Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts
pp. 63-113 · Read in the full issue
This Month's News of-
Pearl With A Price
In August, we discussed the recent 'ortunes of New Yorker Bruce \itcheson’s very second-hand fleet >f Pearl suffix vessels since they ;ommenced their Panama-flag jxcursions in Pacific waters last fear. ..
Latest then in trouble was the 133-ton ex-New Zealand coaster Storm, now named Rose Pearl, vhich was arrested in Darwin on July 23 south-bound from Japan to ~nd via ports.
The case finally came up for hear ng in Darwin on September 24, rwner Aitcheson having arrived from York.
Dalgety & Co., of New Zealand, jlaimed £15,585 in settlement of lebts incurred by the ship at Lyttleton, Wellington, Noumea (where she called for engine .repairs n January), and at Rabaul (where she refuelled and incurred other ex
penses early February) ■ on her maiden voyage to Yawata, Japan, under the Aitcheson ownership. The cargo of scrap metal was apparently shipped by Dalgety & Co., who ad vanced funds at the loading and en route ports, for victualling and crew’s wages.
Aitcheson said he had a contract to deliver war-scrap to Japan from US Pacific Territories and as a re sult of the seizure had been un able to do so.
, , , The crew IS broke and would be hungry if the Administrator of the NT had not arranged at the end of September, for a Darwin cafe to SU Chtet m Engineer ll6 Rober t Lee (Chinese) was on Sea Pearl when she sank off Northern NG in June.
He then joined Rose Pearl in time to get stranded in Darwin.
LATER: The Darwin Court ruled on October 5 that the vessel was to be sold to defray
expenses. This followed a ruling a day earlier that some of the vessel's bunker oil could be sold immediately to provide funds for officers and crew. From preliminary reports of the Court proceedings it appeared that "Rose Pearl" had been provisionally registered under the Panamanian and also the Liberian flag in the course of her short career with Mr. Clive Bruce Aitcheson's Crescent Corporation. The presiding judge, in summing up, said that it had not been properly proved that there was such a body as the Crescent Corporation, alleged to be the owners.
One That Did Not Get Away
Suva mariners will recall the 495-
ton refrigerated banana vessel
Rican Star which called there back
in November, 1955, wearing the
rarely seen Costa Rican flag.
She was bound Sydney with a full
cargo of high explosives at a fancy freight rate.
The 35-year-old steel ex-yacht reached Sydney with a broken crank-shaft on one motor —and has never left that port.
There is a school of thought that when she does so, it may be as scrap-metal—or bound for the Jap anese breakers.
Built as Dolphin, she has had an interesting career, being subsequently renamed Ramona, Lynx, Elena, and Samana Queen. Sydney marine authorities demanded expensive hull plate replacements and the Canadian owner decided to sell—but the high cost of repairs and dif ficulties in paying the owner in dollars are believed to have im mobilised the vessel, which was otherwise well equipped to have horned in on the expanding frozen cargo trade between Australia-New Zealand and Asiatic ports, Hawaii and the United States, at freight rates profitable for a small vessel.
Any Offers?
The graceful passenger schooner Te vega is becoming well known in the South Pacific. Now to confuse the issue is Ve Tega, no resemblance and no relation, except that both vessels sailed out of Honolulu.
Ve Tega, a 50 ft x 18 ft craft of the well known American Block Islander type, made a surprise appearance at Luganville, Santo, early September under command of
American yachtsman Bob Grant, formerly associated with the yachts Venturer, Mandalay, and Korrigan, the last-named having stranded and been sold in the New Hebrides in 1956. (She was sold, salvaged, and renamed Bula Tale).
But Ve Tega is not a yacht. Grant purchased the uncompleted hull at Honolulu and eventually launched her as a useful little cargo vessel.
With Mate Neal, Grant cleared Honolulu with a cargo of 75 drums of aviation gas for Palmyra (said to be for the use of Captain P. G.
Taylor’s Frigate Bird 111 flying boat) , then made a call at Canton Island before reaching Santo, where the vessel was offered for sale at a reported £A15,000.
If unsold there, Ve Tega seemed likely to appear in Solomons or New Guinea waters. The enterprise deserves success, though there is certain to be plenty of red tape to ensnare vessel and owner before the deal is through.
Non-Profit Voyage
Also apparently ensnared by red tape were John and Diana Hepworth and their Brixham yacht-cum-work boat Arthur Rogers.
Trading in the New Hebrides for many months past, they recently made a recruiting voyage north to the Solomons for plantation labour.
According to our coconut radio, labourers were found in abundance
and taken aboard, but there appeared to be a question of the deposit of a substantial bond for the safe return of each man.
