Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts

Does the Shaw Savill company still retain ownership of its andoned freighter “Runic”, aground on Middleton Reef since bruary 19, 120 miles north of Lord Howe Island? The com ny claims armed men aboard the “Runic” representing the Hany Bay Shipping Co. are “trespassing”. According to the >tany Bay Co., Shaw Savill abandoned the “Runic” on a reef er which no sovereignty exists, and they have a right to be *re.

Sydney manager of Shaw avill, Mr. J. D. Stilwell said he icard about a half dozen dif legal opinions, but was satisfied haw Savill were still the owners Runic. He could not say if any action would be taken against len on board who were there it the company’s permission, pokesman for the Botany Bay ng Co. had previously told the y Press that men on board were as representatives of overseas e companies still interested in ing the Runic. His company as agent for several Far East present the Runic’s holds and rooms are flooded, r in the last few weeks has legal opinions supporting Shaw » stand, and others supporting respassers”, and it will be in ig to find out who is right, es y as two other recent reports lad it that men representing a Tebrides salvage company had ; d the Runic ; and that a a” of Hongkong salvage ships racing towards Middleton Botany Bay Co. believes the is worth between £250,000 and 00 as scrap in Japan.

To replace her, Shaw Savill will have to spend about £2,000,000.

• Soviet Ship Back: The

Russian research ship Shokalsky (1,440 tons net) returned to Suva for the second time on April 21 to take on food supplies and give the crew a break.

Personnel on board number 97, including women. The commander, Victor Rogonovich, said the ship was employed on meteorological research work in the Central Pacific.

Professor Alexy Murozev, who left the ship after its last voyage, is now in Moscow writing a book about it.

Shokalsky made news in December when she was reported missing and then to have joined an unidentified submarine testing an undersea missile near Fiji.

The ship was due to leave on April 25 for Central Pacific, expected back in home port Vladivostok by the end of May.

• Naval Invasion: Four Us

destroyers, Somers, Southerland, Gurke and Rowan, were visiting Aus tralia in early May for the Battle of Coral Sea celebrations, an annual hands-across-the-sea function, after calling in on Suva on April 21 and

22 to refuel. Commander of the de stroyer division is Captain T. S. King, Jnr., in the Somers.

The four destroyers will go north to Manus Island, NG, on May 21 and May 22. • NEW SHIPS: Australian Navy launched two new ships in April, in Sydney and Melbourne, which are the final two of four fast anti-sub marine frigates ordered for the RAN.

The two ships, Derwent and Stuart, complement Yarra and Parramatta, at present receiving final fittings before joining the fleet in July.

Derwent, the first of her line in RAN, carries on the tradition of the first British Derwent, built in 1807, which took part in the Napoleonic Wars. She is the 54th ship built by

[?]here was great interest in Suva during the visit of this squadron of four [?]estroyers in late April. They called there on their way to Sydney to help stralia celebrate another anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. The yers are part of the US Pacific fleet, [?], three have just berthed and the fourth seen making its turn in the distance.

Photo: Rob Wright

Naval Dockyard at Williamstown, oria. uart perpetuates the name of a ous World War II destroyer, er of the “Scrap Iron Flotilla” in Mediterranean. She was built at katoo Dock, Sydney.

NEAR DISASTER: A fishing for five Europeans and a native lan nearly turned into disaster n their 26 ft launch was wrecked i reef at Idia Island, 20 miles from Moresby during April. iving on a slice of cheese and a r of lemon, exhausted by ex ire, thirst and hunger, they ist gave up hope of rescue after days. ortunately, police went into action n the boat was reported overdue despatched the Marine Depart t vessel Hekaha to the rescue. i the party were Mr. and Mrs.

G. de Koff, five-year-old ;hter, Elcia; Mrs. de K'off’s sister, ia Kooyman; Mr. Alan Cherry, oka; and a native housegirl, name lown.

Marine Certificates:

Legislative Council has approved easure by Fiji Marine Board in •uary which makes compulsory surrender of Marine Board Gerti es after they have expired. Some

owners of vessels had continued to use their craft after their certificates

had expired.

