva during November showed that the disaster which accounted for the loss of nine lives, was “due largely to ad verse weather conditions, but was probably caused, in part, by the gross overloading of the vessel with passengers—a total of 43 persons (including crew) compared with the

19 persons authorised by the vessel’s certificate.” A formal inquiry will be held.

News of Cruising Yachts

• KONA (Bob Houtz and Paul Black ford) of Honolulu, cleared that port dur ing the first week in October bound for Tahiti via ports. • (MOONBEAM, 36-foot ketch of New

port Harbour, Cal., a participant in thi July trans-Pacific yacht race to Hone lulu, returning to the States with a paii crew, went ashore at Point Vincente, during a fog and became a total losi October 9. The $lB,OOO yacht was ownei by Orin Thorkildsen. • ID ALIA, once luxurious 75-fi schooner-yacht, formerly English-owned was to be put up for auction at Honoi lulu to satisfy debts incurred, accordln;

o a report from Hawaii dated October, ’he yacht went to Honolulu in 1949 after laving been involved in an arms muggling exploit from Los Angeles to

Mexico. The then owner, freed from that charge when he proved to a Los Angeles court that he had been forced at gun point by four members of his crew to join in the venture, had his yacht im pounded by the Honolulu Customs for in fringement of navigation laws. Owner Lewis freed the vessel in 1951 by paying $442 in Customs charges. She has since accumulated charges and debts amount ing to $1,135 and is being sold by ordei of a Court to satisfy claims. IDALIA is said now to be so badly neglected that she is beyond repair. • LEDA, Wilson family of Tauranga, NZ, arrived at San Francisco November 20, having called en route at Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, the Tuamotu, Marquesas and Hawaii. It is understood that the 54-foot cutter will be offered for sale there. • LADY STERLING, the motor-sailer of

Whangarei, NZ, which we reported last month as having been sold in Auckland, has been purchased by a group of young Dutch immigrants, whose plans are understood to include an appearance in the Islands next year. • FLAMINGO, W. McCarthy, of Auck land, a 32-foot home-built Bermudan sloop, was expected to clear Auckland late November for Australia. This yacht was reported last May as probably heading for Polynesia, but owner McCarthy and his three companions, B. Heerdegen, W.

Pledger and A. Petrie are now heading westward on a probable round-the-world cruise via the Queensland coast and Torres Strait. If all goes well, in a year or two, the yacht should again enter the Pacific via Panama. • LEONORA, another of the fleet of New Zealand yachts that planned to

RANNAIH’S deck officers, Captain D. K.

Matheson, Chief Officer R. J. Rae, and Second Offider Simpson, (formerly of Suva).

RANNAH clearing Auckland on her No vember voyage to the Cooks.

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hepworth of ARTHUR ROGERS, and Manase of Tonga, who [?]oined the yacht at Nukualofa. Manase [?]s one of two men holding an unrestricted Tonga Mate’s certificate.

ARTHUR ROGERS, slipped and for sale [?]n Auckland.

Bruise in the Islands last winter, never iid get away. En route from Paremata to Auckland she went aground at Wai tarere on the west coast of the North [sland. She was to have entered the lonolulu-Tahiti race. Perhaps next winter the 28-foot cutter will head north. She vas built in Wellington in 1939. • GEMINI of Portland, Oregon, with er radio-ham owner Jack Wheeler and rife Leah, may be heading south again s there are reports circulating amongst adio hams that Jack will soon be on he air from the Fanning Islands area, 'he 38-foot double-ender cruised down rom Honolulu through the Marquesas and 'uamotns to Tahiti last summer. • There still are persistent rumours hat LA CORRIGAN, perhaps to be re amed, is preparing in Tahiti for an stensive cruise. Monsieur F. Faye, re- Ired French naval officer, has been work ig on the vessel at Fareute for a year r more. He is a man who insists on verything being 100 per cent, right and he yacht has practically been rebuilt Ince he acquired her. It would seem nlikely, however, that the cruise would •mmence at this time of the year. • Though there has been no news of RIES, Mr. R. J. Reynolds’ beautiful new 5-foot English-built ketch, the yacht and er owner are expected in Tahiti in tnuary from Panama. The American tbacco magnate has acquired a property tere with private jetty. • FITHEACH BAN, Captain Alexander Fatchlin’s beautiful 83-ft., o.a. 52 GT Btch, which called at Papeete, Suva, and ther ports en route to Auckland, was In ouble on November 17. On a cruise »und the North Island the yacht piled

