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Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts

The Union Steam Ship Company’s 11,037-ton passenger er Monowai, now 34 years old, will bow out of the Pacific ssenger trade next year with an Islands cruise. Leaving ickland on June 2, she will call at Nukualofa, Pago Pago, fia, Suva, and Port Fitzroy (Great Barrier Island, near ickland) and return to Auckland to pay off on June 19, ien she will be offered for sale on the world’s shipmarkeL

UIER this year, when the Fiji imes forecast that she was to t disposed of, and the story jassed on to NZ newspapers, were hot denials of any such ion from, Wellington, fever, that report was officially med from Wellington in No ;r, when it was also announced iter 83 years the company will raw entirely from the Tasman iger trade. 3 is due to the high cost of ement and of operation under anning conditions, and of the ity to compete satisfactorily the Tasman’s subsidised air trans-Tasman sea connection e left to the parent organisa f which the Union Co. is only t—the vessels of the P & O and the Orient Line under Orient and Pacific amalga on, offering approximately ily connections with much and more modern vessels.

Lddition, there will remain the n Line and the Huddart r vessel, Wanganella the presumably also approaching nent age. ugh the Union Company has lly abandoned its passenger in post-War II years, there is of evidence that other iger shipping companies— other manning, it is true —

have ample faith in the future of the maritime passenger trade. The number of big liners now building, or fitting out, is evidence of that.

gave no name or address in his covering letter at least leaves the matter open to doubt. Meanwhile we add it to our series of interesting bottle-drift voyages.

• Tonga’S Navigator; Queen

Salote was recently pleased to confer the ancient Tongan title of Leka (senior navigator of Tonga) on Cap tain A. A. Visser, of Holland, master of the Kingdom’s largest vessel, the Copra Board’s Aoniu. The title was bestowed when the Queen recently made a voyage to northern out posts.

• Lightning-Change

ARTIST: In October, we reported that Captain Emile Savoie, of Noumea, had purchased the wooden

• Still On The Bottle:

Back in 1954, we reported that a bottle tossed from Monowai in mid- Tasman in October, 1936, had lately been washed ashore on the coast of Norfolk, England, in what seemed one of the longest and most improbable drift voyages.

Now comes a report of a similar drift in the reverse direction to suggest that it can and does happen, A five-vear-old boy, named Kiern Oliver McLerlean of Port Glenone, ■NTorfh Trpland ’tossed a bottle message ' River Clady on December 4, 1954 (perhaps as a resuit of the report of the abovementioned bottle). nn Tliri „ o vpqr Kiern’s bottle

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r h e Un s?r y ed ap^yd 0 T„ a e Belfast newspaper of September last.

Was it a “frame-up’, so as not to

gtSVhMalte

BP 222-tonner Kokoda at Port Moresby and had renamed her Maria del Mar. We can now report that she has been sold to Mr. A.

Mouledous (owner of Rosalie) and renamed Liro, with port of registry Vila. She will trade within the New Hebrides.

Completing that sale, Captain Savoie promptly flew off to NZ to purchase, through shy tain G. W. Dunsford, the 230-ton steel-framed, wooden, twin-screw vessel Marua at Auckland and re named her Maria del too, has been registered at Vila, An Bi-knot vessel of hull-type identical to Rosalie the ill-fated Monique, Melva, and others of the

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cement tn*e ofVaxman 20Q P hp diesels and twQ 2Q kw 120 v H ill auxiliaries.

