Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts

Cruising Yachts

The search-rescue organisation in Fiji had a busy time in last days of April and early May when they engaged in rches for 11 men in four vessels, and prepared to search for “Dobiri” in the Cooks {but were not needed). The or xisation was handicapped to some extent by lack of detail mt some of the vessels they were seeking.

Fiji Deputy Commissioner of olice, Mr. T. A. Handford, who ponsible for the initial stages ;arch, told PIM that those who sea in small ships should leave i them details of their ships oyages. He pleaded that in g sailors suppply the details he requested in December Jan. p. 95). t information in the early stages search could mean the differ )etween life and death. the first search the RNZAF :alled in to look for a launch, atukoula, in which three men 3ne out on a fishing trip. En ouble developed and the owner i a small boat to get a spare owner, Mr. Bill Wise, of Vatu returned the next morning, ere was no sign of the launch is companions, Messrs. Bill Is and Harry Small, sent out an alarm and the -rescue organisation went into The RNZAF at Laucala Bay jut a Sunderland flying-boat, ifter a brief search saw the i, with Rounds and Small, drift bout 15 miles off the north of Viti Levu. This was two after Mr. Wise had left the i. cue launches took off for the but none was able to reach atukoula before dark. How next day, the same Sunderland returned to the area and :d” the Sitaram, from Lautoka, the Vatukoula which was taken v to Lautoka. : going was so difficult in heavy hat the master of the Sitaram 1 the tow rope after taking ro men into the Sitaram. They 1 through, to reach Lautoka hat night, Sitaram’s sheathing badly damaged en route.

Other searches involved two canoes carrying eight men in the Lau Group, and a boat with one man on board off the north coast of Kadavu.

Lack of detail about these three vessels handicapped the search-rescue organisation. The best they could do was broadcast sketchy descriptions and ask shipping and islanders to keep a watch.

The two canoes left Kabara on April 24 to take the men to Namuka i-Lau, about 18 miles away. They left in smooth seas, but dirty weather sprang up about an hour later.

The search for the missing Lauans was about to be extended on May 3, when the two canoes and their crews turned up safely at Kabara. A RNZAF Sunderland flying-boat was standing by to make a search of islands near Kabara, and the inhabi tants of those islands had been given instructions by radio how to respond to messages from the aircraft if they had any information about the men.

Five minutes before the aircraft was to take off a message was flashed

through to search-rescue headquarters that all was well.

The Bull Kabara (M. Kotobalavu) sent a message to police headquarters on behalf of the people of his island apologising for the trouble that had been caused.

The men reported that they had run into heavy seas, and had taken a battering. High waves started to swamp the canoes, and all had to bail quickly to keep afloat.

In the meantime fears increased for the safety of Aminio Rakutu, about 30, who had been missing in a canoe off Kadavu since April 28.

A RNZAF Sunderland, based at Auckland, which was on a flight to Laucala Bay, was ordered to search the seas round Kadavu over an area of 100 square miles.

The Matua, southbound for Auck land, and a tanker on a voyage from Auckland to Suva, swept the area with radar without making a con tact. A search was also made at Vatulele, a small island about 40 miles north-west of Kadavu, as it was possible he may have gone there.

The search-rescue organisation was able to establish that there was a small oar in the boat, but this would not have been of much use. Aminio also had a little food, but he had no water, and no fishing line, which is generally regarded as indispensable in a small ship.

The air search was abandoned after three days, and because of the heavy

OFF TO WAR. The Coconut Pests and Diseases Board of the Fiji Government has built itself this smart little craft to transport men and materials, to outlying islands affected by the dreaded enemy of the coconut palm, the rhinoceros beetle. The launch, built by Mr.

William Fauroro, is 21-ft, and powered by a 25 hp outboard. Appropriately its name is "Meca Ni Niu" ("Enemy of the Coconut") and a larger than life-size rhinoceros beetle has been carved on its bow.

