News Of The Small-Ships

Getting Around:— Peter

hrockmorton, of Honolulu, who lade himself known to ship-owners 11 the way from Tahiti to New aledonia last year (see PIM, July, 153) seeking business for his ship roking and repairing organisation, as been places since then.

After completing a survey of raft for sale in English waters hich were suitable for Pacific slands trade, and visiting Eire and ranee, Mr. Throckmorton was in ew York in December homeward Dund for Honolulu. This year his usiness travels will take him to adonesia for some months. The ddress, he says, is still Box 59,

jTaimanalo, Honolulu.

' Old Timbers Still Wanted:

[-Last year, after we had written f Captain Ostenfeld’s fascinating ible, surfaced with tiny inlays of mber from old and interesting recks, this master of the USS Co.’s •ans-Pacific freighter Waihemo, re gived two further valuable contri utions. One was a piece of timber rom Captain Cook’s Endeavour, snt by a Milford Sounds, NZ, re ident; and the other a piece from Itcairn Island—an ancient frag lentment of the Bounty. The table op still has plenty of room for arther rare additions.

Point Of No Return:—In

Auckland, in January, was Percy Edwards, of Tahiti, for nearly 30 years manager of the 40,000-acre sheep station which occupies most of Easter Island. He was the last Englishman to speak to the German officers of Von Spec’s Paci fl c Squadron in 1914. When the Ger man squadron called at Easter, Edmunds knew nothing of the out break of World War I. He supplied the vessels with fresh meat and, in due course they departed, shortly to defeat Admiral Cradock off Coronel, and themselves to be de stroyed by Admiral Sturdee’s squadron off the Falklands. Easter Island was undoubtedly the last port of call made by the German squadron.

Hurricane Warnings:

With another hurricane season in full swing, and several alerts already issued, we list again the existing voice weather broadcasts of interest to mariners: French Oceania, the Cook Islands, Tonga and the Gilbert and Ellice have no regular weather broadcasts on voice, though if a hurricane is in their areas, shipping is warned at the usual radio schedule times in use in these Groups.

Fiji weather is broadcast from Suva PO on 6300 kc/s at 0230 and 2130 GMT. from Suva broadcast station ZJV/ZJV3 on 930 3980 kc/s at 0000 GMT and 0907 GMT and

from Nadi on 7530 kc/s at 0915

Gmt.

Suva Cable and Wireless station VPD also will supply weather in formation on request at the usual 0400/2300 GMT schedules on 5887.5 —ships on 6280 kc/s.

Vila, as reported elsewhere, now gives a weather broadcast on 6900 kc/s at 2115 GMT for the New

Hebrides area. Noumea broadcast station on 3275 6030 kc/s broad casts weather information in French at 0830 GMT and possible at other times.

Port Moresby broadcast station 9PA VLT6 on 1250/6130 kc/s broad casts weather for the whole Solo mons-Coral Sea-New Guinea area at 0225/0855 1230 2200 GMT Mon day to Friday, 0225 0855 2155 GMT Saturday, and at 0855 GMT only on Sunday.

For this same area, Brisbane short-wave broadcast station also gives an area forecast and summary at 0815 GMT on 4917.5/9660 kl s daily except Sunday. All Islands stations’ mentioned give frequent broadcasts—at hourly or even half hourly intervals once a hurricane alert has been issued for their par ticular area.

KAVIENG WHARF;—Work com menced in January on wharf facil ities at New Ireland’s main port, Kavieng, which will provide berth age for one large overseas vessel and two coasters. Total cost of the wharf will be in the vicinity of £75,000.

For Kavieng Co-Operative:

—Skippered by Mr. George Wyeth with Messrs. Max Mathews and Allen Duke as crew, the 45-foot auxiliary craft Ninisa called at Samarai, January 10, on delivery voyage from Cairns to Kavieng, New

Ireland. She has been purchased by the native co-operative society there for copra carrying.

MIENA FOR SALE:—Captain J. W. Richmond’s staunch little Tasmanian-built ketch Miena, which tramps about Solomons-New Guinea waters, is reported to be for sale.