Arthur Rogers, holds empty, was
The MV "Beverley" at Voco Point, Lae, New Guinea. "Beverley" was formerly the old "Crystal Star" and is owned by A. H. Buntings of Samarai. On her latest trip up the coast from Samarai to Lae, the galley stove ignited and caused quite a blaze which was quickly attended to by the skipper and crew who used op all the fire extinguishers aboard. "Beverley" is a 50-tons vessel trading between Samarai and Lae, carrying copra, fuel and scrap.
back in the New Hebrides in August. Recruiting is different (ano difficult) these days.
You, Too, Could Own A
Merchant Fleet
Western Samoa, approaching nationhood, and progressive Princ: Tungi, of Tonga, might look into the financial possibilities of estabi lishing a Shipping Register.
Latest to enter the “flag of com venience” band-waggon is the tin; inland Republic of San Marino, ii Italy (which was having a revolu. tion in early October).
The possibilities seem even bette; than in postage stamps, which ar a profitable source of easy incomi in many Island territories.
Liberia is the best example a what one can do by opening a Shi] Register. That country, whi c 1: strictly speaking, owns little if am shipping, has on paper about 6,000,00 gross tons under its flag, includim a tanker fleet exceeding that c Norway or the United Kingdom and including most of the world largest tankers.
It is all done by mail-orde:; Nominally, you establish headquartl ers in Monrovia, Liberia. This merel means getting a commission agen there to put up the name of you company outside his office afte registering it with the Governmer at a small fee.
You supply details of all you ships and include a cheque coverim the annual registration fee of abou 10 cents per ton, paint Monrovia o( the sterns of your vessels, hoist th Liberian flag, and you’re in business No income tax to pay—just tha 10 cents per gross ton! The Liberiaf Government gets 6,000,000 times teE cents per annum, and everyone : happy. The drawcard is mainly free dom from income tax.
Bermuda has opened a register ii recent years, and some vessels o leading British companies are not arriving in Pacific ports wit; “Hamilton” on their sterns.
Bermuda —and Tonga—offer th advantage of the British flag, if an advantage still exists.
Coming—But Slowly
Launched in mid-April, FauaU Tworriey, first of the three N Lepers’ Trust Board 55-ft auxiliai. ketches to be presented to Mission for medical patrol work in the Sou# West Pacific, still lay in Aucklan uncompleted early October.
Captain James Forbes, represent ing the Board in the constructs of the vessels at the Chas. BaileJ shipyard, said that he hoped to sit this vessel heading north for tK; Solomons by the end of the monti under command of Auckland yacht,J man Mark Anthony, who has d*l livered several other small missioj craft there in past years.
First announced in 1953, an actually ordered in mid-1955. tld vessels have suffered many delas
l construction. Faudbu has been waiting a propeller shaft from ngland. It is hoped that the other vo vessels, one of which is well avanced, will follow at short in irvals without further hold-ups. his first ketch goes to the Mel aesian (Anglican) Mission. The cond vessel, for the Methodist assion, is to be named Ozama womey —and not Nusa Zonga womey, as apparently earlier ha nded The Catholic Mission’s ;tch will be named Mala Twomey.
On The Rocks Again
Ronald (“Operation Screwball”) ihnson, best remembered for his nely drift from Hawaiian waters near Fiji in the craft now known as ovata; and later in Sydney for his -fated voyage in a Chinese fishing
junk, has never endeared himself to officialdom in the Islands, through his unorthodox approach, but his critics are forced to admit that he is an eternal optimist.
After the loss of the junk Bung Ho, in March, 1956, the Johnson purse was again very slim. But funds were found to purchase a second-hand van and a load of warsurplus clothing, and a course was laid for inland NSW.
Back in Sydney this September, Johnson reported a serious shortage of farmers wanting working gear of the type he was purveying. Added to that, the local business men, often members of the town council, saw to it that he could never hire a hall to display his snips.
Result; An unhappy surplus on hand of “750 military tunics, 200 greatcoats, and umpteen oilskins”— and a badly bent van. Says Johnson; “I turned it over with a fearful crash when the accelerator stuck on a curve in pouring rain on the top of Mt. Victoria the other week. . . .
However, it was dragged upright, a few things banged out, and I drove it home.”
Next move; back to the street photography, perhaps in Sydney, where Johnson holds a licence to operate on a designated spot at the George Street end of the GPO; or perhaps along the unsuccessful war surplus trail, and when funds are again in shape, another nautical sortie of some kind. (Over)
Upper; Skipper Hugh Williams (right) ot Melva" and engineer Les Livingstone.