Photo: S. A. Whippy

jund the island it was pre that Aminio and the canoe ost. Only a faint hope re —that he may have got ashore ; remote village, e the search for Aminio was gress the search-rescue or on prepared to undertake a over a much wider area. r, before a search plane took m Laucala Bay, news came i that a missing party of 10 d turned up—about four days search was to have been made i Rarotonga and Mangaia in ok Islands. Ten men in the iga-based 66-ton Dobiri were in heavy seas and gale force and it was feared they were had set out from Rarotonga r 1, and were last seen, before *ch warning went out, on May ut 32 miles from Mangaia. jarch-rescue headquarters at [erted the RNZAF to be pre o send a Sunderland to the make a search. The aircraft have left for its 1,300-mile o Aitutaki at 11.30 pm on using Aitutaki as a base for -ch. At 10 pm Nadi received hat the men had arrived at a.

Ankee’S Troubles: The

brig Yankee, which has had han her share of publicity appeared to be heading for a record when she left Port y for Koepang early in May her third skipper. Yankee full brunt of publicity when ived in Cairns in March, and if her “crew”—tourists who r the privilege of sailing her ;d off. The brig is operated mdicate, Windjammer Cruises She left Miami on July 15, vith 30 aboard—the skipper, te and cook being the only embers who were being paid, time she reached Cairns the nent was 20, with only 10 of le original crew, of the owners, Captain Mike flew out from the States to ean up the trouble and the was that Captain Arthur ley lost his command, and Gordon Keeble, a former n, took over. Yankee sailed aims to Port Moresby in late but the bugs hadn’t been out of her officer-and-crew ship even then. At Port y, Captain Keeble left and P. J. Sullivan, of Sydney, an an, a member of the Torres ‘dots’ Association, took over.

Captain Sullivan made it clear at the beginning that he would take her only as far as Singapore, only about 10 weeks away. His relationship with everybody was very good, said a Port Moresby report, which added he was “taking a fatherly interest”. Captain Sullivan said he expected Mike Burke would meet the Yankee at Singapore and he hoped Burke had another captain with him.

Meanwhile, Yankee is expected soon to get a burst in the American Press. One big-circulation magazine has spent a lot of time collecting information on the Yankee’s voyage.

General opinion aboard was that Captain Kimberley was a first class sailor, but his term ended unhappily because he did not know how to make everyone pull together. There were also food and water troubles, Roughly, here is Yankee’s record on her Pacific crossing l By the time she had left Panana and entered the Pacific five crew members had left her and three more had come aboard. At the Galapagos Islands a boy left with a nervous breakdown. Three others left, too.

Next visit was Pitcairn, where the Yankee remained three weeks, and then on to Tahiti, where she re

ed a month. During that time ain Kimberley and a woman member took time off to fly [onolulu and get married. One mtented crew member got off at ti. Next visits were made at Bora, Rarotonga, Palmerston, Pago and Apia. One more left pia. From Apia Yankee headed 1 to the Tokelaus, to the Ellice ip and then on to Honiara, h was regarded by many of ; who were left as “the break- I point”. Two left there lo ng the engineer. The engines trouble, the wiring was con led, the propeller was damaged, ;thing went wrong with the geration and the sails. When headed for Cairns across the II Sea she became becalmed, h didn’t help tempers, and also was short of water. Thus at ns there was the shorebound tiny” ( PIM, April, p. 99). bout 13 members of the 20 ile who were now left walked including the medical officer. Dr. iard Cardinez. They said they ted to finish their cruise there be sent back to the States, t also wanted a refund. But n Captain Burke flew out there much discussion and some iged their minds, especially after tain Kimberley resigned from mand. The Yankee was given yverhaul at Cairns and some new / members of the type who get [ were signed on, together with new captain. fhen she left Cairns on the seven 5 voyage to Port Moresby in il Yankee had aboard only eight ;he 20 who had been aboard on

the trip from Honiara to Cairns, but the total complement was now 21.

Three people got off at Port Moresby, including Captain Keeble, who was replaced, and two others who had only to go as far as Port Moresby.

At Port Moresby the crew reported the food was excellent. First Mate John Cronholm told the newspapers he was personally happy, because he was going to marry fellow passenger Ann Knowles when they got back to the US.

• Cook In The Geic: The

Royal Navy’s survey ship HMS Cook arrived in GEIC waters again in May when shore parties were landed at Tamana and Abaiang.

