News Of The Small-Ships

It Happened In April;—The

antucket whaler Oeno was wrecked n Vatoa (or Turtle Is.), southern au Group, Fiji, in April, 1825, all ut one of her crew being murdered lere.

Oeno, owned by Aaron Mitchell, id commanded by Capt. Samuel iddell, cleared Nantucket on No imber 4, 1824,, for Bay of Islands, Z. She sailed from there on April 1825.

Ata, Tonga’s southern outlier, was issed on April 13, and a course is laid for Wallis Island. The ■eck occurred shortly atfer 2 am xt morning. The boats were armed and the captain was for iling for Wallis. However, the ite was in favour of landing on toa, where natives could be seen lore. This was agreed upon. The people on the island proved endly, but next day, while they re busy stripping the wreck, 20 ices with about 80 men in full r rig arrived from Ono. These n were not actively hostile at two days later, having rked themselves into the right od, they captured and killed all crew with the exception of one n. William Cary, who managed conceal himself. ’wo days later, weak and without a or water, he gave himself up acting to be killed. Instead, he

was treated kindly and eventually taken to Ono and later Lakemba.

There he met David Whippy—the two had been school mates. Whippy had deserted from a whaler and had established himself as a beche-de mer trader. Cary went with Whippy to Ovalau, writing home from there with the first news of the loss of Oeno. In June, 1833, he joined the whaler Tybee, in Sydney, and finally arrived home at Nantucket on October 26, 1833, where he pub lished the story of his adventures m Fiji—a valuable fragment of Fiji’s early history.

LONG TOW:—An unusual visitor to Sydney in March was the 517tons Honolulu tug Ahi, skippered by Captain Robert K. Nakea, with a crew of 19, and with two big loaded barges in tow. Ahi must have been the first vessel of Honolulu registry to enter Sydney for many years.

Owned by Isleways Co., a sub sidiary of the Hawaiian Pineapple Co., the 135-ft diesel-electric tug was built at Orange, Texas, in 1945, and is one of three similar vessels owned by the company. They are normally engaged in towing pine apple-laden barges from distant plantations to the cannery at Hono- The big 180 ft by 44 ft steel deck barges each carry 1,200 to 1,400 tons of pineapples, but on the present

voyage they carried 90 war-surplus vehicles which had been purchased at a Honolulu sale by an American Arm in Sydney.

For the 4,555-mile voyage, partly through hurricane-infested waters, the vehicles were welded together and to the barge decks by steel straps, and were also chained Ahi and her charges successfully

tyT non-stop, ‘3S&W only

oSe of the Santa Cruz Group.

Mate Henry Kahalioumi said that last vear Ahi towed an old snip as well to seaward of Guam.

After only three days in Sydney Ahj cleared again for Honolulu with her barges unladen and should be back on the pineapple run when this appears. Her sister ships had maintained radio-telephone contact with her up to 2,000 miles from Honolulu on the voyage south.

Lifeboat Investigation

Believed to have been one of the two lifeboats belonging to the Fiji registered Nukalau, which foundered in the western Tasman Sea on June 13 1954, a 16-ft lifeboat was found on Narrabeen beach, NSW, early March. Badly damaged and covered with weed as it lay on the mud flats, it was being investigated to established identity. The other boat was found on a northern NSW beach last October. No trace, in cidentally, has ever been found of the Suva-registered 437-ton vessel Awahou which went missing with all hands in September, 1952, bound from Sydney for Lord Howe.

FOR TONGA: —W hen Prince Tunsi of Tonga, called at Australia en route to Europe in February he indicated that one of the objects of his iourney was to finalise plans for the construction in a Dutch ship yard of a 500-ton vessel for the Tongan Copra Board. This vessel will replace the A’omu, Suva-built

120-ton ketch, which is becomir inadequate for the task of gatherm in the copra crop from Tongs outlying islands like Niuafoou an Niuatobutabu, a task which she hi performed since 1945.

TOTAL LOSS:—The 40-ft keh Tonga, which Mr. “Snowy” Crai

nployed as a base for shell-diving jerations in the Ninigos, New uinea, last year, became a total ss in February, and owner Crack id his wife narrowly escaped with leir lives. The ketch was anchored f a Queensland port when the irricane which had caused ship ng losses in the New Hebrides area rlier, struck. The ketch foundered 0 yards offshore and Mrs. Crack is knocked unconscious by float g timber. Mr. Crack made the ore with his unconscious wife after tough struggle, but Tonga was it.