• SEA BOFFINS; A conference of oceanographers and meteorologists was held in April at Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, USA, to discuss abnormal conditions, principally un usually high water temperatures, ob served in the central and eastern north Pacific ocean this year.

Although the warmth of the water would not be noticed by a swimmer, it is of intense interest to students of the climate of both air above and the waters of the Pacific.

The abundance of marine organ

isms can be possibly affected by varia tions in oceanic temperature.

E Elusive Chinese: A 100

ton Chinese vessel Yung Chine No. 3 en route from Formosa to Tonga made calls at Tanna, Futuna, and Aneityum islands during February and March, without having visited an authorised port of entry. She is sus pected of fishing for trochus shell (prohibited by the Joint Rules in the New Hebrides) and reports in New Hebrides indicated that extensive diving was carried out with the help of aqualungs. French Navy Lancaster from Tontouta flew over the ship in March and told her to put into Aneit-

Officials travelled to the island cinante but found the ship had eports have been sent to other territories about the elusive e.

Copra For Venezuela:

lanish cargo vessel Lotte Shoe 1,000 tons of copra for the American Republic of Vene it Santo wharf recently.

Bumped Wharf; Around

the same time at Santo the ►eries Maritime cargo vessel gsi struck Santo wharf while alongside. The bow was badly nd the concrete facing of the damaged. She was able to load md frozen fish at Palekula and ent to Noumea for temporary

•Leven Months’ Drift:

las reached PIM that a bottle overboard from Shaw Savill’s m Cross between Suva and on January 29, 1960, was up on Maina Island. Cooks, cember 28 last. Finder was Joseph, clerk in the Adminis office, Atitutaki. Bottle r was J. Gibson, 38 Rostalring Edinburgh, Scotland. We as the bottle was completely as no dour Scot would throw one overboard.

' T RAT H A I RD WITH- N: The 30 years’ old P&O trathaird (22,500 tons) will be

withdrawn from service when she arrives in London on June 18. Its withdrawal will more or less coincide with the introduction to the Austra lian run of the 45,000-ton Canberra which will make her maiden voyage on June 2, and be seen on her first Pacific voyage leaving Sydney for the US on July 1.

When she first commenced service in 1932 Strathaird was with her sister ship Strathnaver, one of the “white sisters” with their white hulls and three yellow funnels, which marked the departure from the traditional black hulls and stone coloured upper works of the P&O passenger fleet.

• Hurricane Recalled:

The hurricane which struck Apia and wrecked several German and Ameri can warships in 1889 was recalled when Dr. C. S. P. Hamilton, of Glen ageary, Eire, presented a pewter medal to the Maritime Institute Museum, Dun Laoghaire. The medal was one of a number presented to the crew of the British sloop Calliope by the citizens of Apia.

The Calliope was the only ship to sail for the open sea when the hurri cane struck. The others threw out extra anchors and attempted to ride out the storm. Some foundered and others were driven ashore.

After the hurricane the Calliope returned. Her Irish commander, Cap tain Kane, and his crew set to work to bring order out of the destruction

in the harbour. The leading residents of Apia gave the captain a silver medal, and each member of the crew a pewter medal.

One of these pewter medals, which was given to an Irish sailor, even tually came into the possession of Dr.

Hamilton.

• Canberra Is Coming!

That’s what the adverts are shouting (including the exclamation mark) in the Australian newspapers, to pre pare the way for her maiden Pacific voyage. Here’s a sample: “This revolutionary new liner . . . biggest vessel in the world’s largest passenger line . . , starts her maiden Pacific voyage from Sydney, July 1.

There’s room for you to share in the delights! This remarkable new ship . . . with an overall length of 820 ft and carrying 550 first class and 1,685 tourist class passengers . . . stabilised, and, of course, fully air conditioned , . . stands as tall as a 15-storey building; and her enormous power (85,000 shaft hp) will enable her 45,000 tons of beauty and effi ciency to cruise at 27i knots.

“But it is not size and power alone which make Canberra so remarkable.