The Tamana party was picked up a few days later but the other party was left while the Cook went back to Suva. She expected to return for them in June. Meanwhile Captain Clynes has assumed command of RCS Nivanga while Captain Warring ton Strong is on leave. The Colony’s Marine Superintendent, G. Douglas, in May was accompanying Captain Clynes on a voyage to the Ellice group where he planned to consult the reef blasting teams who are at present at Nanumanga and Tamana.

brig "Yankee" in Port Moresby in May.

Norfolk Whaling

3TAS: A report from Norfolk nd in May said that the Norfolk aling Company’s quotas for the 2 season will be 170 whales— same as for 1960 and 1961. In ney, meanwhile repairs to the ipany’s tanker MV Forso, which ght fire in Sydney Harbour last

member, are nearing completion

it is expected that Forso will ve at Norfolk in mid-June. She I be retained at Norfolk to serve a tow boat, bringing whales taken the Norfolk Whaler into the >cade station. No date has yet n fixed for the start of the 1962 son but it will probably be early e.

» Matson Anniversary:

day, May 4, was the 80th liversary of the Matson Line’s t Pacific voyage. It was on May 1882, that Captain William Matson sail from San Francisco for waii in his first vessel, the Emma ludina, a three-masted 200-ton ooner. From this first voyage w the present fleet of four liners 1 19 freighters, with a gross mage of more than 250,000 tons.

• They’Ll Work It Out:

e Formosan fishing vessel Anwhar left Vila in the New Hebrides Formosa on the last day of April md was very glad to get away, e Anwhar 111 had been arrested Her in the month at Aneityum having illegally dived for shell, e vessel was brought to Vila under armed guard of seven French val men who were flown from mmea (PIM, May, p. Ill), On

April 18 at Vila the Anwhar s captain was convicted of having anchored without having cleared at a port of entry; of having fish shell; and of various offences against the Customs regulations. He was fined £lOO and his ship was confiscated.

However the British and French Resident Commissioners exercised their powers of mercy and released the unhappy Anwhar on payment of the fine. His crew then worked as labourers for the Condominium to help pay it

• New Bsip Fishing

VESSEL: The San Juanita, new 45foot BSIP Government fishing vessel bought in Australia, arrived at Port Cruz on Anzac Day after a rough voyage which also proved her an excellent sea boat. The San Juanita, which was previously engaged in commercial coastal fishing in Aus tralia, has had some minor additions made, giving her refrigera tion for about six tons of fish, and will be used now as a training ship for Solomons Islands fishermen and as a survey ship to investigate com mercial fishing possibilities in the Protectorate.

• Matua Hits Wharf The

Union Steam Ship Company’s island ship, Matua, on May 1 crashed into a section of the new Suva wharf as it was coming in to berth. The force of the impact snapped a pile and buckled a lifting gantry. The Matua itself appeared to be un scathed, except for some paint scraped off the bow.

The ship was under the control of the master, Captain Peter Bennett, who is well known in Islands ports Under Union Steam Ship Company policy pilots are not engaged at Suva and the masters berth their own ships A preliminary estimate of the damage to the wharf was £2,000, bu

This is how the gantry and one of the piles of Suva's new wharf looked after the "Matua" had crashed into it on May 1.

See below.

i subject to alteration after r-water inspection. ►ME BAD LUCK; April was lonth for Jovihsi Vuki Vuka ia, master of the Fiji Govern cht, Ra Marama. He had to :ourt charge for allegedly not a permit to sail the ship from ceros beetle infested area to area, and he was also chiet at a Fiji Marine Board m ito a minor accident on Feb 9.

Ra Marama, while sailing l the narrow Ono-i-Lau pas . February 19, hit a reef about m. The starboard propeller aft were slightly damaged, told the board that he had isly sailed through the 18 to t wide “very deep” passage times in another Government tie Adi Maopa, and had never ny trouble. He believed he ilso get through without trouble

Ra Marama. he found out that the Ra na did not turn as fast as the faopa, and she hit the reef, al i he was apparently not aware t the time. He did not discover ight damage till he anchored io village. ... . , board decided that Jovihsi ;iven a reasonable explanation, hat a formal inquiry was not >ary. , few days later Jovihsi appeared e Magistrate’s Court at Suva swer a charge of having failed t the Ra Marama inspected be she sailed from Suva to Matuku e Lau Group on January 7.