In the same blow, the 65-ft irrier Princess, of Mackay, out on 12-day cruise training aqualung rers for trochus fishing, was lost th nine men aboard.

Solomons Post;—The Bsip

►vernment has recently been ad rtising overseas for a man to fill oewly created post of Port Officer d Superintendent of Lights, niara, at a salary of up to £1,530 • annum.

N THE MOVIES; —The 30-ton d-scow Scot, owned by Mr. J. B. rner, of Suva, which went to Fiji eral years ago, has been chartered RKO Films as a base of opera tes for the shooting of certain jkground scenes for a film en ed, “The Pearl of the Pacific.” e unit chose a small island off 1 Levu’s N-W coast for their erprise, but they immediately ran d difficulties with the continuous I weather that was experienced Fiji (and most of the South :ific) in early March. cot was built in 1905, and after

a useful career on the New Zea land coast was purchased by Mr.

Lew Graham several years ago— prior to his acquiring the Nukalau mentioned elsewhere. He sailed her to Suva and sold her to her pre sent owner, and she has been in the inter-island trade ever since.

Dutch Visitor:—Hmns Van

Zull, 1,250-ton Dutch destroyer escort, under command of Captain F. G. H. van Straaten and with 193 officers and men aboard, made February calls at Suva and Papeete, homeward bound from Korea via Yokosuka and Hollandia. The vessel

cleared Papeete for Easter Island* Valparaiso, Callao, Panama, and Curacao.

Van Zull was acquired by Holland from the United States in 1951* having been built as the USS Stem in 1943.

Still Tuna Hunting:—The

US Fish & Wild Life vessels engaged on the Pacific Ocean Fishery In vestigation project, and based on Honolulu, spend a great deal of time at sea. According to the latest progress bulletin, the Charles H.

Gilbert made a southern cruise to study the winter (Northern Hemis

per: The US merchant marine train [?]essel GOLDEN BEAR.— Photo M. B. [?]ont. wer: PHILANTE II, wrecked on Lifu has broken completely in two abaft

phere) distribution of skipjack in February. The vessel operated in :the vicinity of Palmyra, Washington, Fanning, Christmas, and Johnston.

Only 9 schools of skipjack, 5 of yellowfin, 23 of unidentified fiish, and 2 of mixed fish were sighted during the cruise, and only 2 of the yellowfin schools responded to live bait.

All schools proved “wild,” dispers ing rapidly. An artificial bait con sisting of 2 in. x I in. x i in. strips of tuna juices solidified with agar, and with a small added amount of artist’s glitter to simulate scales, was tried unsuccessfully. In the

search for live bait, small quantities of 5 in. to 8 in. mullet were found in the shallows near Palmyra and Fanning. The report says “No bait ing was done at Christmas Island where it is now prohibited by the British Government.”

Though that island is British administered at present, the weather station is serviced from Honolulu.

There is also American sea-tempera ture recording equipment installed and maintained there by the Fish & Wildlife Service.

Viti Again:—Mr. H. S. Orr, Re

ceiver for the debenture holders of

the former Fiji Government vessel Viti, said in Auckland, in March, that the vessel would shortly be advertised for sale. Viti, whose owners are in bankruptcy, was then undergoing repairs in an Auckland drydock. Meanwhile the smaller Vasu arrived in Auckland after many months of activity in the

Captain Trevor S. Withers’ “Blue Lagoon” (ex “Viti II”).

area, and was despatched again for Rarotonga on March 1.

BLUE LAGOON :—Captain Trevor S. Withers advised us, just too late for March issue, that he is re naming his recent purchase, the former Fiji Government’s patrol boat Viti 11. She is now Blue Lagoon, and was expected to enter her owner’s Lautoka-Yasawa Island cruise service by late March, re placing Turaga Levu, which may now be sold. Blue Lagoon will com fortably cruise ten passengers—four more than Turaga Levu. She will be far the most luxuriously appointed passenger vessel in Fiji waters.

FROM SANTO: Bearing the largest bottom-cargo of shell-fish to enter Sydney for many a moon, Mr.

Marcelle Marinacce’s New Hebrides trader Deutgan returned to that port for dry-docking in mid-March.

The steel converted barge had left Sydney 3 years ago to begin a new life in the Islands trade, and had not been docked since then.