Within are endless new and unex pected delights for your eye, your comfort and your amusement. Among them a cinema occupying two decks; a sprung dance floor; the “Cricketers’

Tavern”, so called for its decoration with numerous historic items of cricketing gear; closed circuit TV . . .

[?]ow the bows of the "Kouangsi" locked

[?]he had struck the modern concrete

[?]t Santo while berthing. See below.

Photo: Reece Discombe

the “Pop Inn” for teenagers, in ist class, with its juke box and drink dispensers.” ’s all very nice, of course, but this ne time that Suva people won’t any of the unexpected delights ss they board her at Auckland fly back from the States. She ’t be calling at Suva.

SOME ODD FISH: If you have i fishing lately and haven’t man -1 to land a Bathypterois or a anchus griseus don’t throw away rod and reel, because sly old lypterois has been caught only in uently in the past 100 years, he University of California’s pps Institution of Oceanography arch vessel Argo recently pulled ly out of the water after a deep 1, south of NZ. is a deep dwelling creature 3st two feet long, remarkable for ng fins almost as long as its body, rails these fins along mud as it es by. It may even use them to ) it from sinking into the ooze • which it lives. he Bathypterois caught off New and will be preserved and added he Scripps’ extensive fish collec which hitherto did not have a imen. he Argo left San Diego on a isoon Expedition in August, 1960. was due back in March after con ing geological and geophysical ies of the Western Pacific and an Ocean.

IM’s other fish story concerning anchus griseus comes from Raro ;a where this giant bulldog shark recently caught off Avatiu at the optional depth of 380 fathoms ,80 ft). his fellow can grow up to 25 ft length, and is usually caught at ths of 200 fathoms. The speci i caught off Rarotonga weighed r 450 lb.

• CITOS BURNT: It took three fire brigades to put out a fire in the Swedish motor ship Citos (operated by Australia-West Pacific) when she caught fire in the NSW State Dock yard, Newcastle, in April.

The fire broke out in the refrigera tor room and firemen had to use oxy torches to cut through steel sheets.

Slight damage was reported to the 3,877 ton vessel which arrived for a

general inspection.

• SUVA’S SLIPWAY; Chamber of Commerce has asked Fiji Govern ment to advertise “round the Pacific” the cost of slipway charges and the date of the opening of the new slip way at Suva, also to make materials used in repair of ships from over seas duty free.

• Woollambvs Troubles.

The lamb ship Woollambi, zx-Delfino, Qx-Westralia, wasn’t exactly doing as well as most people thought on its lamb runs to America from Sydney.

There were rumours that her owners, International Shipping and Import Agency Pty. Limited, were in some financial difficulties, but an idea of the extent of it didn’t come out until an Equity Court case was heard in Sydney in April when the Standard Insurance Company, of NZ, sought the winding up of International Ship ping and two other companies, H & S Credits Ltd., and H&S Credits (Syd ney) Pty. Ltd. According to evidence.

International Shipping owed Standard Insurance £926,359. A little while after this Court case, it was obvious that Standard itself had crashed, and the wreckage is still being sifted through.

In the Equity Court, Mr. Samuel Harp, a director of International Shipping, said the main activity of the company was the operation under charter of Delfino, and losses on the first three voyages had exceeded £600,000. A “substantial loss” had occured on the fourth voyage.

• New Hebrides Move

MENTS. There have been some in teresting moves in the New Hebrides lately. Athol Rusden’s Tonga-regis tered 120-ton ketch Trade Winds, which has been in the New Hebrides- New Caledonia area, has been sold to the French Government, and a Vila report says it is to be re-named

[?]he "Canberra", 45,000-tons, which will begin her maiden Pacific voyage from Sydney on July 1. But Suva won't see her. See below.

"Sierra", formerly the "Hawaiian Banker", which began work in the South Pacific in April for Matson. "Sierra", and two others, "Sonoma" and "Ventura" (formerly the "Hawaiian Wholesaler" and the "Hawaiian Pilot") take over from the four smaller freighters which have been operating for Matson between Australia and the west coast of America. The larger ships, which were all formerly in the Hawaiian trade, will each carry between 700 and 1,000-tons of refrigerated cargo, a service which the replaced freighters could not provide.

