News of the Small-Ships

It Happened In This Month:

—On December 2, 1900, the 4-masted Glasgow steel barque Pyrenees aosed into Mangareva lagoon *'ith an unusual cargo—3,6oo ions of blazing barley and wheat —and deliberately settled her ;elf on a sandbank just south >f Rikitea village. She was bound for Leith from Tacoma, Wash., md was 33 days out when the cargo ook fire. Captain Robert Bryce de ided to run for Pitcairn, which was afely reached 13 days later with he decks heavily buckled and the teat intolerable but the fire still attened down. As it was impossible o beach the ship at Pitcairn with ut loss of life, and as there was a ossibility that she might still be aved, James R. McCoy was taken board to pilot Pyrenees to the earest suitably sheltered beach, fhen she was safely beached and bandoned, all hands were taken to apeete by the 50-ton schooner ictor, their passages being paid by le sale of the ship’s removable luipment.

But that was hot the end of the ■years-old vessel. The wreck was irchased “as is, where is” by a aptain Thayer, of San Francisco, r $1,350. Eleven months after irenees was beached at Mangareva aptain Thayer arrived to find the rgo still burning. Much of the ck was destroyed but the hull was

mtact. On April 2, 1902, Captain Thayer brought his purchase safely into Papeete. There she was given a temporary new deck and other re pairs sufficient to sail her to San Francisco, where she arrived in July of that year, still with 2,400 tons of damaged grain aboard. Major re pairs were carried out and in April 1904, the barque began a new life as the Manga Reva, finally being torpedoed in the Straits of Dover in April, 1917.

And Still They Go:—As

William Willis and his cat arrived back in New York it was reported from Peru that, financially and technically backed by Thor Heyerdahl, of Kon-Tiki fame, three Peruvians, Julio Orjeda, Wilfredo Castro, and Juan Aguilar, were plan ning to follow the same ocean current-and-wind-dictated trail, but this time using a more primitive reed raft of the type used by the Indians of Lake Titicaca. Presum ably they will not set out before next winter.

Nothing further has been heard of another prospective drifter John Gwyther, RNVFL FRGS, of Alton, England, since he an .*}° u . nced Plans in January last to drift in a twin-hulled canoe from Tahiti to New Zealand this year So far as we know, Mr. Gwyther has not shown up in Tahiti.

B^hdon St Cwnon itod iS n6WS of Dr> u°S n f Cwilong, presumably now inth? V a?hf P w gland i° . Vancouver ?? ess ama *- There sail her to^^i'iii^n 0 ? 11011 ?^ 111 commence a? !? f rom there world drift a nn fpund-the- WOTk “wS? 6 * 10 su ™y Princess manned by

others, is to act as supply vessel.

The survey, which is said to have the firm backing of various scientific bodies, will be carried out in stages.

A magnetometer worth $20,000 is being supplied to the specially built and equipped Non Magnetic 111 by the National Research Council of ■Canada. Dr. Cwilong was formerly a senior lecturer at Victoria Uni versity College, Wellington, NZ.

ALL LIT UP;—The new Vuna Point Light, south-west Taveuni, went into test operation October 21, the occasion being celebrated at the nearby home of Mr. J. V. Tarte, of Waimaqere. The light was set in operation by Miss Talei Tarte in the presence of the Fiji Acting Mechanical Engineer, Mr. L. Whysall, the Roko Tui Cakaudrove, the Dis trict Officer, the Medical Officer, and other citizens who went out to the reef in PWD Launch No. 8.

Vuna Point Light has a height of 32 ft., has a visibility of 10.5 miles, and gives a single flash every 8 seconds. The position is 16.57.55 South, and 170.52.28 East. The test period, during which the light was likely to be extinguished at any time, was to end on November 5, after which it was to go into full operation.

Tahiti Fish Ferry;—Henri

Nimau, of Papeete PWD Workshop, recently mentioned as building a steel live-fish freighter in his spare

time, for the fish trade to Makatea, has now chartered and converted the 19-ton MV Nacirata as an in terim measure. Owned by M. Yves Sanquer, of Raiatea, ,she was built in Papeete, in 1936, for the Raiatea- Tahaa service by M. Le Prado. A 3 2 -ton refrigerated chamber has now been installed. Nacirata

brought her third fish cargo fro the Tuamotus to Papeete in N( vember. She will probably a 1 £ supply Makatea.