Of 109 gross tons, Miena foun her way to the Islands as a militaii supply craft during the Pacific was Captain Richmond, who operated! navigation school in Auckland an later in Sydney, purchased her whe. she was disposed of at the end < hostilities, and has since operate: out of Honiara, ranging north 1

Lae and eastward to Suva on vari ous jobs. „ Built by W. Wilson, of Port Cvgnet, in 1935, she is 91 ft x 23.5 ft, with a draught of 7.6 ft and is an ideal craft for the Islands.

Apia Harbourmaster;—To

relieve Captain Jones while on vacation, Captain F. W. Allen, of Auckland, left Auckland for Apia per Tofua in mid-January.

Another Newcomer: —I N

mid-January a firm in the Islands was reported to be investigating the possible purchase of the New Zea land coaster Hokitika, currently lying idle in Auckland. Present owners were not prepared to confirm rumours that the interested party was Captain E. Savoie, of Noumea, who has already purchased several vessels from New Zealand during the past few years. Hokitika, ex Waipu, has a cargo capacity of about 160 tons. Built in Dunedin, NZ, in 1916, she is 101 ft x 23.1 ft x 6.8 ft and is a twin-screw, steel motor vessel. She has in recent years been engaged on the cement trade from Whangarei to Auckland.

She has been replaced in this ser vice by the recently purchased Dutch-built Sumatra.

LONG TOW: Commanded by Lieut. Commander Morrison, RAN, the 500-ton salvage-tug Sprightly left Manus, January 20, with a 1,500ton oil barge in tow, bound for Sydney.

Co-Operatives Are Buying

SHIPS: —Native co-operative so cieties at New Britain and New Ireland appear to be in the market for small-craft at the present time.

Three craft have recently gone to New Ireland and one to New Britain from Australia, all of under 50 feet.

Slight Mistake:—Four

Chinese seamen of a visiting ship were arrested for smuggling goods ashore at Madang, NG, after one of their number made the fatal error of trying to sell a smuggled watch to a man on the wharf. The man happened to be Mr. T. Clark, Collector of Customs! Result: Watch confiscated; £2O fine.

LIGHT WANTED;—Mariners in New Guinea waters are pressing for the establishment of a light at the entrance to Hornbill Channel, be tween D’Entrecasteaux Island and the Eastern Papua mainland —an important waterway much used by local shipping.

Interesting Visitor:

Wongala —better remembered as the polar expedition ship Wyatt Earp— was in the news early January when the 34-years-old Norwegian-built 400-tonner went aground on Coco nut Island, midway between Cape York and Daru, New Guinea, with a cargo of explosives aboard. Now owned by a Sydney syndicate, Won gala was under charter to an oil company at the time and was de livering explosives to New Guinea.

She came off the reef without damage.

N. Hebrides Weather Re-

PORTS:—A recent Notice to Mariners reports that Vila-YJX on 6,900 kc/s now broadcasts voice weather bulletins for the New Hebrides area at 2115 GMT daily.

Following a hurricane alert the station will give bulletins every half-hour. ttvt jZe IN TOWN:—Lieut.-Commander G. R. Woods, naval liaison officer for Suva and an honorary aide to the Governor of Fiji, was in Auckland on sick leave during January.

Blow At P. Moresby:—Some

smallcraft parted their moorings

s-k tsisstnngm

moderate hurricane hit Port

Moresby in the early hours of January 4. The hurricane centre crossed Cape York Peninsula from the westward then moved down midway between Australia and New Caledonia, gradually filling after crossing Lord Howe Island and eventually dissipating as it finally crossed the South Island of New aland in the latitude of Hokitika.

SCARE IN COOKS:—A hurricane warning was issued in the Cook Islands late in December when a minor hurricane developed near

TJe^ikeWo

Rarotonea B However*V eventu

a w&ms- s.sr

ON LEAVE:—Mr. R, D. Mathe

son, mate of Vila Star, flew home to Auckland on leave in January, his place being taken until Feb ruary by Mr. Goddard, lately mate of Holmburn, who flew to Sydney to join the ship.

Vega May Move;—Mr. Cor

nelius Crane’s big steel auxiliary yacht Vega, dismasted near Tahiti late in 1951, and idle in Papeete since then, may go to sea again.