Following the purchase, Captain

The "Elizabeth Boye", Norwegian registered vessel which is now operating, under the flag of the Karlander (NG) Line, on the PNG-Sydney service. She replaces the "Slevik". Details were pub lished in November.

had alterations made to ccommodation, the galley nised, and other work carried > fit her for service in the s. :ain Savoie purchased his first del Mar (ex Margaret-W ) in md in 1952. Sold to Japanese eakers, she sailed out of ;a, New Caledonia, under the n flag in March. 1957, with is of scrap aboard, bound for ama and the close of an in ng career. present vessel is the sixth ised by Captain Savoie since »k El Retiro ex Kapiti north The others were Maria del ix Margaret-W, Estrella del x Hauturu (sold late 1953 to ne), Jacques del Mar ex urn (lost on Lord Howe Is.) y, 1954, and Colorado del Mar citika (later sold and renamed nah and now owned in Bris las also purchased Damadora ir ex Comara and Gaitcha ex in Australia. Negotiations are ding still for the sale of the vessel to Papeete and Cap- Savoie expected to fly over on returning from Auckland lis latest acquisition. ladora del Mar, normally in bumea-New Hebrides-Sydney made a special voyage to

Lautoka and Tarawa in November- December.

The crew flown south to man the new ship included chief officer Rene Cureau and engineer Henri Sauget, who have been on previous deliveries.

The ship’s former chief engineer, Alfred Dare, of New Zealand, con tinued in that capacity for the de livery voyage. • IN CIVIES NOW: The former French naval YMS patrol craft Tiare ex D-353 ex YMS-63, decom missioned at Noumea a couple of years ago and replaced by a similar type of vessel. ( Tiare ex Petunia ex D-355 ex D-271 ex YMS-207) , was purchased recently by Captain H.

Helbig who has renamed her Vol ontaire and fitted her out for cargo carrying. Up to late November, this wooden vessel, similar to the Pago Pago-based Manua Tele, had not entered commercial service. • A RARE ONE: The blue crossed white flag of Finland was seen in the Islands in Nwember, probably for the first time in many years.

Under charter to the Japanese Banno firm of Fiji, and with Banno Line in big letters on her side, the 31-year-old Finska-Nord America Line freighter Marita Thorden, 4,601 tons, brought a cargo of cement, rice and general to Fiji, loaded 625

barge "Lolo Maana'ia" enters Nukualofa in October after the long tow from Auckland by [?]oing tug "Hifofua". See page 113. Photo: Hettig.

Cook", survey vessel well known in the Islands, which has returned to Singapore for a [?]efit. Most of the present compliment will be decommissioned and re tur ned to the UK [?]ign service before being posted to other units of the Royal Navy. The refit will include replacing of hammocks with proper bunks and cafeteria-style messing.

of ore, then headed for NZ mplete her loading in scrap imber for Japan. •tain Sven Calander, six years ie ship, said that since the most of the company’s ships been registered under other this and one other being the Finnish-flag vessels.

Marita Thorden lay in Auck not far away lay the stream pea-green-coloured refrig l vessel Crusader, which some picks up fruit in the Islands, was originally to have been v B. Thorden for the same my, but was purchased on the k s at Helsingfors by the der Shipping Company for its fast refrigerated meat service NZ to Japan and USA. lers familiar with this vessel regret to hear that Captain D’Arcy Masters died while the yas at Otaru, Japan, in October.

Vhat Might Have Been:

Jovernment vessels are usually ource of controversy and the oat Dau Tataro delivered from nd earlier this year is no ex n. responsibility for the opera was recently somewhat re itly accepted by the Suva Fire ie. However useful she may to be, it is certain that a part of her life will be spent mplete idleness. Suva desper needs a tug to assist in the ng of overseas vessels, and need will steadily increase. All pecifications of Dau Tataro— : her very shallow draught— have been built into a tug. expenditure would have been ;r, but the port would have ised a far more useful asset, ig of normal draught probably have coped with Suva’s water

fire-fighting needs,

a shipping men now are

wondering whether the best ad vice was obtained before Dau Tataro was ordered. The £Stg.ls,ooo which she cost would have gone a long way towards the purchase of a tug of suitable type.

• To Be Salvaged: The China

Navigation Company’s 7,412-t o n passenge r-and-c argo vessel Changsha, well known in some Islands ports, which was driven ashore near Nagoya during typhoon “Vera” late September, is expected to be afloat again by the end of the year. Her future will then depend on the extent of the damage which she is found to have sustained. • ANY OFFERS?: James Fitz patrick—of the Travelogues—on a tour of the South Pacific in No vember, said that he planned to shoot a film on Cook’s voyages next year. In Auckland, following Mr.