They All Do It;—The We!

established Islands practice of ove loading is engaged in as much 1 Governments as private ship owne:

!The GEIC’s Colony Wholesale Society 126-ton auxiliary ketch Te Matapula arrived in Suva recently with over 50 deck passengers from Vaitupu. They had been taken aboard on orders from the vessel’s owners. This is twice the number permitted under her certificate. The year-old ketch was down for her first annual refit. The Vaitupu people were bound for the Ellice re-settlement island of Kioa, Fiji.

Fiji Rnvr Retired List:

So that Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officers may retain the honour of being commissioned, but will not be subject to service after retirement through age or medical reasons, the law has been amended in Fiji. Administration of the Naval Reserve Fund has also been trans ferred from Accountant-General of the Colony to the FRNVR Com manding Officer.

MORE GROPING: —Stanley Ang win, OTC’s modern telegraph cable vessel, well remembered for her work in Fiji waters following the 1953 earthquake and seismic wave, again called at Suva to load cable and de parted on another deep-water job n mid-November. For the first time since it was laid in 1926, a fault had developed on the Suva-Fanning trans-Pacific span, 100 miles south west of Fanning, in 3,000 fathoms.

At about the same time the re serve cable-ship Matai was recom nissioned in Wellington, NZ, to re 3air a fault that had developed on ;he Auckland-Sydney span in com jaritively shallow water not far tom Auckland. Then, before re aming to her mothballs, Matai, vhich has accommodation for 45 )assengers and 180 tons of cargo, nade a relieving run out to the 2hathams while the regular vessel, iolmlea, was on survey.

PINEAPPLE RUN:—Though Tas aan Steamship’s vessels are reported aden with writs in Auckland, per aission was obtained from creditors, or Viti, under Government subsidy, o make a November run to Man aia, Cook Islands, for an estimated ,000 cases of pineapples, to be de ivered to Lyttelton, NZ. The Gov rnment is keen to encourage the langaian pineapple producers and tie Maui Pomare, on the regular ervice, could not pick up the cargo t the time it was ripening.

Fish—For Jap Hooks Only:

-While numerous Jap shell poach es were being reported from P-NG r aters in early November, another ap ship, the 296-ton Kasima Maru, opped in to Brisbane with engine rouble. Captain Osamu Kitakara f the vessel, expressed surprise, hile his motors were being righted, aat an Australian official tuna irvey in the Coral Sea had recently lown poor results. He had found ie Coral Sea teeming with tuna ad had taken 5 tons in a few days )0 miles E-N-E of Brisbane.

Dangerous Work:— Lt.-Com

lander Maurice Batterham, RAN,

last in Rabaul in 1946 on a bomb disposal and under-water surve? of wrecks was back there again in November to deal with some more

tnrnpdnps av-w-mf cn tu portlf denths w ! r n e . re « fathoms. WMle on that iob Lt Commander BatteSiam war-Ume

The HDML FLYING CLOUD, on the Lord Howe-Sydney service.

frog-man, observed a sunken 40-ft Jap barge in Keravia Bay in about 5 fathoms of water. It appeared

korth salvaging.

BIG CARGO: —Believed to be the krgest peace-time cargo ever to be anded in Fiji, the British freighter 1 ustralind, on the direct service rom London, landed 8,823 tons in .12 working hours at Suva in No rember. Australind’s cargo, and a urther 7,500 tons discharged from Vaikawa, at Lautoka, combined to tiake a probable record import ton tage for any peace-time month.

Vit I-I I For Sale:—The Fiji-

Jovernment motor yacht Viti-II ras on offer by tender recently, ’his twin Gardner-powered 56-ft ridge-deck cruiser was formerly the loyal Flight, built by Lars Halvor

jn Sons, Pty. Ltd. ydney, in 1938 i went to Fiji bout 6 years ago nder charter to h e Rank film nit engaged on reducing Blue

Lapoon in the Yasawa’s. Royal Flight was used as a personnel boat (together with Mr. Hugh Frewen’s Viking Ahoy from Queensland) and was later purchased by the Fiji Gov ernment. Viking Ahoy was acquired by the Seventh Day Adventist Mission in a deal which involved the exchange of their Melanesian as part payment. Royal Flight has been used as the Governor’s re creation vessel and for the trans port of Government officials, etc She has a cruising speed of about 8 knots.