Middle; "Melva" at anchor off Rarotonga Lower: Mr. and Mrs. Bob Burrell (see notes).
Photos: J. P. Shortall, and Cook Is. Social evelopment Department.
Meanwhile, if anyone’s wanting a tunic, greatcoat, or oilskin coat at a snip price there will be smart de spatch by contacting Johnson’s Operational Headquarters, GPO Box 5214, Sydney!
It Started With Movies
Ushering his wife on a tour visit to relatives and friends in Tahiti, Auckland, and Suva lately was American Bob Burrell, taking time off from his normal life as a deck officer in the American Merchant Marine—he has lately been serving in Matson trans-Pacific freighters, and is no stranger to the Pacific.
Back about 1929, as a very young man serving in American Export Line vessels from the East Coast, he saw a screening of the famous Murnau silent film “Tabu”, and there and then, like many another, he decided to get down to Tahiti fast and look things over at first hand.
Landing from the Makura in 1930 he soon found himself as a planta tion overseer out on Tiaro in the Tuamotu, and skipper of the cutter Temaurehei Tahiti, which he later purchased from owner Arthur Crid land, sailed to Honolulu, registered under th e US flag, and renamed Tiare Tahiti.
Then came a charter in 1933 to transport members of a Bishop Museum research team round French
Oceania,* The team came south in the sampan Islander.
That over, he sold the cutter and joined Islander in her normal life as a fishing vessel round the Line Islands. 1938 found him in an American construction gang on Mid
way, when the rush for trans-Pacifi air bases was at its height.
But Tahiti called again and h soon had a job as skipper of th well-known Mitiaro there.
Then came the war, marriage to daughter of the Drollet family, am
departure in May, 1942, for service again in the US Merchant Marine.
Mrs. Burrell left Tahiti in 1944 and they established a home near San Francisco.
This was her first visit back home, and to the four Drollet brothers in New Zealand and a fifth, James, in Suva, who is an employee of Pacific Biscuit Cos. From there they hew home —and for Bob it was back to the normal sea life, this time probably on the Orient run.
Showing The Tarawa Flag
Latest news of that wandering boy from Tarawa, Willie Schutz, whose father is head of the Tangitang Trading Society there, came in a personal note from Singapore this month.
Having gained his foreign-going Mate’s certificate and radar certifi cate as now required by the regula tions, Willie joined the 8.128-ton, 5year-old Stylehurst, at Rotterdam, in July, as Second Officer.
Calling at Port Said, Aden and Singapore, the vessel discharged a cargo of sulphate of ammonia at the Communist China port of
Shanghai. Then back to Singapore for bunkers with next stop Lourenco Marques, in Portuguese East Africa, for a cargo of maize for Japan.
Willie plans to gain his sea-time for Master in this vessel, sit that ticket in England, then perhaps think about another look at the Islands.
Willie is one of the very few Pacific Islanders to attain his pre sent qualifications. Trained in the Gilberts as a radio telegraphist on leaving school, he had a taste of the Japanese occupation there. His sea career really began in early 1947, when he cleared Suva as navigator radio operator aboard Dick Brown’s schooner Tahitienne, which had come across from the Cooks for re nt.
Willie had a book on navigation and Dick Brown had a nautical almanac. They got there, with minor excitements. Although more thrills were offering in the Brown Line in the year or two ahead, there was little hope of professional advance ment. The New Zealand immigra tion authorities grudgingly permitted him to go to NZ and gain a radio operations certificate which would be recognised in the outside world.
That in pocket, and pushed out firmly by NZ, he returned to Suva to take command of Kia Kia, then ow r ned by the Gilbert & Ellice Is.
Government, but with still no hope of gaining any certificates of value in navigation.
Still, there was the hope that the sea-time might eventually be
John and Diane Wells on board "Flying Walrus" in Tahiti. (See story elsewhere in this issue).
.ccepted by the navigation author ises overseas —and this was the case, ,t least in part. After navigating Cia Kia and her official passengers n long voyages to the Line Islands nd elsewhere, Willie eventually re eived a permit from the Australian mmigration authorities to take a emporary job on the coast while tudying for Second Mate’s ticket, finch he gained after taking a curse at a Sydney navigation school.
Tom there on it has been smoother ailing. . , A .
The Schutz career might well be m encouraging demonstration to ther Island boys that immigration estrictions notwithstanding, it can e done.
Just before leaving London, ichutz met Captain Gerry Douglas nd his wife, on furlough from Brvice in GEIC vessels, and by the ime that this appears they should e back at Tarawa.