An insurance settlement has apparently now been made. Pacific Micronesian Lines of Guam were reported some time ago to be in terested in the vessel as an addition to their fleet operating in the American Trust Territory.

When dismasted, the big yacht was inaugurating a passenger ser vice between Tahiti and Honolulu for a company registered in Papeete. f YANDINA;—A Solomon Islands report indicates that Yandina is to be declared an official BSI port of entry. Fairymead Sugar Co. has been pressing for some time for this to facilitate working of over seas vessels.

AI SOKULA: —Rumours that W. R. Carpenter & Co.’s Fiji trader, Ai Sokula, 556 GT former Japanese steam tug, was to be sold, was denied by the company in January. Tend ers have now been called locally for conversion of the vessel to oil burn ing.

Meanwhile she is being renamed Oliver Mac, and the name Ai Sokula will be transferred to another ship,

said to be of about the same ton nage, which was expected at Suva from Singapore late January. De tails of this ship were unavailable as we go to press.

The transfer of names seems likely to cause all sorts of head scratching and dire predictions amongst old salts —and the Fijian chiefs who permitted the name to be used in the first place.

KOMAIWAI: —W. R. Carpenter’s 140-ton Komowai, lately withdrawn from the Fiji inter-island trade, is reported as likely to be transferred to the firm’s New Guinea runs.

Le Phoque Renamed:— This

ship, which Morris Hedstrom & Co., Suva, recently purchased from Noumea, is to be named Adi Keva and will be in the Fiji service by February. Unofficial re ports indicated that the company might institute a regular Suva-Apia service with the 261 GT Altair, at present in the Fiji trade. The com pany would run its own trans-ship ment cargo to Apia, thus saving lengthy delays on cargoes from the UK which occur under the existing shipping arrangements.

Tuvalu And Tungaru:—

Tuvalu arrived in Suva for refit in January, commanded by Captain Vic Ward—beating the hurricane to port by a narrow margin. On her return in a few weeks, the GEIC’s other similar inter-island vessel, Tungaru, will come south from the Gilberts for similar refit.

Nukalau Misnamed: By

error, South Pacific Shipping Co.’s new wooden 400-ton Italian-built vessel, which arrived at Suva in mid-January, has had her name mis-spelt Nukalau —i nst e a d of Nukulau, correct spelling of the name of the little island near Suva.

As spellings cannot lightly be altered once registered, it seems that

Nukalau will have to follow in the Jootsteps of Scott, correct name Scot, which was acquired from New Zealand by one of the owners of Nukalau a year or more ago, and mis-registered in Suva through error of the owner.

Late in January, Nukalau’s future was very much in doubt. Lengthy delays in delivery from Cyprus had caused the company considerable expense and an uncomfortable passage out due to having missed the favourable winds along the route. Drawing 14 feet loaded, the vessel is considered unsuitable for use in the Fiji inter-island trade.

A number of possible services are being considered, as was also the sale of the vessel.

Crew for the delivery voyage were British Jews who, disappointed with conditions in Israel, were emigrating to Australia or New Zealand. They journeyed to Auck land from Suva per Vasu and Tofua.

KURIMARAU: —This former WPHC flag-ship, stripped of all moveable gear and now lying for sale at Ballina, NSW, is said to have a price-tag of £12,000 on her— which seems reasonable considering that the 288-ton motor-ship had a very extensive and expensive refit In Suva two years ago.

BSIP SHlPYARD:—Conditions are reported as far from happy at the BSIP Government ship-repair workshops which are hampered by inadequate equipment and untrained staff. Mr. E. Horton, who has been

associated with the shipping side of WPHC affairs for a good many years, recently tendered his resig nation, and returned to Fiji from Honiara.

PERSONAL:—On arrival of the LMS vessel John Williams in Suva late January, Captain Stanton Page came ashore and was to go to New Zealand on furlough. Mr. Bottom, chief officer, takes the command temporarily. The ship was to do a

Samoa voyage in February. The London Missionary Society is saidi to be perturbed at the high ano increasing cost of ship maintenance —and John Williams VI, 419 GT is a large vessel to maintain.