Solomons Addition:—Bjarne

Halvorsen Ltd. recently delivered another attractive trawler-type vessel to an Islands client. Named Bauro, she is one of a series of similar craft. Several have been

h + at C. -3™ Gumea and another may go there. Bauro, Viking Ahoy Snacttv^oftin/ 1 ' f With a hold

Asl'tsa?

Campbell for use at their Solomons Plantations. She has a comfortable cabin ’ and accommodation six crew. She was commanded °" hCr de “ Very »y CasS

The handsome 57

Gazelle, Men

[?]ned last month, [?]ich was recently livered by the C.

Crowley yard of [?]isbane to Mr. [?]rnard Chan of [?]baul.

Photo: “Brisbane legraph.”

Max Stanton, who was master of Hannah when that 300-tonner, now owned in the Cooks, operated briefly to the Solomons in 1947-48. With him were three other European officers. Captain Stanton reported sighting a drifting mine off Towns ville on the run north. An aerial search was later made for it.

ON THE BLOCK: Elsewhere we have reported that Tasman Steamship Co’s Viti, with permission of creditors, was making a pine apple run to the Cooks from Auck land. It is now reported that the insolvent ex-servicemen’s organisa tion is forced to sell the 750-ton re frigerated ex-corvette Madonna which was acquired in England only a few months ago. A price of £50,000 is sought.

JAP WRECKAGE:—As an after math of excitement that was caused in the New Caledonia-New Hebrides area by “mysterious” vessels in Oc tober, it was reported from Noumea on November 7 that wreckage bear ing Japanese markings had come ashore at Hailou, east coast of New Caledonia.

It included 3 hatch covers 5 ft by 18 inches, a cabin window, a door about 4 ft high with several planks missing and a considerable amount of other broken timbers, some with deck fittings attached, all of which seemed to indicate that a Jap fishing boat had been wrecked in the area.

MI ENA ACCIDENT:—In February we reported that Captain J. R.

Richmond’s ketch Miena, originally from Tasmania but well known in New Zealand waters, was for sale in the Solomons.

She was in the news again on November 16. In use as a trochus vessel, she was operating 70 miles south-east of Mackay, Queenland, when a steel compressed-air bottle exploded while being pumped up.

Four crew members, all Europeans from Cairns, were injured by flying steel and were landed at Pine Islet where a launch took them on tc hospital at Mackay. There wen several other Cairns men in th( crew.

Checking The Outliers:-

HMNZS Kiwi, well known in Poly

aesian waters, made a round of New Zealand’s southern outliers in No vember, delivering a meteorologist to he Campbells, and landing scientific workers briefly on some of the other low rarely visited rocks. There has seen no recent word of the Auck and treasure-seeking expedition, ipparently held up in its plans to :o south to seek the General Grant iold hoard, as recently mentioned

N Pim.

BROKEN SHAFT: Compagnie 'rancaise Nouvelles Hebrides’ 70-ton Loba was reported at Pentecost nth a broken shaft in mid-No ember. Aoba was built in Australia i 1945.

Lord Howe Connection:

ince BP’s discontinued their sgular passenger connection with ord Howe about six months ago, lat island has seen only occasional alls by Savoie freighters on the ydney-Noumea run. To meet this tuation, Mr. G. M. Kirby, owner L- Pine Trees guest house, hich caters for about 60 mainland sitors at Lord Howe, purchased the tractive 72 ft x 15 ft HDML rudence II from a Brisbane owner i June, and put her into his own pdney-Noumea personal service te August.

Late November she was on her tird voyage. Mr. Kirby renamed ie vessel Flying Cloud (she was iginally Endure and was never put to the naval service for which she is intended.) Mr. Ces Harrison is in command 5 was formerly associated with r. Lew Graham, of Auckland, in e Alexander and Nukalau Pacific ntures.

Flying Cloud , powered by a pair 300-hp Atlas Hercules diesels, has cruising speed of about 10 knots, ie owner’s cargo is stowed wherever ace is available, there being no Id. Between her Sydney trips, is smart little vessel runs fishing rties around Lord Howe.