Fitzpatrick’s departure, an agent, Mr. H. L. Rees, of 20 Sylvan Avenue,

SI, said that he had been instructed to look round for some likely vessels to play the part of Endeavour and Discovery. He said he had an eye on two in NZ waters, “but there Were other possible vessels in the Islands’’.

Ray Milland will play the part of Captain Cook, and some of the scenes will be shot at Mercury Bay, near Auckland.

• Technical Hitch: From

time to time there have been in quiries about progress on the Public Works Department slipway at Noumea, which has been under con struction for, several years. In fact, it appeared almost ready for use a long time ago. We now learn that the foundations have proved un satisfactory and that, without a great deal more expensive pile-driv ing, the slipway will never be usable by the larger vessels for which it was intended.

• Tiger For Punishment:

Welshman Arthur Thomas, his 20years-old daughter Ann, and crew man Bill Haling, left Suva again on November 17 in continuation of a voyage in a 47-ft trawler from Wales to Australia.

Sailing without a deep-w at e r navigator on October 28, Isabel-May went ashore on a sandbank south of Beqa Island some hours later, and was towed back to Suva by the Harbour Master’s launch.

Satisfactory terms could not be reached with any alternative navi-

The San Francisco ketch "Blue Sea". Also aboard: Skipper Eduard Ingris and crewman Juanito Bugueno ex the rafts "Tahiti Nui I, II and III and Jackson L. Smith of Chicago.

See page 113.

One of de Havilland's new aluminium boats gets a demonstration on Sydney harbour in November.

For details see page 111.

r to replace a man who had racted to come only as far as i, and Mr. Thomas decided to r a compass course for Noumea Brisbane, sailing by dead oning only. blowing the mishap, he was n some briefing by Suva navi rs before he again sailed. There no powers to prevent such a ige by a vessel not owned in and even then there are •ably no powers to restrict a it’s movements. ; noon on November 23, follow inquiries from Suva to Noumea regard to Isabel-May’s where its, Noumea advised that the der had been sighted within miles of that port. The trawler been in radio contact with Fiji Mr. Thomas had said that he d not see land but estimated he was about 30 or 40 miles i New Caledonia. The trawler ushered in to port by a local ich.

Buying And Selling: Mr.

Graham, of Auckland, who has i associated with a number of els trading in the Islands in -war years (the latest Babinda), :hased the 251-ton twin-screw, [ motor vessel Inaha from South maki Shipping Co. in No ber. The latter company is ceas operations and had put this el and the 209-ton Foxton up for e. Mr. Graham, a qualified ine engineer, is now preparing ship for service again, and has ed her in the hands of an agent sale (see advt. elsewhere). If e is interest in the Islands, i a will be yet another NZ iter to transfer to that area.

Belated Salvage: Banno

thers (Fiji) Ltd. purchased the of the 187-ton steel Japanese ing vessel Mei Maru in No ber. The vessel was wrecked, i no loss of life, on Ogea Driki, them Lau Group, Fiji, on

October 13. 1955. She was a unit of the Koyo Maru mother-ship tuna par w thB i Taiy S C °h S J r ? e 0f her thfp!i S if r IV Sw de i lvered t 0 the Receiver of Wreck and eventually put up for sale by tender in Suva in January 1958.

Early in 1956 the owners or underwriters sought and obtained permission to send a vessel from Japan to attempt salvage—other fishing craft had been unable to haul her off at the time of the mishap. However, though permission was granted, it may have been too long in commg, as no salvage vessel ever arrived, so far as is known, or if it did it was unsuccessful. Bannos

will cut the wreck ud for scran in various pro n ouncements regarding this vessel' her name has been spelt L X and Miye Maru

• Still On The Bottom- An

eight-ton anchor lost just off Suva wharf by the Royal Interocean Lines 19,787-ton liner Johan van Oldenbarneveldt when she was berthing on August 13, was still on the bottom in mid-November after three days of work by the Public Works Department. The anchor was found to be deeply embedded in mud. A high-pressure water hose was employed to make a clearing

Arfak", which is now running a monthly [?]e between Netherlands New Guinea and Papua-New Guinea. See page 113.