Inspire Refits.— Mr. Hugm

Williams’ Brixham trawler Inspire arrived in Auckland for refit and to avoid the hurricane season in the Cooks, on January 24. The passage took 14 days from Rarotonga. Im

addition to Chief Engineer Les Livingstone, she carried a crew of five Islanders and five passage workers. Skipper and engineer re ported that they have recently acquired an 8-acre farm on Raro tonga and are hoping to swallow the anchor. Inspire, with twin 40- HP Rustons, is for sale at £B,OOO.

Following repairs in Papeete a year ago the hull is said to be in first class condition. If unsold, it is likely that Inspire may be chartered, or alternatively a skipper and en gineer hired to operate her in the Cooks. Carrying 40 tons below decks, she is well suited, to Cook Islands Lower Group trade.

No Help To Mariners From

Cl: —Mr. Williams emphasised that, though the Administration is anxi ous that the present small-craft continue to operate in the Group, there is no co-operation whatever in providing navigational aids or harbour improvements at Raro tonga. Equipment for a lighthouse for Maina islet on Aitutaki reef has been lying there for many months.

At Avarua Passage, Rarotonga, there is no dredging of the narrow harbour or provision for better berthage or moorings. One local craft, out of action, has for months been blocking the main fairway in which she is moored with a network fo lines. Laying-up moorings could Easily be provided at Ngatangiia

Harbour. At present, should a sud den blow come up at Avarua, it would be impossible for another craft to make the open sea in a hurry.

One particular rock in Avatiu Harbour and another in Avarua which badly need removing, remain there in spite of intermittent pro mises of removal.

At Aitutaki the Americans estab lished two buoyed moorings during the war. One carried away years ago. The other chain parted in 1952. This mooring was of tremend ous aid to Island shipping. All that is wanted is a new piece of heavy chain. Local men could readily shackle it under water to the moor ing. The buoy Is still serviceable.

But the Administration will not

provide the funds for even this facility.

Unless some services are provided in this way the Administration may find before long that they will have to operate the inter-island services themselves.

Samoans For Us Navy

The United States Navy will shortly despatch a seven-man re cruiting team to Pago Pago to select 100 Samoans under a new plan to recommence recruiting in Eastern Samoa. The team will com prise two officers, one of them a doctor, and five enlisted men.

Recruits must be single. They will first be given an intelligence test, then the usual medical ex amination. (Over)

A recent photograph taken in Pago Pago, American Samoa, of the ketch “Swains” over which there was some trouble about ownership a year ago.

Formerly named “Alsirat”, the ketch now belongs to Mr. Elai Jennings of Swain’s Island.

Since she changed her name, “Swains” has had a narrow escape from the reef at Apia, Western Samoa. She was got off after she was holed and partly flooded. She was patched up and has now returned to Pago. —Photo by Pan American Prints.

Sydney Wharfies Walk 2

OFF: —ln mid-January, wha r ft labourers refused to load the islandb motor ship Maria Del Mar becauses they claimed the hold was in as

“filthy condition.”

The Maria Del Mar had just com pleted a voyage from Noumea.

Vasu Chased By Hurri

CANE;—Tasman Steamships’ Vasu a Auckland bound from Suva after as

charter-voyage to Fanning, played)

tag with the hurricane which moved)

south after narrowly missing Fiji!

Vasu made various large changes? of course but the hurricane kept!' pace to the westward, giving th© little 300-tonner a very rough time.e

However, she arrived safely in portt*

January 24 without damage. Cap-'

tain Ross reported that throughout the entire charter-voyage the weather was generally poor, withl poor visibility and frequent head) winds.

News of Cruising Yachts

• Ever since Heyerdahl made hissi planned drift from Peru to the Tuamotu,u in 1947, drifting: has become a popular) pastime. One expedition in which as former Nadi meteoroligist is a leadings, light, is at present drifting across thesi Atlantic.

Another Pacific drifter is making plans< as reported in a recent PIM, to drift fromtr Honolulu to nowhere in particular.

We now hear from London that as farmer-ex-naval lieutenant, John Gwyther,!

RNVR, Fellow of the Royal Geographically Society, of Alton, Hampshire, will shortly? head for Tahiti, there to launch himselft! in a canoe hewn from a coconut log, too try to drift to New Zealand—in further! support of Heyerdahl’s westward-migrationn theory.