A General Cargo
Skipper Hugh Williams brought is 243-ton Melva south to Auckland rom the Cooks in September with , varied cargo of tomatoes, copra, mpty drums—and complaints, and iroved that there was plenty to sgitimately complain about in those Firstly, the Maui Pomare appears o be delivering an increasing mount of New Zealand cargo right o the outer islands, instead of off
loading it at Rarotonga to aid the local fleet.
Captain Williams points out that the Government vessel is despatched to some outer islands with in significant quantities of NZ cargo, and to often uplift very small cargoes of produce. Money so wasted, he feels, should be diverted to employ ing the local fleet —if the Adminis tration wants a local privately-owned fleet. There is, of course, the contrary view that cargo twice handled shows more damage on de livery.
Captain Williams had another complaint—this time against the entry of the American-owned Bahama-registered schooner Tiare Maori in the Cooks trade.
Owner Johnson, better placed financially than owner Williams, is said to be operating as a hobby, On top of this is the ever-present headache of no safe harbours, so that caring for the ship’s safety is a 365-day-a-year job.
Discussing PlM’s August report of Administration reef-blasting opera tions at Manihiki, Captain Williams said it would have been much more to the point if the work had been concentrated on the Tauhunu land ing, instead of the much less-impor tant Tukou; but better still had it been devoted to improving the Cooks main harbour, Avarua, on Raro tonga, which, year after year, re mains unimproved in any way.
Dragline equipment has been im ported for this job, but it is now learned that no Union Steam Ship Cos. lighters will be available to assist, and a special lighter will apparently have to be imported.
Then there is the question of the Maina Islet light, at the south-west extremity of Aitutaki. As often ex tinguished as alight, it constitutes, m the view of Captain Williams, a navigational hazard and would be better left extinguished until its operation can be assured. Operated from car batteries, which have to be recharged at the main settlement some miles away by sea, its mainten ance is one of the numerous duties of the Resident Agent, who is unable to see whether it is operating from the main island.
Melva had taken to NZ a ship ment of 2,000 cases of tomatoes on deck and in her unrefrigerated holds, and although her arrival coincided with a week-end, the fruit was dis charged in first-class condition, bringing 27/6 in the wholesale
markets for the 18 lb cases, and re tailing at about 3- per lb. The voyage took 10! days.
It was intended that Melva would drydock but the slipway was fully engaged, so she loaded 650 drums of aviation gasoline for Aitutaki and a large deck cargo of fruit cases in “shooks” for Rarotonga.
Although threatening to withdraw from the Cooks trade and try his luck in New Hebrides or New Guinea waters on arrival, on departure, Captain Williams was more cheerful.
There had been an assurance from the NZ fruit importing organisation that full advantage would be taken of local craft next season to bring cargoes of oranges and tomatoes in to Rarotonga from the outer islands, so long as they could be discharged directly into the Maui Pomare or other overseas ship, to avoid un necessary handling.
Safety At Little Cost
One of the lessons of the Joyita tragedy was that the radar equip ment carried by the RNZAF Sunder lands was incapable of producing satisfactory reflections from small
wooden ships, and the answer to that problem, as PIM then pointed out, was for such vessels to be re quired to carry radar reflectors which can be hoisted when needed.
For the benefit of any shipowner with the interest and energy to pursue the matter further—failing any legal enforcement—we pass on the information that collapsible mesh-type lifeboat reflectors, pre sumably American surplus equip ment, weighing 15 ozs. and measur ing 2 in. x 2 in. x 26 in. folded, are available at only 7/6 each from Procps Bros. Ltd., 52 Tottenham Court Road, London, Wl.
We mention this firm in reply to some people who have said, “But where can we get these things”.
There seems to be plenty of scope for a lively importer of life saving ship chandlery in the Islands —rubber dinghies, distress trans mitters, and radar reflectors. Were they “on tap”, they would probably find ready sale.
The firm mentioned above has been actively advertising the reflec tors in English nautical publications as equipment for yachts.
The Micronesian Fleet
Since last month’s report a vessels operating in American Micro f 108^”* 111 occasional one shows u in Fiji or New Guinea waters—w have had a correction to figure previously supplied. This states the Government-owned shipping thei totals 9,225 tons gross, plus 369 tor gross of privately-owned shipping; Some months ago we mentione; the latest vessel, privately-ownee to enter trade in those waters- Mieco Queen, owned by Marshall I Import-Export Co., a co-operativ VVe now have details of this Hong kong-built, single-screw, steel vesse from the slipways of Cheoy Le Shipyard. Measuring 108 ft b.p. 22 ft x 10J ft moulded depth, th vessel has a gross tonnage of 28 and a net tonnage of 114.