I Viti Levu and some parts of uviti are known as rhinoceros s infested areas, while Lau, uni, Vanua Levu and Kadavu,

najor copra producing centres,

free. , , vilisi pleaded guilty to the charge was fined £7. The court was that the Ra Marama was mak the trip to take a senior super ident of police on an inspection

RUNIC PLANS: Three Sydney , have bought the wreck of the 87 Runic on Middleton Reef for undisclosed sum. They said they ed to salvage between £ISO,OUU £200,000 worth of gear and ip. The Runic was valued at million before it ran aground February, 1961. The three [ney men are K. Selvmen, R. F rr and J. S. Louis. They sailed m Sydney in the ketch Koongola May, under the command of ptain M. Thomas, to inspect the

wreck With them was Captain G H Purvis, a former Australian National Airways pilot, who was to decide whether it was P o^ le “ rmprate a flying-boat at the sue. sL ? d Mr Marr: “There , are . two other wrecks of modern ships visible on the reef at low tide and I also saw the remains of several ddtune vessels which might be Dutch, Spanish or Portuguese . Said Captam Purvis; “I’ve never seen such hsh ins There were as many black cod as we could take”. Mr. Selvmen said the ship was in fine condition except for a gaping hole in its side.

The Runic was owned by Shaw Savill and the company called tenders for her disposal last Decem ber. The scrap will probably be sold in Japan.

• Underwater Experts:

The New Hebrides now has a new body called the New Hebrides Underwater Exploration and Fishing Club It had its first outing in April when 35 members gartered the MV Bonite and "cnt off to Moso, a small island off the west coast of Efate, for a spearfishing competition. I Ter

Suva Slipway Debate:

new Suva slipway, widely adver l as capable of taking ships up 1,000 tons, may end in a first -5 row between shipping interests the Government. Soon after the vays were finished it was dis ;red that the depth of water along the slip at low tide was not dent to take some local ships, tie Suva Chamber of Commerce, /hich a number of shipping com es are members, took the mat up with the Government and ed several ships, well within the 0-ton limit, which could not get o the slipway.

Two of these were the Pacific Enterprise and the John Williams VI.

The consulting engineers for the slip ways (Wilton and Bell) wrote back to the Chamber about these two, and alleged inaccuracy on the part of the Chamber’s informant. Both the ships, Wilton and Bell wrote, had been lying at the slipway berth for some time. They had been informed that the Pacific Enterprise, in addition, entered Betio Harbour, Tarawa, loaded with oil products, drawing nine feet fore and aft. The John Williams was built for a loaded draught of nine feet six and a half inches. The repair berth had a mini-

W RABAUL ARRIVAL. Seen in Rabaul, New Guinea—the "Margaret Thwaites"—from [?]mania after having been bought by the Catholic Mission. The vessel is named after the wife of Australian writer F. J. Thwaites.

uva's controversial [?]y for an overhaul French naval "La Dunker [?] stationed in ea. See story above.

mum dredged depth of 10 feet below mean level water spring.

Thus, said Wilton and Bell, there was no danger of those two ships grounding when in slipping trim.

Wilton and Bell “stuck their necks out a bit”, snapped Mr. Don Aidney, president of the Chamber, after this letter was read out. Mr. Aidney, as it happens, is a director of Wil liams and Gosling Ltd., agents for the two ships mentioned by Wilton and Bell.

He told the Chamber that the John Williams VI was hard aground at low level. An attempt to berth her at low tide failed, and it was impossible to get her on to the slip till two hours after that. As far as the Pacific Enterprise was con cerned she had lain alongside com pletely empty with six inches of water under her keel. She went to Betio Harbour half empty and had

to wait for two days to get along-revenue, and if ship owners could

side. If she had only six inches of water to spare when completely empty she did not have much chance of getting on to the slip with any sort of a load.

The Chamber now wants dolphins, linked to the slip by a catwalk, a few yards out from the slip. This will allow ships to lie alongside at low water without any fear of grounding.