Photo: Pat Robertson.

at a line could be passed round stock, but in the process, to ir with later dredging opera , the anchor was buried and not be located with the avail equipment. On the third day ;earch was halted pending In tions from the owners.

3E Went Thataway:

'ding to a report from Singa the Dartim Shipping Co. vessel i, formerly trading in the s, and earlier to other Island from NZ, is lying at that port s a master. He’s missing— allegedly, is the cash provided ay for the ship’s refit. The I has been trading between in and Timor since leaving the ic in 1956, but is still believed registered in Suva.

\Nother Fiji Wharf:

savu, southern Vanua Levu, has a good concrete wharf with t of berthage and 30-ft of * alongside. The extensions completed at a cost of £lB,OOO e end of October, having been lenced in August, 1958. Thirty iles up to 90-ft long had to be n.

Puna-Fishermen’S Earn

-51 A recent survey made of I tuna fishermen’s families in Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan— centre of tuna fishing opera —found that the average annual ne per family is 619,000 yen :.619 approximately). Of this 85.2 per cent, is derived from

fishing and the remainder from Tn^ririftinn 1 ? 6 cr^ fts ,’ or ?, ay lal ?our.

In addition to actual cash received, fishermen also receive considerable unrecorded income in goods—presumably fish from the employers.

• Matson Freighters: Mat-

son Line freighters are again calling at Suva southbound, as a result of the easing of dollar imports by Fiji. Arriving at the beginning of November, first to call in four years, was the 8,175-ton Ventura under Captain G. Cardew, with a 400-ton cargo, including 3,000 bags of American onions. mTT a m

O That Better Ole: Some

time ago PIM reported plans by

American fu nr n 0 u n i Q deep into the earth, probably from a ship or floating drilling rig some where in the Pacific. Known as The Mohole Project, four possible sites were eventually chosen—north of £ uerto Rico, in the Caribbean; near Guadalupe Island off the coast of Lower California: near Clipperton Is ! and : and a final point about midw ay between Lower California anc * the Marquesas, The Atlantic site has the ad vantage that suitable drilling rig platforms are available not far away, and preliminary work is in hand for a trial at that site. The sea there is 8,000 feet deep and the depth from sea surface to bottom

nan Arthur R. Thomas and daughter, Ann, [?]ere delivering their fishing trawler "Isabel to Australia the hard way. See photo page 113, and story page 105.

ole will be about 31,500 feet, on for choosing an ocean site ;he hole is that there is less ng to reach the earth’s core, e project, if proceeded with, is ated to cost about $15,000,000, would yield valuable informa on the origin of the earth and imposition.

Decommissioned: The

a Government ketch Aoniu, re d last month as sold to an land syndicate headed by Mr.

I Rusden, is now in Auckland renamed Tradewinds. However, vessel is under charter-option Vlr. Arthur Jenkinson. Mr. en is master only. Mr. Jenkin ias the right of re-selling the 1 which is advertised in this 2 was on an Auckland slip in mber, having arrived from lalofa after a 6-days passage, ictober 25. The vessel remains tered in Tonga and will almost inly return to the Islands, ibly Melanesia.

It’S Saving Them Money;

n example of the money that >e saved through having a local ay, a Pago Pago report says the 258-ton Manua Tele has had a complete refit compar with one she underwent in

Auckland several years ago, at a cost of $5,000 lower than the Auck land fee. The expense of sending the ship to a distant dockyard was also saved, • NEW role: Last month we mentioned that Tonga was about the only Pacific territory showing any practical interest in a tuna fishing industry—even for local consumption.