Cjndiscouraged; Though

sir schooner Awatea foundered srtly after sailing for New Guinea October (see p. 102, Nov. PIM) opic Star Trading Co. has plenty life in it yet. Shareholder Cap n Geeves (not Jeebes) reported •m Hollandia in November that

Royal Suva Yacht Club-the club house, and some of the yachts which represent the most active club in the Islands.

tie was seeking a suitable replace ment and might go up East to find me.

AVIE MORE:— A year ago Oscar Yordman, of Tahiti, asked for de-

tails of a former three-masted barque, a painting of which recently came into his possession in Tahiti.

The name on the bow appears to be Avie More but “Dog Watch,” the

magazine of the Australian Ship Lovers’ Assn., be lieves it is Avie More. Comments from persons familiar with her Island connec tions would be valued.

Quit Solo

MONS:—In Syd ney for some months past, and for sale is the GPV type 85-foot wooden Ruena, no longer required in Fairymead Sugar Co.’s Solomons service. Ruena is famous as the

vessel in which many BSIP re- W -S r K od their P assa ges back home in Februar y> i 947f to rehabil itate their properties after the war. ■h<ii route from Sydney on that occasion, chief Engineer s. R

Willis’ raft photo graphed at the end of the months’ drift, as the Samoan government vessel

“Manua’tele” ap

preached it to take it in tow. (See Nov.

Pim).

Photo: Alf Vercoe.

Jones died at sea and Capt. D.

Baay put back to Brisbane.

The vessel, which can carry about 100 tons of cargo, was brought south by Captain Bourke.

Papeete Improvements:

Port Captain Georges Bailly reports that Papeete Pass has recently been deepened and widened to a minimum 36 feet by 263 feet in a Public Works Department scheme to improve the port for large vessels. Further deepening will be carried out in 1955.

Wombat Renamed;—In Line

with his usual custom, Captain E.

Savoie, of Noumea, has renamed his latest acquisition Sonora del Mar. The 273 tons ex-Womhat, still refitting in Melbourne, was to load in Sydney and arrive in Noumea about Christmas on her maiden French-flag voyage.

Fiji Restrictions:—Reguia

tions have now been gazetted in Fiji which forbid vessels, regardless of size, from clearing from any point on the Viti Levu coast from Nanukuloa to Naboutini without a Rhinoceros beetle clearance certi ficate. Village officials have been appointed to issue clearances at all villages on this sector. There is a penalty of £lOO for failure to comply.

Laurabada Reprieved:

Destined for scuttling after 30 years of honourable service as Papuan Administration yacht and latterly

as headquarters of the Port Moresby Sea Scouts (PIM, July, p. 106), the 160-ton veteran has been reprieved.

A Port Moresby boat-builder who has purchased the vessel has made the surprising announcement that he will probably enter her in the 1957 Sydney-Hobart Race—after a complete refit.

Grief In Cooks \—Rannah,

Australian-built 300-tonner which Mr. D. C. Brown of Rarotonga acquired in August, 1953, for the Cooks inter-island trade, may have ended her days on Rarotonga reef.

A heavy blow swept the area in mid-November and Rannah, an chored off, parted her cables and

rent ashore. Salvage is reported nlikely.

At about the same time an hglish yacht went ashore on almeston Island.

Mr. Brown planned to operate annah on the Cooks-NZ tomato nd pineapple trade, but she proved >o small for the long hauls in )lved, and after two trips re tained in the Group. She has nee been mainly engaged in irrying small cargoes of MOP shell •uth from Manihiki to Rarotonga, id in the Lower Group trade.

Since the war Mr. Brown has lost ihitienne, Karoro, Mahurangi and annah. Four other vessels have ten lost in the same period.

Pago Pago Tuna-Boats

DST: — Advice have been received ’ Van Camp Cannery in Pago igo that two of the Jap vessels tended to operate in Samoa iters this season have been lost. lyo Maru was lost in the Sep nber typhoon off the Japan coast, d Seisho Maru which sailed :tober 20 is missing, believed burnt sea, as she carried a heavy load fuel for the voyage to Pago Pago. »r could this be the vessel whose eckage is reported on the New ledonia Coast? See elsewhere).

Df the remaining four vessels, one t back with engine trouble, other is delayed at sea with ?ine trouble, one reported all well she heads for Samoa, and one s expected there November 15. sailed independently.