The Cable and Wireless repair ship, Retriever, is one which would use the dolphins for long periods, accord ing to the Suva manager of that com pany (Mr. Arthur Black). Naturally if the ship is not required to spend much time at sea repairing cables (and Cable and Wireless hope that will be the case) she will have to berth somewhere, and the idea of dolphins is one which appeals to Mr.

Black.

Thus the dolphins could earn

be sure of berthing there would b plenty of work for the slipway. Tto idea was uppermost in the eyes c the Government when it decided o the new slips. If there were goo repair facilities at Suva there wj likely to be a demand from shi] owners in many parts of the Soul Pacific for the use of the slipway.

Mr. Aidney also warned at tl same meeting there was a danger ( silting near the slipways when tl new Suva wharf is completed. Tl wharf is likely to deflect silt fro Walu Bay towards the slipwa; where it could easily pile up unle dredged quickly.

The slipway is thus having son teething troubles.

• Southern Cross Ix A

LAST; The Ninth Melanesij Mission vessel Southern Cross w dedicated at Sydney’s Circular Qui on May 12, in the presence of tl most august collection of Chun dignitaries probably ever assembly for such a dedication. The reas( was that the dedication day coincide with an exciting week in the histo: of the Anglican Church in Australi for it was the week in which tl Church gained a new independenc a new constitution, cut ties with tl mother Church in Britain and elect* its own Primate of Australia- Archbishop H. R. Gough.

Archbishop Gough performed tl dedication, and also present we Archbishops from the Australis capital cities, Bishops or assista Bishops from Melanesia, Polynesi New Guinea and country diocea of Australia and a large crowd visitors from the Islands.

The Bishop of Melanesia, Rt. Re A. T. Hill, in his address, stress] that ships were the lifeline I Melanesia, bringing young peop from isolated communities ai

Captain D. Kilvington.

Photo: Barbara Gree

n stations to be trained as rs, nurses and medical tiaries, in some cases to NZ mstralia. He said this work oubly important today “con -1 as we are with the needs ■-determination in the not too future”. 84-ft Southern Cross IX, built yards of the Ballina Slipway ngineering Company under the ision of Mr. Pollard, was ed at Ballina last September. >ok 15 months to build and 15,000. master is Captain D. Kilving er Melanesian crew members down to sail her north, and as expected to leave after a linor adjustments about May

Vang An Ell A Sold:

raith McEacharn Ltd. an ;d in Sydney in May that they sold the trans-Tasman’s nella to the Hang Fung ig and Trading Co. Ltd., ong, for an undisclosed price, will continue her present n schedule until she reaches r on July 25, and she will ken over in October. A man for the Hongkong firm n Sydney in May that the nella would begin a regular between NZ and the Far East, at Australia and the Islands, gave no details. He said his ny had been interested in buy r for some time. Mcllwraith :harn bought the Wanganella Huddart Parker Ltd. last Sep •. She left drydock in Sydney ly May after extensive engine

repairs. She was sold because she was “impossible to run economic ally”, said Mcllwraith’s, but no announcement has been made about

any replacement.

Wanganella, is 5,741-tons net, was built by Harland and Wolff in 1930.

She is 461-ft and has been on the Tasman run since 1933. She was formerly the Achimota.

O Baird Touches Bottom:

A surprise visit was paid to Rabaul in early May by the US ex-tug Spencer F. Baird, a jaunty sea-goer with a real job of work in hand.

Staffed by a team of eight US scientists headed by Dr. Robert L.

Fisher and a 20-man crew, the Baird is taking part in deep trench oceano graphic surveys on behalf of the Scripps Oceanographical Institute of the University of California.

Code-named “Proa” the expedition is sponsored by the National Science Foundation of USA.

By the time Baird reached Rabaul (for bunkering, supplies and picking up a new team member) she had completed the first half of her work programme—taking temperatures of the earth’s crust at its thinnest point, namely, at the bottom of the deepest known sea trenches.

This job was carried out in the Challenger Deeps in the Marianas

[?]uthern Cross IX" in Sydney on the day of her dedication.

where the bottom descends 10,S metres.

Instruments suspended out o’ the Baird’s stern from a sped] constructed gantry took tempera! readings, collected cores and tc stereo photographs in colour 1 black and white.