For the run south she was com manded by Captain George O’Brien, now resident in Vila, well known in the Western Pacific as a specialist in delivery jobs. Mrs. O’Brien also came along. The 211-ton (136 nett) vessel had some scrap metal, cocoa, and 28 tons of trochus aboard, and it was expected that she would be

several months in Sydney. Captain O’Brien was flying home. Deutgan will be registered in Vila under the French flag. Until now she has not been on any register, and without signal letters. She wore the pro visional registration number “NH27” on her bows when she arrived. A rough voyage was experienced en route.

While in the New Hebrides the vessel is normally commanded by her owner, who, with Madame Marinacce, lives aboard his private yacht-cum-trading craft. They were on the wharf to meet Deutgan in Sydney, having flown down earlier.

Captain O’Brien reported that Tamatea, Captain Hamilton’s vessel, formerly of New Zealand, and a

[ feature of Vila harbour for the past several years, where she has lain \ idle at moorings, was beached several months ago and now lies on the shores of Iririki islet in the harbour, within a stone’s throw of the British Residency.

GOLDEN BEAR: — The American merchant-marine training vessel Golden Bear called at Papeete late February in the course of a cruise, having come from San Francisco via Acapulco, San Diego, San Pedro, and Honolulu. At Papeete the officers were entertained at a cock tail party by Governor Toby, and Captain Rick Barnes, proprietor of Les Tropiques hotel, arranged a special Tahitian feast for the ship’s company.

Golden Bear is owned by the US Department of Commerce A twin screw welded steel vessel of 6,059 GT, 3,288 nett, she is powered by turbo-electrics. She was built by the Walsh-Kaiser Co. at Providence, RI, in 1945, and is likely to be seen from time to time in the South Pacific in future, during the course of her training cruises.

Passing Through: —Ei S E

where there is mention of Ahi and her long tow. On the same day that Ahi cleared Sydney on her re turn voyage, the 525-ton tug Golden Cape, of Hongkong, cleared Welling ton, NZ, with the 30-year-old 2,400ton Union Company freighters

Kartigi and Kiwitea in tow, bound for a new life in the Far East, where they will be reconditioned. Golden Cage, with a crew of 32 and com manded by Capt. A. McCulloch, called at Manus on the run south.

There an examination was made of a sunken Liberty ship with a view to salvage.

The tug and her charges were likely to be seen in New Guinea waters in early April. They were expected to pass through Dampier Strait between New Britain and New Guinea.

OUT OF GAS:—Because the Port authorities at Vila had run out of carbide, the automatic acetylene light at Pango Point, at the entrance of that port, was out of com

mission in February-March,

Co-Operatives Still Buy

ING: —A Port Moresby native co operative took delivery of another 40-ft vessel from a Brisbane yard late March. This was the latest of a succession of small craft which have gone north to native co operatives over the past couple of years.

KURIMARAU: —According to waterfront gossip in Sydney in March there appeared to be distinct possibilities that the former BSIP Government flagship Kurimarau might be seen again in the Western Pacific ere long. The 288-ton, 25year-old Hongkong-built vessel meanwhile lies at Ballina, NSW,

Upper: Luxury cruiser PHILANTE II, lost on Lifu in February hurricane. (See photo, page 67).

Middle: SANTA TERETIA, Gilberts Catholio Mission Vessel, lost on Nikunau in January.—Photo: A. Herrick.

Lower: A scale model of the BOUNTY made entirely from local materials by a Pitcairn islander, for Pastor Norman Ferris, MBE.

under the ownership of Mr. Svere Berg, of Sydney.

PHIL ANTE II: As briefly re ported last month, M. Martinet’s converted Fairmile luxury cruiser Philante II was wrecked on Lifu, Loyalties, in the February hurri cane. According to later advice the Noumea vessel had broken in two.

The Havannah made a voyage out to Lifu in March to see what could be salvaged, if anything. Also lost were the small vessels Orion and Metaven in the New Hebrides.

Philante II had only recently secured a contract to maintain a Noumea-Loyalties passenger service.

UNDER TWO FLAGS;—Possibly unique in world shipping will be a small vessel now building in the yard of Wynne S. Breden, of New castle, NSW, for the New Hebrides Condominium Government as an official patrol craft for the French and British Resident Commissioners.

It is reported that the vessel will fly the French and British flags simultaneously, one from each quarter. (Whether the crew will also be duplicated or whether she will be manned by men of mixed French-British descent is not clear!) Ihe dual flags, instead of a single Condominium flag, seem to pose some interesting possibilities under International Law in certain cir mmstances.