There is increasing demand in America for Australian foodstuffs. "Sonoma" and "Ventura" will also each take 12 passengers. The previous vessels carried the same names, and the additional freighter was the "Alameda". (See April, p. 99).

mdy (or perhaps Normandie ). vhile Rusden is reported in ea buying Captain Savoie’s i del Mar, which he will re- Trade Winds. The 239-ton md-built Sorana del Mar was Dsalie before she was sold to Caledonia some years ago and recently was owned by Mr.

Mouledous. She recently had refit below the waterline in r , plus a further fitting in ?a. 434-ton Yanawai arrived in i late April from Suva to re he 248-ton Nikau, for Islands . The colourful old Nikau is • be too small for New Heb leeds. She was built in 1909; mawai in 1937. What is to to Nikau now, we haven’t TOR DUTCH NG: Danish it of 100 tons is expected to )rtly for Geelvink Bay, NNG, it will serve as a base for a c expedition from Copenhagen ; ity. scientists taking part in the ex i will carry out botanical and :al research on islands in the visit to Biak is included in the ime, but we haven’t been tie name of the ship.

Alt Water Drinkers:

rafts in the RAN are to be d with solar stills for the con of salt water into drinking iach 20 man raft will be sup ith six stills. portable stills weigh only two each and are intended to ent emergency water supplies, icy packs will continue to canned drinking water but in weather the use of stills ase the drain on supplies. On sunny day each still could 2i pints of water, sufficient men. Nearly 500 stills will be

provided on the 81 life rafts carried on flagship HMAS Melbourne. • INTERESTED: Kaponga, Union Steam Ship freighter of 2,772 tons which has been lying in stream at Auckland so long as to be thought a permanent fixture, has caught the eye of Mr. James Lee, managing director, Australia Pacific Shipping Co. Ltd. He inspected her before leaving for Hongkong.

Kaponga ex Woodland was built in 1949 and laid up only because of lack of trade. Many parties have ex pressed interest in her but no deals have been made yet. (Over)

Philp 's "Nikau", 248-tons, 51-year-old former NZ coaster, which BP's acquired in [?]nd transferred to the New Hebrides after an initial period in Fiji waters, has been replaced by the "Yanawai", 434-tons. See below.

“skipper”, Mr. Alfred Dun 4, watchman for the last two had one of the loneliest jobs on aterfront. Anchored 500 yards are the ship was his home for iys a week. He left to get d!

Survivors Honoured:

survivors of the gunboat HMS ' have been honoured by one Japanese who sank their ship nghai, 1941. A former Japanese officer has sent his medals to n in time for their first reunion, imander of the Peterel was Lt. n Polkinghorn, an Englishman, faster of the BP’s Suva based ai, which was recently trans to the New Hebrides, story of the gallant action of terel was told in a book pub two years ago. As virtually dis wireless station for the British a *e in Shanghai, Peterel nre on the Japanese cruiser i less than 1,000 yards away >nly armament being two ie guns. After ten minutes she 'ith five of her 21 crew dead. , more died as POW’s but one 1 and acted as a spy in Shang-

An On Transistors: The

transistor radios in RAAF air urmg flight has been banned it is feared they could cause ence with aircraft electronics, mt of this information to PIM is that shipping correspondent lortall (now en route to Hong pointed out some time ago the ! dangers of using transistor ships.

Ongan Troubles: The

le Which did so much damage = a in March {PIM, April, p.

23) gave small ships a lot of trouble.

Hifofua, which had been en route to Vavau from Nukualofa, steamed west towards Fiji when news came through, but she managed to work her way around the trouble and arrive at Neiafu, Vavau, without damage.

But Fangailifuka, the ocean-going launch of the Governor of Haapai, was not so lucky.

The launch was at Haafeva, in what was considered a sheltered anchorage, but the crew laid two anchors when the wind force increased and finally ran the engines to keep the head into the wind. But the anchor chains parted, the launch was swept ashore as the “abandon ship”

order came. The crew were washed up, shaken but without injury, on the eastern beach of the island, the vessel having originally been anchored on the other side!