Possibly a tender-craft of some kindb will accomnany the canoe, as Gwythen* would seem over optimistic in hoping thath he will be accompanied in his canoe by?an Admiralty surgeon, an oceanographer!? from Cambridge, and a meteorologist, imr his total party of about six—as reported!* from London. Tender-craft are accom— ( panying both of the other driftings, operations mentioned earlier—as reported!) in recent PlM’s. • PAMPERO, with lone-hander Ronaldbi Johnson in command, arrived at BSI, December 38 from Sydney, after as not uninteresting voyage. A two-womapn crew signed on in Sydney proved “in--< compatible” and the decision was made,,.? when 400 miles at sea, to offload samesi with all despatch, at the nearest point onm the mainland.

Johnson put to sea again November 26,,a but met light winds. Some days later,.! rolling in a calm, there was almostig another unsolved mystery of the sea andbi Johnson’s unorthodox nautical career wasa. almost terminated when a blow on tliesi head from a swinging boom hurled himm into the cockpit, instead of overboard.

Temporarily paralyzed on one side, andbi convinced for a fearful five minutes that? his neck was broken, the skipper lay inni a very unskipperly pose—and fully ex pecting to hold that pose until he starved b to death.

However, feeling gradually returned and though badly shaken and bruised he was able to carry on. By the time the yacht, after striking further calms in the vicinity of the Solomons, nosed into the nearest port, Yandina, her owner was back to normal.

As Yandina was then not a port of entry the yacht was promptly thumbed on to Honiara. This passage proved the most tiresome of all with three days of calms and currents, and islets and reefs on all sides. The auxiliary motor was not working, so the yacht had frequently to be towed out of danger by the dinghy.

Skipper Johnson was ready for some well earned rest by the time he eventually made port. His next port is not stated. • TOHU-BOHU, a twin-hulled cata maran-type yacht, with the accom modation built up between the hulls, may be seen in the Pacific this year and next if the plans of her four French owners are successful. She is to make a round the-world voyage from Marne. It will be recalled that a somewhat similar type yacht named KAIMILOA was sailed from Honolulu to France in the 1930’5, by Eric de Bisschop and Joseph Tatibouet, two Frenchmen who had been wrecked in the Hawaiian Islands in the course of a cruise in a Chinese junk, FUO PO 11.

De Bisschop, now resident in French Oceania, later became associated in the famous and unresolved affair of the junk yacht CHENG HO. Owners of the TOHU BOHU are not yet known. She is less than 30 feet in hull-length. o V.Qien an American ex-navy man, R. K. Smith of Los Angeles, now resident in Wellington, NZ, let it be known that

he was seeking volunteers to help sail a yacht down to New Zealand this year, he was deluged with inquiries in January. (See January PIM). The volunteers have to pay their own fares to America.

The yacht is a 34-foot ketch named NAITAMBA—which seems to suggest that Mr. Smith knows something about Fiji.

Plans are that NAITAMBA get clear

through the Islands before next hurricane season. • TE RAPUNGA, Captain George Dibbern’s 32-foot veteran ketch, reached Wellington, NZ, January 7 from Hobart— with her mizzen - mast snapped off.

Dibbern and his two-women crew had encountered the fringes of a depression.

The Auckland sloop GESTURE, bound

for Sydney, was also dismasted by the same blow, further north. TE RAPUNGA plans to enter the Trans-Tasman Race from Auckland to Hobart, commencing January 30, but up to late January race officials had not OK'd her. • GESTURE, mentioned above, was passed by the New Guinea trader VIRIA 100 miles north of Sydney, January 10, making for Newcastle under jury rig.

GESTURE reported all well and no assistance required. A competitor in the 1952 Trans-Tasman race, this yacht is a 30-foot sloop. Her cruising plans are not known. • ONRUST of Holland, with owner Dirk Tober and two others aboard, was to return to New Zealand after having taken part in the Sydney-Hobart race in January. Some New Zealand coastwise cruising is planned. Tober and his yacht will be remembered in the Islands. He arrived in Auckland from Holland a year ago. • FLAMINGO, another Auckland back yard-built yacht recently mentioned here, suffered damage in heavy weather during the Sydney - Hobart race. Warren McCarthy spoke afterwards of selling the yacht in Sydney, if possible, and pur chasing a larger one in which to continue a planned world cruise. • Remember VIATOR, owned by Harry Close and his wife of the Pacific Coast of the States, which has made two cruises to the South Pacific, the last two

years ago? Crew-member George Eggle ston, former Reader’s Digest and Life staffer, has just written a book on the latest cruise—with the usual American-type title: “Tahiti, Voyage