Museum For Willis Raft:

>even Little Sisters which drifter lliam Willis presented to the )ple of American Samoa, will >bably be housed in a building to specially built. Governor Lowe i the Chiefs are conferring in ■ matter. The building may ;ome a general museum and •ary of Pacific material, n Sydney a legal battle developed November between rival news )ers on publication rights of the llis book, which has already >eared in instalments in some er Australian papers. ’hree points of note are that raft passed 100 miles north of Marquesas, that Willis was ill a good part of the voyage, and t he regularly used his radio but y discovered late in the voyage

t, through some misadjustment,

lad not been emitting signals. He • ected this in time for his final isage. ack in New York, Willis was ted to the elite Adventurers’ b which acclaimed the voyage greatest single-handed effort :e Charles Lindberg’s Atlantic it.

EW LIFE:—A Japanese fishing el, wrecked on Kapingamarangi 1, Micronesia’s nearest neighbour 'Jew Guinea, has been refloated converted to the cargo and ienger trade, and is now owned operated to Ponape by the

»ingamarangi people.

Wha’ Name Samting? • Not

generally know is the fact that when a NG-registered vessel comes South, an officer of Territories De partment boards, has the native crew mustered, and calls for com plaints, if any, as to conditions aboard.

That was what a PIM repre sentative found well-known ex- Territorian Mr. Harry Downing en gaged in when he visited Viria at a Sydney wharf in November.

The 602 tons Viria, as smart a vessel as any in the NG trade, is the smallest ship operating between there and Southern* ports, running gasoline north on contract to an oil company and bringing logs or sawn timber south on her several runs each year.

Cn ntpir. m N Ginffi, reported that th'p bwSSf 4 !? 0 ® Lt i?' s ,° ther vessel.

Erica > has been recently re “™ ed Wlth , Captain Gillings on the November voyage of Viria was Chief Officer O. Gatehouse and Chief Engineer E. Coleman, T

Losses In French Oceanic

;r The . IU - f amed reefs of French Oceania have claimed two more

rreck occurred at 3 am. She was nsured for 21 million francs. No ives were lost.

Next to go was the auxiliary utter Rosita of 18 tons owned by M.

Jeorges Loschmann of Papeete. She rent ashore at the entrance to >apeete Pass at 11.30 pm. November 8, soon breaking in two and inking. Two of the 20 tons of opra aboard was salvaged. Master, hree crew and all six passengers anded safely. An inquiry into oth disasters will be held.

Rosita, built in Papeete in 1946, 'as in the news some time ago when he failed to arrive at her destina ion: but later she turned up at nother island.

News of Cruising Yachts

• "If the French authorities ever were difficult with yachtsmen in Tahiti that is not the case to-day,” said Mr. J. S.

Rockefeller, of New York, in November as he passed through Sydney. He formerly owned the 40-ft. ketch MAN DALAY. "The villains I cannot emphasise it too strongly, and you can quote me on this are the American authorities in Pago Pago,” said Mr.

Rockefeller. "If ever a bunch of officials went out of their way to make it tough for yachtsmen, those are the boys, and I plan to raise what hell I can about it when I get back home.”

Mr. Rockefeller and former sailing companion. Anthony Richardson, who left

the yacht in Tahiti months ago, boarded the Italian liner

Australia In

Sydney late Novem ber, homeward bound for the States via Europe. The 40 ft. ketch ended its three year voyage from Greenwich, Conn., when sold to M.

Claude G i r a u d of Aore islet, near Santo, in October.

Owner Rockefeller came south per MALAITA, but crew man Bob Grant will

journey back to Tahiti by first ship to take delivery of LE KORRIGAN in which he will continue cruising after the hurricane season. • Royal Suva Yacht Club, easily the most active and best equipped club south of the Line, held its end of season ball October 30. The Governor and Lady Garvey attended —Lady Garvey presenting’ the trophies for the season’s events.

Though the season has officially closed there is plenty of sailing activity through out the year in Suva. Overseas yachts heading for Fiji may obtain local infor mation from the secretary, Mr. H. Smith. • Apia Sailing Club, long dormant, has come to life. A new committee was recently formed and a programme of racing is planned to commence in Decem ber. The secretary is now Mr. A. Philipp.