Now comes word from American Samoa that the well-known local vessel Samoa, which has operated a passenger service between the two Samoas, is undergoing conversion into a tuna jongliner at present, and w ill c h ar tered from the Steffany Brothers by local interests. It is expected that she will start fishing lat ® December. KocoH vaccP i Another Pago Pago-based vessel, the former sub-chaser Isabel Rose 1S a t present laid up due to lack

01 work

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• From Aircraft To Sea

CRAFT: De Havilland Aircraft Pty. Ltd., Sydney, has gone into the boat building business through a subsidiary, Aluminium Boat Com pany of Australia, and its first aluminium boats now are on the market. Few aluminium boats are found in the Islands as yet, but

[?]an E. Savoie and men aboard the "Maria del Mar", age 101.

The men manning "Tradewinds" on her October delivery voyage from Nukualofa to Auckland. From left: In front, Esi Tonga, Bill

Koloamatangi; standing,

Fred Koloamatangi, Fa Tuineau, skipper Athol Rusden, charterer Arthur Jenkinson, Sefila Vea Fred Koloamatangi re turned to Tonga per "Matua" in November.

lightness and ease of handling, he fact that scraping, varnish nd caulking chores become a of the past, should make them ir. However, they are liable to ninium boats require little or ainting, and there are no e growth troubles marine 5 simply break their teeth on Demonstrated on Sydney’s e Harbour, at the end of No >r, was the Aluminium Boat first product, the outboard ier”, length 11 ft 4 in., beam h in., weight 110 lb, based on sign by well-known Sydney architect Arthur N. Swin- For use as a general runabout, ,s powered by a 5-hp out motor, but a heavier gauge oium boat will be produced that might be a useful Is workboat, with heavy duty reed transom to carry a larger unit.

Inking The Two Ng’S:

e w monthly inter-Territory ng service between Hollandia erlands New Guinea) and Lae a-New Guinea) was In ated in m i d-November by , 70 tons, operated by NV inkl i j k e Paketvaart-Maat pij Line. Regular calls will be at Wewak and Madang, on the coast of NG. On the south between Merauke and Port by, the monthly service is itained by the 2,700-ton iger-cargo vessel Karossa.

Lission Whaleboats: Mv

i, in November, dropped off at ra two 17-ft whaleboats that leen carried as hold cargo for [elanesian Mission. They were specially for Islands mission n work by S. G. White Pty.

Sydney. )N GUARD: The Dutch anti irine destroyer Amsterdam ain J. C. A. Siliacus, 15 officers,

224 rankers) spent a few days at both Fremantle and Darwin in No vember, on her way north to Hollandia to replace a sistership on patrol in Netherlands New Guinea waters. Completed only last year, she has a top speed of 36 knots, caries four 4.7 in. guns, six 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and two rocket throwers, as well as latest radar equipment.

• Long Tow Over: Though

there had been some head-shaking about the outcome of the oil-barge Lolo Maana’ia being towed from Auckland to Nukualofa by the Tonga Government’s sea-going tug Hifofua, the voyage was completed with only the usual difficulties.

Heavy weather was encountered during the eight days’ trip and the barge broke away once, but was secured again. It has an 80,000 gallons capacity and will be hauled regularly by Hifofua to and from Suva. In Auckland, as in other ports, Hifofua’s appearance and equipment, including the German MWM 500-hp dhsel engine, aroused considerable interest.

• Another Bargain: In May

we told how a man living in an inland New Zealand town had “successfully” tendered for the RNZAF crash boat “276”—and of how that craft, when hauled out on Miller’s slipway at Suva and ex amined, was found to be something less than a bargain at £6OO.

It could not be refloated without very costly major repairs—so re mained on the slipway, apparently running up dockyard bills, until last month.

It was then put up for auction, purchased by Mr. Serge Tetzner for the fittings (including a pair of Hall-Scott 600 hp petrol engines) for £9O. Mr. Tetzner has since sold some of the equipment but the hull will probably be classified as fire wood.

[?]sobel-May” about to leave Suva for Noumea in October. She returned [?]t after striking a reef but sailed again November 17. See story p. 105.