Carefully stacked away in locker amidships were silt co taken from the Challenger De while water samples taken froml same depths were stored in spe< capsules.

Asked whether the work he 1 carried out so far had any o nection with the Mohole pro] (wherein scientists hope to probe] earth’s crust to a depth of five miles and gather information ab the earth’s core) Dr. Fisher repl that it did not, but would probd “lead up to it”.

In Rabaul the Baird picked!

Professor C. S. Wang, a struct* geologist from Formosa. He accompanying the expedition on next phase which is to investid deeps off the New Britain a Solomon Islands.

Geographically these trend (mere ditches compared with I Challenger, their maximum be about 9,000 metres!) lie on “wrong side” of their island cha and the expedition hopes to disco the reason why.

After concluding work in j Solomons the Baird will travel] Samoa to reach Honolulu ab September.

• Noon A Dan For Sai

Also in Rabaul in May to take! a new member of their scienj team was the Danish schod Noona Dan, which was loaned a party of Danish scientists by I J. Lauritzen Shipping Line, J which has been working in N Guinea waters for some time ai crossing the Pacific from Panai The red-painted 102-ton vessell former naval cadet training ship I coastal trader, is for sale, but at I time of going to press this had I met with success. A correspond suggested the price might be I reason—7s,ooo US dollars. Coj be! But Noona Dan is sped] reinforced for Arctic waters, so th must be a chance there for sol body.

• All Done Wii

MIRRORS: Newest carrier in ] Royal Navy, the 22,000-ton Herd just recommissioned at Portsmoq has been fitted with a closed circ television system. The idea is j help the commander follow I

nents of landing aircraft, but V system is also being used, • trials, in helping the carrier erth during fog—the com :r simply directs the ship’s aents from the pictures on the reen. Presumably Hermes also dar!

Freighter Aground:

the 5,000-ton Liberian red freighter Dona Ourania hard aground on Polkington 300 miles east of Samarai, , at the end of April it ap that tugs might have to be rom Australia to refloat her. e experts were being flown »m Australia to have a look, eanwhile the Greek ship King s was standing by after heed -5 Dona Ourania’s distress calls, r the King Theseus brought ;w to Sydney.

ANOTHER ONE: The fourth ) occur aboard the Union Com- Tofua in the 11 years that i Norman Pearson has been in md occurred in April, when a is born to a Tongan woman Tofua was en route between md Nukualofa. The mother •ped the child would be born iga but now the youngster is i to New Zealand citizenship j he was born in a NZ ship, s named Gordon John—after Gordon Cook, the doctor who id him, and Mr. John Craw ie second mate, who assisted.

Shipping Tie Up? From

a it’s reported that members Territory Assembly are ex l alarm at the possibility that kel Company may have to lay fleet of three ships because slump in the nickel market. It ?e a heavy blow to local crews, e Assembly decided to ask kel Company to do its utmost ) at least two of the ships in Phe Quebec has already been for nearly a month and Tavo ronte are running ore from the ast mines to Noumea.

s Of Cruising Yachts

A KINO, 28 ft. ketch we re leaving Auckland in April for on a round-the-world cruise, mped back to Auckland after battered by a storm during the crew jettisoned 12 dozen of beer. They expected to sail >r New Caledonia instead of Aboard were owner-builder [itchinson, David Scott and Dagg.

• VALKYR , 24 ft. yacht, being lone handed from England made New Zealand landfall at D’Urville Island, in the first week of May.

Major Adrian Hayter, who five years ago made a solo voyage to NZ via Suez in Sheila 11, this time came via Panama. • WANDERLUST, 68 ft. ketchrigged luxury motor yacht, last reported (in April issue) in Samoa and Tonga, arrived in Sydney in late April after a visit to NZ. She expects to leave for the Barrier Reef in May.

Aboard are Commodore and Mrs.