She has cabin accommodation fc six passengers and a licence to carr in addition 35 deck passengers, Sh is the flag-ship of an organisatioi which also owns the Dutch-buil, former Australian coastal schoone Milleeta, 141 tons gross.
Amongst the Government vessel is the Auckland-built 114-ft powere; lighter Vigilantibus, identical tl Melva, to the ill-fated Noumea vesse Monique, and to the Noumea vesse Rosalie, though all have undergon modification to their original IT Army design.
Hostilities ceased before the were completed at Auckland ship yards, and Vigilantibus was possibll the only one of the eight vessel built to have reached North Pacifir waters. Others are in the New Zeai land coastal trade. They would cen tainly not be classified as powered lighters to-day. Of composite conr struction with steel bulkheads, theE have well-formed hull shapes, bu. crowded accommodation.
Coming Your Way?
Built this year in the same yar: as Mieco Queen was the vesse Wongala, 452 tons, for Tucker Ship ping Co., of Adelaide, owners of thr 38-year-old Wong ala-ex-Wyatt Ean of polar expedition fame and wei known in New Guinea waters.
The new vessel, like the one whict she evidently replaces, is in the ex* plosives trade, mainly trans-Tasman where she relieves the 263-ton Pm smallest vessel in the trans-Tasmai trade. Piri is soon to be sold, anr she appears the type of auxiliary crab to be a “natural” for the Islands.
She was launched in 1917 fron Morrison & Sinclair’s Sydney yan as Tangaroa, for Pacific Cabl< Board, and as such saw Islands sen service. They sold her in 1925.
A v/ooden craft of attractive pro) file, she carries about 5,000 56-lb case; of explosives at a service speed o about 8 knots. Her 240 bhp Crosslea motor was fitted in 1947. Her sax area has been greatly reduced from that originally carried. She will lx(
(Continued on page 101)
sold from Auckland, where she now lies. Owners are Imperial Chemical Industries (NZ) Ltd.
Merchant Navy Programme
For those who wonder what has happened to the interesting BBC Merchant Navy programme which no longer appears on tuning in; as from October 1 the initial broadcast was transferred from 1745 GMT to 1830 GMT, Thursday. The repeat broadcasts remain as before: Fri day 2200 GMT and Monday 0730 GMT. Note all times and days given are GMT.
Passing The Buck
Sleek and trim of line, but far from ideal as a cargo-carrier, the co-operatively owned Manu’a Tele has the reputation amongst her owners, the Chiefs and people of the Manu’a Is., of Eastern Samoa, of being something of a money-eater, and it appeared likely that she would be the cause of some more buck-passing when she arrived back home from her big Auckland refit in October.
More “bucks” had been required :o pay for that job than had probably been anticipated. It was mainly spent in replanking large areas of the hull, especially forward and on the port side, and in subsequent re placement of new metal sheathing.
The damage had probably been Daused by worms penetrating holes in the sheathing while the vessel lay idle for a lengthy period at Pago Pago.
The hull work completed, the vessel was making a deal of water through seams and fastenings as she lay completing other repairs at an Auckland wharf, and it appeared that she might have to return to the slipway for further caulking ?arly October, unless the leaks took up.
The vessel’s mainmast, which formerly carried a crow’s nest, was found to be rotten in parts and she now sports a shorter mast.
Manu’a Tele’s principal virtue is m emergency speed capacity of 14 knots or better, though her twin 100-hp GM’s provide a cruising speed Df 10 knots and together consume a-bout 32 US gallons per hour. She lias a tankage of about 6,000 gallons.
Her speed helps to shorten the passenger-agony of the crossing from Manu’a to Pago Pago, or from Pago Pago to Apia. She will resume tier schedule of two Apia trips and Dne Manu’a trip per week.
For the present anyway, her own ers have lost the Apia-Tokelau Is. quarterly charter voyage to the Suva-based Kurimarau, which is probably a better vessel for the task in all respects except speed.
While Manu’a Tele carries about
100 tons of copra below, stowage is awkward. She has no cargo derrick or winch and everything has to be man-handled. Her charter services too, no doubt have to be paid for by the New Zealand Government in dollars.
Doing The Rounds
„ . . , p ?^ rre ’ Principal of Berg & Cos Ltd., which owns the 297-ton
Hongkong-registered Kurimarau,
journeyed from his Sydney headquarters lately to join the vessel at her Suva base-port and make the rounds of her present operational the Tokelaus, and Ellice Is. The ship is managed at Suva by Williams & Gosling Ltd.
Stand By For Mystery
Biery
Fresh reports of mystery vessels in /esting the South Pacific are im m*nent—although the Japs have had a rest lately.