There were plenty of stories of near-misses among smallcraft in Haapai, as the seas went as high as 100 yds beyond normal highwater mark, but very few were lost. • A WHOPPER: The largest squid caught in the Cook Islands, as far as anybody can tell, is more than two feet long, and was recently taken from the stomach of an ono, at Mauke. Most squid in the Cooks are only a quarter the size of this one

so the new specimen, which has been preserved in formalin, will go into the Cooks Museum, when it is eventu ally built at Rarotonga (there is a drive going on for funds now).

Squids are found in all seas. They propel themselves by jet propulsion and predate jet engines by at least four million years.

Cooks’ Fisheries Officer R. Powell recently reported that when he and a companion were fishing outside the reef at Manihiki at night last year, a squid flew high over the boat, and they picked it up in a net. Tentacles of some squids have been known to reach 60 ft in length.

• Slow Boat To China; The

former Islands trader Maui Pomare (1,200 tons) got away from Auck land for Hongkong all right on April 5 (as reported briefly in PIM for April, p. 7) with the 37-year-old Herekino in tow, but three days out from Auckland she was reported to be making pretty heavy weather before

an easterly gale. She was expected to take about 40 days on the direct run to Hongkong, during which nobody will be aboard the old Herekino, which is sealed up. An automatic light was rigged on her, to come on during dark.

Maui Pomare has been renamed

Mayflower by her new owners, j tralia Pacific Shipping Comp which bought her for £ll,OOO, she will be used on runs from Hi kong to the Philippines, N Borneo and Formosa. However, company had to pay out ano £l.OOO to replace 450 ft of am

In Auckland before departure in April, some of the crew of Captain Hugh Williams' new "Apanui". From left, Tangi Araiti, of Takuvaune, Tere Tete and Rangi Torarama, both of Tupapa, Rarotonga.

Photo: D. C. Berry

which the old ship lost at Raro last year on her last voyage. :ype of chain was unprocurable ickland so had to be brought Brisbane. j master of the Maui Pomare I the Hongkong trip is, of j, Captain Leslie Boulton, who ier captain for 25 years in the Is, and radio officer is Jim ill, PlM’s Auckland shipping pondent and one-time staff based on Suva. Jim hasn’t any e plans as to what he will do he gets to Hongkong—he might ick to Auckland “soon”, or it be 12 months hence.

NOTABLE: Maui Pomare’s suc , Moana Roa, has had some ;m since she took over last year, fact that the London publica >hipping World, has described ; “one of the notable ships of is of special interest. Moana the smallest of 18 so named as ile” by the paper. “Ship of the was Oriana.

Euphrosyne Launched:

3-ft New Hebrides British tour ssel Euphrosyne was launched Ikraft’s Boatyard, Brisbane, by dacaskie, wife of Mr. C. F. C. kie, who served on several oc ; as British Judge of the Joint Among those at the launching ier master, Captain H. Kirk- Mrs. C. H. Allan; Mr, Arthur vinfield, the naval architect esigned the vessel; Mr. Oscar in, of Tisman, Malekula; and Neil Rennie. A reception for 30 guests was held afterwards Hotel Cecil. The Euphrosyne -cted to arrive in Vila about idle of May. r attending the launching cere- Captain Kirkwood went to Fiji he recruited locally certificated and engineers for Euphrosyne '■ second touring vessel now be lt in Sydney. He spent a week i at the beginning of April, which he interviewed appli-

cants for the ships’ crews, and left on the 6th to attend Euphrosyne’s trials in Brisbane.

Captain Kirkwood, OBE, DSC, RN (Retd.) will take charge of the British Service Marine Section, New Heb rides. Captain Kirkwood retired with the rank of Captain, after distin guished service in the Royal Navy, to which he transferred from the Royal Navy Reserve in 1938 after beginning his career in the Merchant Navy. In 1953 he joined the Discovery expedi tion for scientific research and hydro graphy in Antarctica. He commanded various ships during World War 11, including the frigate Calpe. In 1947- 48 he was in command of the sub marine depot ship Wolfe. In 1956-58 Captain Kirkwood was lent to the Royal New Zealand Navy and acted as Marine Adviser to the New Zea land Government on various aspects of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

He commanded HMNZS Endeavour, which supported the expedition. Sub sequently he was in command of the Naval Shore base at Singapore.