SANTA TERETlA: —Further de vils of the loss of the Catholic

Mission vessel Santa Teretia on Nikunau, Gilberts, in January, show that when a sudden westerly blow sprang up Brother Gautier decided to put to sea. However, the engine failed and the anchors were unable to hold the ship in the heavy squalls.

The wreck has been stripped of everything except the motor, which can probably not be recovered. The remains are dry at low tide.

STILL THEY COME:—One of the most recent vessels to join the New Guinea coastal fleet was the Kobo, delivered from the Sydney yard of Bjarne Halvorsen Ltd. by Captain A. M. Stanton to Steamships Trad ing Co. at Port Moresby. Kobo was the fifth K-class, 56-ft copra scow to be despatched to the Islands from this yard. These popular craft carry 25 tons of copra on a draft of 5 ft.

Steamships Trading Co. have Kari, Kone and Kobo; Australasian Petroleum Co. have Kibeni; and F. M. Campbell and Sons of the Solomons have Bauro. A sixth is on the stocks for Public Health Dept., Port Moresby, differing only in accommodation lay-out.

Bjarne Holvorsen will also shortly despatch as deck cargo a new 40-ft work-boat for APC, Port Moresby.

FOR GEIC: —Captain P. J. Kenny, of England, has joined the Gilberts fleet as master of the 60-footer Maureen. Captain A. MacAdie arrived from Australia to take com

mand of Tuvalu, relieving Captain G. Douglas, who goes to the UK on vacation.

EXIT CAPE VOGEL : —A dramatic story of the sinking of Cape Vogel was told by survivors when they reached Samarai early March. The little vessel, owned and skippered by Mr. Ted Smith, of Tarakwaruru,

north coast of Papua, struck a reef in Collingwood Bay m hea v y weather. Mr. Graham Kmgsford- Smith. a passenger, said that there was just time for himself, Mr. Smith, and the six Papuan crew-men to snatch some food and a compass, and clamber into the 11-ft dinghy before Cape Vogel slipped off the reef into deep water. The strand ing occurred at 7.15 pm in pouring rain and the party battled all night in heavy seas to keep the dinghy afloat, finally making land at Mm dino village about noon the follow ing day.

Mr. Kingsford-Smith, by extra ordinary luck, managed to save some of his belongings, which happened to be packed in a metal patrol box.

After taking to the dinghy the patrol box was seen floating past, and was taken in tow. It rode out the storm even better than the dinghy. A stud boar was lost in the wreck.

The wreck again emphasised the need for charting and establishment of lirhto and beacons on this sector of the coast, numerous unmarked reefs and shoals filling the 70-mile bay and making it one of the most dangerous areas in New Guinea waters.

A Marine Court will investigate the Cape Vogel sinking.

Pacific Record:—The New

Orinet liner Orsova broke a 34year-old record on the San Fran

cisco-Honolulu sector in March.

Steaming time was 88 hours 53 minutes, clipping 3 hours off the record held by the US vessel H. F.

Alexander.

Those Treasure Seekers:

—Recently we mentioned that the steam trawler which was scheduled

to take a treasure-seeking party from Auckland to the Auckland Islands had been sold to a Sydney firm and that that particular ex pedition appeared to have dissolved.

We now hear that the other ex pedition en route from England in the small wooden vessel Absit Omen, complete with television cameras

f and all mod. cons, for treasure f seeking, went on a reef in the Red Sea in February. The Australian ; and English crew reached shore. It c is assumed that the ship, which was earlier in heavy-weather trouble in the North Sea, is a total loss.

Across the Pacific, on Cocos, a party of 14 Americans had arrived in an ex-sub-chaser to chase the famous Cocos treasure at about the time of the above Red Sea wreck.

SPRUCING UP:—New Guinea Industries Ltd.’s smart 600-tonner Viria, and New Hebrides Trading & Shipping Co.’s Vila Star were both undergoing refit at Sydney ship yards during March, in addition to Deutgan mentioned elsewhere.

When In Frisco:—If The San

Francisco Maritime Museum Asso ciation’s dreams are realised, one of the sights to see there in future years will be the well-known full rigged ship Pacific Queen, ex Bal clutha, ex Star of Russia, at per manent moorings but completely re stored to her original sailing con dition. The Association is at the present time making an earnest appeal to all lovers of sail for financial support in the project.