The Russian IGY Committee has announced that as part of the USSR’s research plans, oceano graphic survey vessels fitted with special deep-sea mooring equipment will anchor at many points in the Pacific to make accurate ocean current observations, Very few ships indeed, apart from certain survey vessels and deep-sea cable ships, are capable of anchor ing at great depths on the high seas, so any shipmaster coming across such an anchored ship, Russian or
not, is likely to be surprised—and the Popular Press will take over from there.
Still, it will be all good, clean fun,, and cash for the cable companies!
Reluctant Dragon
As if reluctant to put to sea after her lengthy stay in Auckland, Tonga Copra Board’s A’oniu made an, amusing getaway from her refitting; berth in September, when she cleared for Suva. Under control of the pilot, the lines were cast off and the too-small tug took over.
While the tug heaved gamely, A’oniu gave every appearance of re sisting lustily as she crabbed her way along parallel with the wharf until there was no further sea-room. The tow-line was slipped for rearrange ment, but under a combined influ ence of tide and wash from the tug, A’oniu gathered sternway and pro ceeded right back, to come up gently, beam to the wharf, at the precise point of departure where Tongan lassies resident in Auckland were still brushing the last of the tears from their eyes.
Second attempt was better, but the tearful farewells had all to be repeated.
Muliama Now Paloma
The small BP motor-ship Muliama (689 gross tons) which was sold tc John Manners and Cos. for Far Easi service about six months ago has s new name as well as anew job. Nov the Paloma, she trades out of Hong kong for Manners Navigation Cos. as far as Singapore and taking iri any other Far East port as required She was built in Hongkong in 193 f for the New Guinea inter-islam trade. {PIM, April, 1957, p. 117). :
New Southern Cross Coming
Along Well
Ballina Slipway and Engineering Cos., of NSW, reports that all tin main ingredients for Southern Crosi VIII are assembled, that work is oi schedule and well advanced, keel i down, frame on, motors purchased etc.
It is expected that the launchuu will be around February and wti be attended by considerable churc) ceremony.
The vessel is being built, of course for the Melanesian Mission and wii replace Southern Cross VII, whic: is now owned by the Bougainvill.
Company under its new na m > Kilinailau.
Te Vega To Make
Cruises
Captain Omer Darr, who has bees conducting high-priced voyages be tween Honolulu and Papeete in hr schooner Te Vega for a couple ( years now, will cease these forth! with and extend operations t Westward next year.
Te Vega has recently been eit gaged by the Dudley Film Corpora tion for its foray into the Pacift
take a film for Cinerama (see sewhere).
Captain Darr plans to start his uises in March next year. He will ►erate three from Papeete to iva, taking in Moorea, Raiatea, >ra Bora and Rarotonga, and ther Tonga or Samoa.
These cruises will last about 18 iys and will cost about £550.
They distinctly come into the sury bracket.
There will also be five annual o-week cruises from Papeete to irotonga, taking in Bora Bora and liatea, plus several other inter and trips.
Te Vega has had a varied career the 27 years since she was inched.
She was built in Germany in 1930 the famous Krupp organisation : a private American owner. Dur l the Second World War she was ken over by the United States ivy for use as a weather patrol at based at San Francisco. [n 1951, the schooner ran into a squall which dismasted her Tahiti. Then, unwanted, she ? at Papeete for 21 years while e owners waited settlement of irm insurance.
Captain Omer Darr, president Darr Lines Inc., US, took her er in 1954, jury-rigged her at peete, repaired the hull and set for Los Angeles. There he spent
nine months and £ABO,OOO-odd re building her.
Te Vega is two masted, with 11,235 square feet of sail. She is 134 ft long and has a beam of 28 ft, and is equipped with a 200-hp diesel engine, which enables her to cruise at nine knots with a range of 5,000 miles.
Her luxury accommodation in cludes six outside double cabins, three bathrooms, a large main saloon and dining room, a library; and re frigeration and an air-conditioning system.
Norwegian Ship For Pacific
Cruise
The 17,000-ton Norwegian liner, Bergensfjord, will begin a 77-day cruise of the South Pacific in January. It will cover nearly 26,000 miles, and will call at 25 ports in the Islands, Australia and New Zealand.
Fares range from £7Bl for a single inside cabin on the lowest deck to a suite on the sun deck at £3,795.
Kao At Home Base
The Tongan barge, Kao left Suva on September 12, escorted by the Tongan ship, Aoniu, for home port. (See PIM, July, page 61).
Kao arrived in Suva from UK as deck cargo on the Port Towns ville early in August for a check-up
and to have her engines prepared for the voyage to Tonga.