There are plans for establishing a club house. • LE KORRIGAN was brought to Tahiti some years ago by M. Charles Van Den Broek d’Obrenan. Retired French

KONA of Honolulu —now at Auckland.

naval Commandant Faye acquired the 8tonner later and, though engaged in fitting lier out for cruising for the past two years, has been forced to sell her on account of failing health. This yacht has previously been variously reported as LE CORRIGAN and CORRIGAN. Present

spelling is from the official Papeete port register. • NOLA SIRGENT, 40 ft. auxiliary ketch, cleared Montreal for Pacific Islands mid September, with Honolulu, Papeete, and Suva as prospective ports. Owners still unknown, but the yacht is a floating art-gallery of works by contemporary Montreal artists and it is planned to dis

play these at ports of call. Whether th will weather a lengthy voyage in a sm yacht remains to be seen. • LADY BIRD, with owners Mr. a Mrs. C. Hills and crewman Peter Edmom completed her winter cruise November arriving back in Auckland. • SOLACE of England, 30 ft. ket owned by noted yachtsman and yachti

ARTHUR ROGERS under sail.

Iter Commander Victor Clark, RN, Rtd., rived at Rarotonga November 11, sared again for Auckland via Island rts, but some days later was cast on B reef at Palmerston atoll when her ble parted while anchored there.

Soles were knocked in the hull but the Imerston people combined to render I and it is hoped that the yacht may refloated later. With Commander Clark Stanley Mathurin of the West Indies. » MANU MOANA is back in Auckland m her 4Vi months cruise to Tonga, moa and Fiji. (Aug., ’54). » RENEGADE, NZ, a. Noumea Nov. 2 m Norfolk. (Nov., ’54). North of Nor k this yacht had the remarkable ex ■ience of fouling set nets, presumably tanese. This yacht will probably remain Cairns, next port. » WAIMANA, NZ, a. Brisbane. This ht, owned by C. Williams, apparently not head for Fiji as earlier reported. :t., ’54). \ FLAMINGO, NZ, a. Noumea late Oct. m Solomons, homeward bound. This footer left Auckland December, ’53, ered Sydney-Hobart Race, thence up stwise to Gladstone, across to New inea and the Bismarcks. (Dec., ’53). , ANNA ELIZABETH, Dutch, a. Niue . 18 from Rarotonga, bound Noumea Tonga. , BOUNTY, NZ, a. Newcastle, NSW, ly Nov. (Sept., ’54).

KONA, US, should now be in Auck 1, NZ, where she is likely to remain )ugh the summer. (Feb., ’54).

NEW SILVER GULL, Australian, d. sco late Oct. b. Caribbean via Lower and Panama. This Sydney 44 ft :h, owned by Harry and Oceana Scott, sed through the Islands several years bound Canada.

ARTHUR ROGERS, England, corn ed a 51fc months’ cruise to Tonga, , New Hebrides, New Caledonia and folk Island, arriving back in Auckland ember 22. Owners Tom and Diana worth may soon do a summer cruise id NZ, and will probably make another girl Island cruise next winter.

ANNA ELIZABETH, Dutch, a. Suva -November, from Niue via Hungia, ua, Komo and Kabara. To sail late ember for Vila. ►antas passengers to Noumea

n Sydney in November included,

Jacques Betfort returning home;

s. O. Rothery visiting her son

in, of Noumea staff; Mr.

M. Drummond, of the South

:ific Commission’s Noumea office;

, J. H. Henderson returning to imea; and Peter Robilliard, whose aer is attached to Vacuum Oil

’s Noumea staff, joining his

ents for the school holidays.

’ravelling by Qantas aircraft in

/ember were Georges Fung and

•nard Leroux, who were return home to Santo, NH, on vacation

m King’s School, Sydney.

II Lieutenant C. Prentice, Corps of Fiji Engineers, has been promoted to the rank of Captain, with effect from October 29.

II Mr. S. V. Patel, Indian Govern ment Trade Commissioner in Aus tralia, recently spent six days in Fiji on his way to Tahiti and Western Samoa.

Exports of oil from Netherlands New Gumea for the first six months ol J£ 54 . totalled 250,000 tons—only 35,000 tons under the total 1953 production. The huge increase is °P en i n g of the new oilfield near Mogoi-Wasian. Chief markets for the oil were Australia.

Japan, South Africa, Formosa and The Netherlands.