up on rocks at Young Nick’s Head, at the southern side of Poverty Bay at 3 a.m. The owner, his niece and an Italian boy who is a permanent crew member, were forced to abandon ship, landing later in an exhausted condition. The Gisborne harbour-master succeeded, later in the day, in towing the vessel off and into that port, where she now lies awaiting a full survey. It appears, however, that she may not be as badly damaged as was at first thought. The retired Auckland master mariner purchased the yacht in England several years ago and has since made her his home. • TERN 11, Lieutenant Benjamin Pester, RNZN, with sailing companion Peter Fox, bound for Auckland from Plymouth, was reported at Trinidad, West Indies, early November. • BEATRIX, a 26-foot yacht of ex traordinary design and appearance arrived at Papeete October 24 from Holland, having sailed from Amsterdam August 24, 1952.

Of welded steel construction and shaped like a whale, with raised rounded deck forward, sloping away aft, the yacht has a beam of 10 feet and a draught of only 4 feet 6 Inches, but with 9 feet of head room.

The vessel is owned and manned by Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Leyen and two others, Mr. M. K. Keetman and Mr. J. Bogcrs.

The owner was a professional photo grapher, his wife a professional pianist and teacher of music and the crew mem bers are motor mechanics.

The yacht has had an uneventful voyage out, having called at Galapagos and Marquesas since clearing Panama.

Probable calls are planned at the Cook Islands, Tonga and Suva, from whence

the yacht will head for Sydney—possibly via Auckland, as the owner is consider ing entering the Tasman Race next January.

BEATRIX, whose plans have recently been published and discussed in a popular American yachting magazine, will create wide interest at her future ports of call. • MIRU (formerly SOUBRETTE) stout New Zealand-built, 48-foot ketch in which

Dr. Davis and family of Rarotonga plugged their way across the South Pacific from Wellington to Peru and then on through Panama to Boston, is a total loss. The yacht broke adrift from her moorings at Marblehead, 30 miles north of Boston, on November 7—apparently while no one was aboard, and in a severe storm. She went ashore on the only patch of rocks along a stretch of sandy beach. Unable to sell the yacht in Boston, the Davis family was considering sailing back to Rarotonga at the con clusion of Dr. Tom’s period of study at Harvard. • YANKEE, Irving and Electra John son’s 96-foot brigantine of Gloucester, Mass., USA, is off again on another cir cumnavigation of the world with a fresh volunteer crew. She will appear in the Islands again next year, but her exact itinerary is not yet known. • MARINER, Seattle 34-footer, bound for Australia, is now in Lower California or Mexican waters. • DWYN WEN (wrongly spelt DWEN WEN in a recent issue) 110-foot Coronado staysail schooner, seems now unlikely to get south of Honolulu. Returning to that port after taking a charter party of Mainland college students to the outer Hawaiian islands, she found herself in a legal tangle that may hold her in definitely. She will probably return to the States. • ANNA ELIZABETH, reported else where this issue, arrived back in Papeete October 17, with owner E. W. Lamberty and Miss Rebecca Frebault aboard. The 38-footer had come back from the Marquesas via the Tuamotu. • SKYLINE, New Zealand yacht, which has been in Papeete for some time, left there October 28 for Honolulu in con tinuation of cruise. A call was planned at the Marquesas.

O MANDALAY, 40-foot American ketch owned by J. Rockefeller of Greenwich, Conn., arrived at Papeete October 15 from the Galapagos and Panama. The owner, who is accompanied by one companion, Anthony Richardson, plans to remain two years in French Oceania and gives the Tuamotu island of Ahe as his destination for the time being. Built in 1938, the yacht cleared the home port on her present cruise in 1951.