She underwent her trials out side Suva harbour and averaged a speed of seven knots.
The four men who manned her for the voyage to Tonga were from the escort ship and were under the command of Mr. Polonga, chief officer of the Aoniu.
The Aoniu, an 87-ton auxiliary ketch, was built in Suva in 1947 by Charles Whippy for the Tongan Copra Board.
She is :tised in Tonga for carry ing general cargo to outlying islands and returning with copra which is discharged at Vavau, Ha’apai or Nukualofa.
Aoniu is expected to be replaced shortly by a modern 500-tonner (PIM, August, page 61).
Tenders Called For Manu
Manu O Aitutaki, formerly Seven Seas, which has been on offer in the Cook Islands for some time by owner John Harrington, was to be sold by public tender, which closed October 10.
This steel-hulled yacht was built in Holland in 1952 for ocean cruis ing but has been converted to carry about lu to 15 tons of general cargo.
She has all the fixings—such as radio-telephone and square sails.
Mr. R. A. Ingram, of Rarotonga, was acting as agent. (Over)
A Coral Queen For Wphc
Sir John Gutch, High Commis sioner of the Western Pacific, has jhosen Coral Queen as the name of lis new “touring vessel” now being milt in Hongkong.
When Coral Queen is not needed :or touring duties around the vatery WPHC empire, she will be ised for general duties and will •elieve the BSIP government ship Melanesian.
PIM had an item about the iriginal Coral Queen in the Sep ember, 1956, issue.
She was an Auckland schooner md in a Customs entry of 1865 she ippears to have brought back to hat port a full load of guano from loral Queen Island; there was some peculation in the September issue i,bout the real identity of this island md our correspondent thought that t was Flint.
Research seems to fix the island is Starbruck Is. —in the same Line sland group as Flint. (Coral Queen is an alternative name for Star luck is given in the Pacific Islands lear Book).
News of Cruising Yachts
• SANTA MARIA’S present thereabouts would be of interest — iut we haven’t the answer. It will ie recalled that Danish skipper isker Kure was reported in August, 955, to be clearing Cowes for the ‘acific —or to die at sea en route, 'hese cases rarely die until much a ter, but so far we’ve had no en oute reports of how the 55-year-old kipper is faring. With “two years o live”, he had said goodbye to his fife and four children to end his lays on the high seas. • ON RUST, of Holland, which )irk Tober navigated out to New lealand several years ago via Island •orts, has found a firm home at lobart, where Tober is said to be laking a tidy living as a commercial isherman. At present operating a ;cal craft under a share basis, Tober 3 building one of his own in his pare time or when weather pre ents chasing the lucrative crayfish long the south-west coast of Tas lania. • RONGOMAU, 50-ft motor-sailer, fas launched at Kawau Is. in Sep ember by well-known Auckland ioat-builder, Roy Lidgard, who will >ut to sea in her for a long-planned sland cruise next winter, if he can luster a crew of kindred spirits— fhlch seems highly likely. Mr. iidgard is well known in Polynesia, lis yard has done work on many sland vessels down through the ears. • DIANA, of England, looping ack through the Islands from Luckland, made Rarotonga on Sep ember 3, and was heading thence or Tonga under command of owner 4. E. Young, CB, CMG, MC, with rew as earlier reported.
• NINA, of Auckland, arrived at Rarotonga on the same day from Papeete. With owner J. Moody and his two original companions were two other New Zealanders. Next Port, Nukualofa. • FLYING WALRUS, as all the world will know ere this, reached Rarotonga September 21 from Papeete via Henderson. Pitcairn and Mangareva. From there John and Diana Wells would head for Auckland. (See elsewhere). • MARCO POLO, of Auckland, in Suva mid-September near the end of a world cruise, was up for sale, but if not sold, Tony Armit and “Tig” Loe intended clearing for Auckland. Also aboard the yacht from Rarotonga was John Smith, who had cleared Auckland in Miranda in June. Smith hopes to have his own yacht for an Island cruise next winter. • MIRANDA, a gaff-rigged ketch, 34 ft long, beam Hi ft, left Raro tonga on August 13 and arrived at Papeete on August 21. She is under the joint ownership of John O’Donnell and Peter Nelson, and had a remarkably good voyage of 19 days between Auckland and Rarotonga. The mu c h-travelled skipper, John O’Donnell, was re cently a radiographer technician at the Middlemore Hospital, out of Auckland; and a few years back he held a similar position in American Samoa. He plans to give voluntary service to the hospital in Papeete. • WANDERER, Auckland 30footer which won the Auckland- Suva Race last year was stolen from her Auckland moorings in September and later stranded at nearby Kawau Is. Later an Australian carpenter, aged 21, was charged and held on remand. • VENTURER —reported by Fiji
Times as Ventura— arrived at Suva on September 15 from Honolulu via Palmyra and Samoa, bound Aus tralia. Aboard were Mr. and Mrs John Burke. This yacht caused some excitement and publicity in Papeete and Honolulu four years ago. Hav longl^lied from Bos ton on September 8, 1950, the 50-ft schooner arrived at Papeete with John Burke and Bob Grant aboard. Later it was alleged in Papeete that Venturer had departed that port at night.