Lying at Pier 43 she will become a permanent maritime museum of historic photos and relics of the days of sail. This ship was well known in the Pacific in her day.

One of her companions, Star of Russia, was wrecked at Port Vila entrance and is possibly still in use there as a hulk.

March Launching:—To Be

named Viniore, a 75-ton auxiliary schooner was to be launched from the yard of Adrien Le Prado, Tahiti, on March 23 for the Papeete firm, Societe Polynesien. Dimensions are 75 ft by 17 ft on an 8 ft draft.

A 95-hp Atlas diesel was expected to drive the craft at about 8 knots.

She will enter the local inter-island service. A photo will appear next month.

Sub In Papeete:—Uss Wahoo,

submarine, under command of Lieut.

Commander W. S. Anderson, USN, arrived at Papeete March 7 in course of a training cruise. While in port, large crowds were attracted by the nightly free movie shows on deck as the vessel lay at her berth.

So many attended the free shows in fact that local movie owners were said to be viewing the visit with some disfavour.

Radar For John Williams'

The first radar equipment to be in stalled on a vessel sailing out of Suva is now operating on the Lon

don Missionary Society’s motor

vessel the John Williams. It is a second-hand Deco plant, and cost approximately £9OO to install. A trial r uP outside the Suva passage en abled the ship to pick up an island nearly 30 miles distant, and all reefs at least six feet above water Pa § e explained that it would be used as an aid to naviga tion, and certainly would not be

relied upon completely. But, he said, it would be handy for verification.

JOHN WILLIAMS makes long voyages to all islands in the South Pacific. It left Suva March 26 for Apia and the Tokelau Islands. Its next trip will be a 10,000-mile voyage to points as far distant as the Caroline and Marshall Islands.

News of Cruising Yachts

• CALYPSO, American yawl in which the Litton family cruised French Oceania a year ago, has been sold in Honolulu, and John Litton and family have departed for a job at Panama. • KONA, US yacht which arrived in Auckland December 19, and was reported

for sale, will probably head north for the New Hebrides in March or April under the same ownership—Messrs. Blackford and Skolmen. Whether Bob Houtz, who wenl back to a job in Fiji some time ago, is also to rejoin the yacht, is not yet known.

It is understood the boys plan some aqua lung diving for trochus. • KORRIGAN, changed from French registry to American, and with the prefix “LE” lobbed off her name, sailed from Papeete for Vila via Pago Pago on February 21. Lone-hander Bob Grant, formerly of American yacht MANDALAY, returned to Papeete to purchase KORRI GAN from Commandant Faye, when MANDALAY was sold in the New Hebrides late last year. KORRIGAN Is 31 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. beam.

• MANDALAY’S ex owner, J. S. Rocke: feller of the US, travelling: to Europe afte; selling the yacht in the New Hebride; late last year, is off on a movie-making expedition to Lapland, according to wore received by Ernst Lamberty of ANNi ELIZABETH now in the New Hebrides. • SUSAN, which owner Wally Waltoi of Auckland and a companion sailed t< Norfolk Island two years ago, left Auck: land in March for Sydney and probabll further afield. The 22-footer will be om of the smallest ever to make the Tasmai crossing. A call was to be made at Lor- Howe. • EURYDICE, a 20-ft. cutter mannet by Frenchman Maurice de Verteui] cleared Sydney for Lord Howe Island o March 6. Weather was bad off the coas at the time with a forecast for worst to come and de Verteuil was advised tl remain in port. A week or so later, whe; there was no word of him from Lor Howe and aircraft on the route wen alerted to keen a lookout, de Verteuil wa “discovered” lying snug at a Sydne Harbour mooring. He had nut bac shortly after sailing. He planned to sai again late March. • TAHEA, 28-ft. ketch which cleare Los Angeles May 24 last (PIM, Septembe* arrived Papeete March 15 and sailed agai for Honolulu a few days later. Owne Rolph Thorvaldsen, ex US Navy quartei master, said that he planned a lon« handed round-the-world voyage when li left the States last year. • SOLACE, Commander Victor Clark 30 ft. ketch, wrecked at Palmerston ata November 14, was in the news on Marc 25 when a NZ Civil Aviation Dcpartmei aircraft dropped repair materials. Tb aircraft, on a routine flight from Aituta. to Faleolo, also dropped medical supplii for the island. No regular ship scheduled to call at Palmerston L probably two months, but the atoll h: a radio station for communication wi Rarotonga.