E Mistress, Silhouette Ii And

CHIRIQUI, contestants in the recent Honolulu-Tahiti race, all cleared Honolulu late September northbound for the States,i • In the words of the advertisement, Ronald Johnson who has been involved in a series of nautical adventures in recent years, appears to be a toger fon punishment. Most publicised was his un planned drift from near Hawaii to Fiji in a war-surnlus sub-chaser, SC-671—nowi named TOVATA—several years ago.

In recent months we reported Johnson’s

eventful voyage with a French female companion in the yacht PURPLE SEA from Sydney to the Solomons, where the yacht was sold in August. Following that adventure, Johnson swore an end to female companions. Early November, however, the intrepid mariner reported from Sydney that he was on point of sailing in the yacht PAMPERO, which he had just purchased, for Honiara. Signed on before the mast was a crew of two female university students!

Only details of PAMPERO available are that she is copper sheathed, has a petrol motor, and appears to be a sizeable vessel with plenty of room. It seems just possible that the latter feature may prove important before the peaks of Guadalcanal rise out of the blue. Interest ing developments are expected. As a blue water adventurer he will have the bless ing of most our nautical readers.

LATER (end of November): A late and reliable report indicates that Ronald John son, has just completed another interesting manoeuvre. We have reported above that he recently sailed from Sydney with a crew of two female University students, heading Solomonwards. The office sea gull now reports that the good ship PAMPERO. 400 miles on her way, about turned—but only to land two University students. The cruise continues single handed. • Anyone seeking a stout 70-foot Brix ham trawler that has proved her sea worthiness in six years of sailing the »ceans? There is one available in Auck land where ARTHUR ROGERS arrived from Tonga November 3, probably ending ber wanderings under the ownership of lom and Diana Hepworth of England, fhe yacht, which would be an ideal work >oat for many Islands purposes, with her iroad decks and 200-horsepower diesel motor, is now on sale for £8,500. If un sold in Auckland, there is a possibility :hat the Hepworths may return to Tonga >r carry on to the New Hebrides or the Solomons.

From Tonga to Russell the owners were iccompanied by American Kim Fletcher, vho had been a crew member in the last frans-Pacific racer GOODWILL. A Tongan sailor also joined the yacht at Nukualofa. • LITTLE BEAR, Buzz and June Champion of San Diego, reported from Salboa, C.Z. in mid-September that they vould clear that port directly for Hilo, lawaii —a 5,000 mile non-stop hop—in stead of calling first at the Galapagos, •lanning to sail early October, they hoped o be in Honolulu for Christmas. • CALIFORNIA, which we reported in he Mediterranean some months ago, ileared Balboa for Los Angeles in mid leptember on the last leg of her circum lavigation which began years ago. dany in the Islands will remember the 13-ft., 3-masted schooner. • MOONRAKER, Peter and Anne Pye •f Fowey, England, now lies snug at Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, at the nd of her 16,700-mile cruise from England to Canada via Panama and Cahiti. The owners are now living ishore with friends. • WANDERER 111, Eric and Susan liscock of England, slipped into Auckland luring November, made the unpleasant liscovery that a good many sheets of opper required replacing. Cause of the ather rapid corrosion is unknown but assumed to be poor quality copper as here seems no possibility of elecrolytic iction. Copper replaced. Wanderer 111 rill do a little coastwise cruising in New Zealand northern waters before pressing westward for Sydney in January.

• BOUNTY, Ken Parley’s Auckland yacht, re-rigged as a cutter, resumed her voyage from Suva on November 6, head ing for Aneityum, New Hebrides. From there, unless sold, the yacht will continue via ports for Brisbane on present plans. • There has been no news of NELLIE BRUSH, Tahiti ketch from Florida, which was last reported due Balboa from the Bahamas in April. This yacht was then bound for Tahiti.

tl A daughter was born recently at Namanula Hospital, Rabaul, to Mr. and Mrs. U. Gesling, of the Methodist Mission, Rabaul.

H The engagement has been an nounced of Miss Carol Brennan of Burns Philp (NG), Ltd., Rabaul, New Guinea, to Mr. Graeme Blake of Qantas Empire Airways.