Through Paradise” with 100 pages of photographs. It deals with the Cook Islands as well as Tahiti. • BEATRIX, unorthodox whale-backed steel 36-footer of Holland, with Mr. and

rs. J. S. Leyen and friends aboard, eared Papeete December 15 for Bora >ra and Nukualofa. • KONA, bound for New Zealand, made ipeete Christmas Day, having cleared onolulu mid-October and called at tenga and Makemo in the Tnamotu. ml Blackford and Robert Houtz are rners, with Stuart Johnson as crew.

DNA is a 12-ton 39-footer with 14-feet jam, built in San Pedro, 1933. • One of those not-infrequent yachting amas developed in Papeete December , when the 50-foot American schooner ENTURER left port without too many rmalities, presumably bound for Hono lu. Owners Bob Burke and John Grant id that day notified the authorities that Monsieur Paul Farge would be joining e crew. M. Farge arrived two years ■o in the little French yacht KURUN, Inch sailed on to continue her voyage ound the world with her owner, Mimelin.

VENTURER sailed at night, and in the orning light it was discovered that iere also had gone the wife and two tildren of a man who came to Tahiti his own yacht in December, 1950, from mama. He and his wife are British bjects, and have been popular residents Tahiti. Since trouble developed be reen them, he had been given temporary istody of the children, pending divorce oceedings. • SEARCH, said to be a luxurious otor-sailer, owned by James Mc mnaughey who has property in the lea District of Tahiti, is reported en ute to that Island from an American irt. SEARCH formerly belonged to Mr. ivid Chapman, industrial designer, of

E Usa.

• COONGOOLA, Brisbane 74-foot twin rew motor-sailer, arrived at Auckland, .nuary 5, and departed again on the th on the last lap of her circum ivigation of the world. She called briefly Rarotonga, Nukualofa and Raoul Island ter leaving Tahiti. A call was to be ade at Lord Howe on the home run.

COONGOOLA is of particular interest Fiji in that she is a larger version of [KING AHOY which now belongs to the sventh Day Adventist Mission there, iptain Frewen who took VIKING AHOY Fiji to assist in filming BLUE LAGOON me years ago, purchased her from Mr.

H. Griffiths, owner of COONGOOLA. »th craft are fitted with Southern Cross esels, which Mr. Griffiths’ Toowoomba >undry manufactures. COONGOOLA ade a voyage to South Africa two years ;o. The crew are largely employees of le Foundry. • MARINER, with Jim Robinson and eorge Karl of Seattle aboard, which we st reported heading Islandwards and in >wer California waters, was to make a ill at Pitcairn after a lengthy stay in le Galapagos, which she was to clear te November. Destination is Sydney. • The Royal Suva Yacht Club pro ded an escort of yachts into Suva on »e occasion of the Royal Visit to Fiji, •ecember 17. The Club presented a ttyal Address to Her Majesty the Queen, he Duke of Edinburgh, a keen yachts an, regretted that, due to the heavy shedule of engagements, he would not

be able to visit the Club but he sent his private secretary, Lieutenant-Com mander Michael Parker, RN, to convey his good wishes. Next day the Club was honoured by a visit from Vice-Admiral E. M. C. Abel Smith, CV, CVO. Flag Officer, Royal Yachts. • Mr. Des Ashton, who has been a student at the Mosman School of Ad ministration. Sydney, returned to Rabaul in December-January in his Tasmanian built yacht LAHARA. It will be recalled that Mr. Ashton, with companions, made a cruise to Auckland a year ago. • KERERU of Auckland, with owner Ray Johnson and three companions, which cruised to Norfolk Island in December, and is one of the few to lie in Emily Bay, late in January was reported pre paring to head on for Noumea.

• WANDERER 111, Eric and Susan Hiscock, continuing her world cruise, arrived at Sydney, January 33, from a northern New Zealand port.