Carl M. Heintz, Snr., of Santa Barbara, California, with crew, on a

round-the-world cruise. At Whan garei, NZ, she was stuck fast on a sand bank for 11 hours after missing a channel, and had to be pulled clear. • OKEANOS, Joe Pachernegg’s 39 ft. staysail schooner ( ex-Kona and Moonfleet) also last reported in April (in the Hermit Islands, west of Manus) on the first leg of a voyage from Wewak to Tokyo, made it in very good time. A note from Joe in Tokyo said the voyage from Wewak, took 36 days straight, with a “pretty fair passage” although ex periencing some tedious times in the doldrums and a cold and unpleasant gale south of Japan. For two

weeks Joe and companion Joe Assmann averaged about 100 miles a day, Joe Assmann has decided that harbour sailing is better and he will be returning to Wewak; Pachernegg says he has got another crew lined up and will depart for Los Angeles in early July before the typhoons get lively. He thinks two months will take him across the 5,000 miles.

9Staghound, 40-Ft. Us

ketch, with owner Paul Hurst, was still in Madang, NG, in May, await ing an engine part from the US.

Paul Hurst then planned to go as far up the Sepik River as he could, before wandering back towards Tahiti. With him is his Tahitian wife, Tere, and John Taltavall, a young American who joined him in Honiara after leaving the brig Yankee. • EUSKALDUNA, Hongkong built sloop owned and skippered by two Spanish born Guatemalan bachelors, Manuel Carvapal and Alfredo Cazalis, arrived at Honiara during Easter on her Pacific crossing from Hongkong. She left Hongkong in July last year and was in Rabaul in early April ( PIM, May, p. 114).

She is on her way to Chile. • MYONIE, a 36-ft. cruiser which left home port of Miami last November, arrived at Nukahiva, Marquesas, in April and was in Papeete in early May, Aboard are owners Captain Al and wife “Mike”

Gehrman, on a world cruise. • SEA WIND, 36-ft ketch with owners Mr. and Mrs. Mac Graham aboard, also on a world cruise, was in Papeete in May en route from home port of San Diego.

• SEA CHANTY, another 36-ft. cruiser, with Lyle Monk and Jack Bauer, was in the Marquesas in April, bound for Vancouver on a return trip from NZ, Also in the Marquesas at the same time, and Tahiti-bound, was the 36-ft ketch MOAIA, of San Pedro, California, with owners Mr. and Mrs. Ray Overton. Mrs, Gehrman, of the Myonie, drops a note to say that also seen in Nukuhiva recently were Howard and Mara Taylor and family. Tommy, 10, Chris, 8, Allyn, 4, and Layton, 2, bound from San Diego for Tahiti aboard the 42-ft

yawl MAORI. That’s quite a fami to go cruising with.

• Yankee Doodle, Us Yac

with owner-skipper J. Marston, h wife and daughter, and a youi American from Auckland, saili from Whangarei for the US in ear May, via Tahiti. In Tahiti she w wait for the US ketch BEN GUNI and owner-skipper Hank Hor which was expected to get awi from Whangarei a few days aft Yankee Doodle’s departure. Bo skippers have been teaching in N Hank Horn was reported to 1 looking for another crew memb before departure, • FAITH 11. 31-ft. 6 i Whakatane-built ketch also left Nj Zealand in May on a voyagejj Tahiti. Hundreds of people lifl the entrance to Whakatane Harbo to bid farewell to the crew, skipp Mick Orchard, 24, with All: McDonald and Bill Sennel (an At tralian).

Skipper Orchard sailed from 1 to Australia four years ago in t first boat he had built, the 22 original Faith and was reported! be the youngest skipper to make th trip. Bill Sennel (we have al seen another spelling for that nam is a friend of Orchard’s whom I met on the Australian trip and spe some time on the Barrier Reef wi him in the original Faith. plans to cruise among the Islands j about six months, with Papeete f first port of call.

CHANGE OF WEATHER. Back in warmer weather at last—in Honolulu—is the USS "Vance", destroyer escort ship. She has just finished seven months "on station" at 60 degree South, 160 degrees East, about midway between NZ and the Antarctic, acting as an ocean station ship for weather reports and in case of emergency on "Operation Deepfreeze". On the way back to Pearl Harbour her officers and men were given some much-needed leave in Melbourne and Papeete.— US Navy Photo.

Still in Madang, the US ketch "Staghound", with owner Paul Hurst (at the wheel) and his Tahitian wife.

Photo was taken in Papeete.