December 29, 1953, without correct clearance for all aboard. The per sons alleged to be uncleared were Mrs. Kim Powell and children, of the British yacht Wind’s Will who had asked for passage to Honolulu, to institute separation proceedings against her husband, who, unable to have Venturer recalled to port, hew to Honolulu to meet the yacht and reclaim the children. Results of the subsequent proceedings which received great publicity in Honolulu are not known. Mrs. Powell was apparently an American citizen. (Over)
On the present voyage, Mrs. Burke was unfortunate enough to fall and break off two front teeth, between Samoa and Fiji. Plans were to clear Suva again early October. • SOLACE reported from Suva last month as Solus, is west-bound round the world, and manned by Commander Victor Clark, RN (Rtd.) and Stanley Mathurin. Next port should be Tanna, New Hebrides, then BSIP, then Samarai, Papua.
She expects to sail through Torres Strait to South Africa, then via West Indies, home. • WHITE HART, a 48-ft motor sailer, designed by John G. Alden, of Boston, USA (ketch-rigged, 1.0. a. 48 ft, beam 14 ft 7 in.), cleared Papeete for Moor ea, Huapine, Bora Bora, Raitea and Rarotonga on August 20. Tony Reeves is skipper and accompanying personel are Mr. and Mrs. Charles C.
McPhee, and Miss Pauline Scott, of Rarotonga. Mr. McPhee disem barked at Moorea and returned to Tahiti. The White Hart was built in Georgetown, Grand Cayman, British West Indies, in 1951, principally by Tony Reeves, and the work occupied two years. • JESSICA, .35-ft ketch, is a John Alden Marconi design, regist ered in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Captain-owner is John T. Jacobsen, who is accompanied by his wife,
Florence Jacobsen, and Stafford Ames Morse, Paul H. Friese, ship’s doctor, and Desmond Carroll on present cruise.
Arrived in Tahiti on July 14, 1957, and cleared there for the return journey to Honolulu on September 1,
Desmond Carroll, who joined the Jessica for the voyage home to Newport Beach, California, USA. arrived in Tahiti on the Nordlys on March 6, 1957, and during the en suing period was married to an attractive French-Tahitian named
Vlarcelle Estall, of a widely-known amily, both in Tahiti and Rarotonga.
Vlr. Carroll was for two years in ;he movie industry in Hollywood. • ALTAIR, a 48-ft ketch, beam '0 ft 6 in., and registered in Hono ulu, arrived Papeete, Tahiti, on September 9, 1957. Skipper-owner 2. C. Lambert owned the Altair leveral years ago, sold it, and ebought it again.
The crew members are Ken jeary, a qualified Master, who is a racht broker in Honolulu; A 1 Quintana, who has a curio estab ishment in Honolulu: and Larry Barrett, who, as a chef, aims at atisfying the inner man.
The voyage was commenced on August 14. and took 24 days in foul weather to sight the peaks of rahiti.
Skipper Lambert is the master of he Pearl Harbour cruise boat Adventurer, and pioneered the cheme in 1949. It was tough go ng, however, he stuck to his guns md won out—to-day he says he annot cope with the tourist trade. • LES 4 VENTS, French flag, 30t sloop, sailed round the Horn and ip through the Islands by Marcel Jardiaux in 1954, reached New York rom the West Indies late August.
Jardiaux will continue to Quebec, Montreal and back down the St. jawrence to France to complete this ery notable lone-handed voyage. • . COONGOOLA —The 73-ft yacht -oongoola , formerly owned by G. A.
Iriffths, now owned and skippered y Mr. N. W. Thomas, of Welling on, NZ, arrived in Australia in mgust, and has taken up quarters ff Clareville Beach, in Pittwater, iorth of Sydney. Mr. Thomas plans o sail her to French Oceania next /inter. He is an experienced South ’acific yachtsman—he sailed the luia for some time. He has been t Henderson Island (much in the Lews in September) —he was the nan who found the mysterious keleton in a cave there (see PIM f 1951).