Appointments to the Euphrosyne from Fiji were Joape Kuinikoro, chief engineer, and Saimoni Nabukavou, bosun. They were farewelled by the Fiji Naval Association on April 17.

• Heading For Cooks:

Captain Hugh Williams’ newly bought steel motor ship Apanui (296 tons), was due to arrive in Raro tonga from Auckland before the end of April. Apanui, has two forward holds capable of carrying 200 tons cargo each and with deep freeze facilities she certainly promises to be a good acquisition for the Cooks.

Passenger cabin space exists for 16 passengers. Speed is 8 knots and with a draught of about six feet Apanui can get right up to the Avarua wharf at Rarotonga. © PEDAL POWER: Tax officers, usually alert to any angle to lighten the public’s purse (there was once a window tax in colonial Sydney) are keeping high the standards of the service in the Islands.

The Cook Islands crew of the

Dohiri, riding their registered bicycles around the Auckland waterfront, at tracted the attention of the New Zea landers.

The Cook Islanders displayed the plates on their machines which are compulsory and cost money.

The New Zealand riders shuddered at the thought. • WANDERER 111, skippered by sailor-author Eric Hiscock left Russell, New Zealand, on April 5, with Mrs. Hiscock aboard for the journey home to Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.

Wanderer 111 -ill go via New

[?]del Mar", formerly the "Rosalie", to be renamed "Trade Winds". See p. 107.

Captain Hugh Williams (right) was aboard the "Mayflower" (formerly the "Maui Pomare") just before its departure from Auckland in April, to say farewell to Jim Shortall, below, who is radio officer on the voyage to Hongkong. And Jim, who does not know his movements after he arrives at Hongkong, wished Captain Williams bon voyage in his new "Apanui", berthed nearby getting ready for the trip to the Cooks. The "PIM" staff man who took these photographs wished bon voyage to both of them!

iia, Papua-New Guinea and Is. before crossing the Indian for the Red Sea. The His ope to winter in Egypt.

EBEL, 30-ft sloop, formerly by Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, id, has been sold in Honolulu, liths will return to NZ aboard \kee Doodle as crew sometime . Rebel had left Papeete for lu last November and planned e in Canadian and US waters awaii.

NEW BAR: The Port / sailing season got going on 6, three weeks earlier than 'here was no official sail past, that will probably be held three months when the Port ' Yacht Club’s club house has al opening for its extensions, tensions, costing £7,500, in concrete suspended floor and )ar, among other things. The i-to of the club house has lied down.

HENCE, owned by Gordon berta Lopez, is still moored Yuising Yacht Club, Sydney.

There has been an addition to the crew, Liz Anne Lopez now has a baby brother. • AWAHNEE, 53 ft American owned Bermuda cutter was one of the first away in the Brisbane to Gladstone yacht race but finished well back in the field. Dr. Robert Griffiths and crew are on their way back to the States via the Great Barrier Reef, after not long in Australia. They finished seventh in the trans-Tasman race. • RENDEZVOUS, 31 ft ketch left Sydney on April 11 for a world cruise skippered by Alan Lucas, aged 24, and a crew of “sea going tramps”: John Williams, ex merchant navy, engin

eer; Brick Pudham; bos’n Arthur Cole; and cook, Peter Andrews.

Lucas, who designed and built the ketch at a cost of £2,000, does not know whether he will ever return to Australia. Rendezvous is to sail , north to Queensland and then somehow to Madagascar. • POSEIDON is leaving Hono lulu. Mrs. Leah Wheeler, who has been PlM’s cruising yacht correspon dent in Hawaii for the last year, handed the job over to a successor at the end of April, and the Wheelers —Mr., Mrs. and the kids—are sailing Poseidon back to the States for a holiday. When they return to Hawaii in July they won’t be living in Hono lulu.

[?], Gordon and Roberta Lopez, is still [?]y. But there has been an addition to the crew. See below.