Odd Goings-On

In Davey Jones' Locker

Reports from three out-of-the-way aces in the Pacific, which reached IM in December, indicate that some ling odd went on down in Davey >nes' Locker in October.

At Graciosa Bay, Santa Cruz, BSIP, le sea rose 10 ft. higher than normal i October 13 and 14 —so high, in ict, that a three-year-old boy and a jpra drier were washed off the each. (The boy was rescued and re ved.) At Kira Kira Harbour, San Cristobal, uout 150 miles from Santa Cruz, there r as an unusually high tide on October 4 with the biggest waves any resi ent had seen in 30 years.

And at Pitcairn Island on October 5, the island was buffeted by the lost spectacular seas the islanders had ;en for a long time. Just after 1 a.m. ext day, there was a sharp earth uake, which caused considerable ex tement—earth tremors being rare on ny Pitcairn.

lives of Messrs. Good and Partners, consulting engineers, on the technical aspects of proposals for a deep-water berth at Honiara.

• Japan-Pacific Link: The

Baiwa Navigation Company, of Japan, is to inaugurate a shipping line soon between Japan and Pacific ports, including Suva, Vila and Noumea.

• German Group’S New

PLANS: The managing-director of Germany’s biggest independent ship ping group, Dr. Rolf Kersten, arrived in Auckland early in November for talks with Cabinet Ministers and representatives of the Meat, Wool, and Dairy Boards.

Dr. Kersten, 42, is a top executive for a leading West German in dustrialist and shipowner, Rudolph A.

Oetker, whose fleet consists of more than 70 modern cargo ships, tankers and refrigerated vessels.

Spectacular: This

spectacular geyser

was seen in Honiara harbour recently when Capt. T. Hardy, of the Royal En gineers, laid charges to blow up Pelope Shoal, which had long been a menace to shipping. Photo: "Honiara Picture News".

SHARK-PROOF: Capt. Hardy, wearing an aqualung, goes down in the shark-proof cage to examine Pelope Shoal before lay ing a charge.—Photo: "Honiara Picture News".

tie Oetker group has been in the ' Zealand-West Coast of North ;rica trade under the name of Tasman Pacific Service, a division tie Colombus Line, since Decem -1960. tie group was now anxious to nd its relationship with New and, Dr. Kersten said.

Tasman Pacific Service will have i refrigerated and general cargo s—the Cap Ortegal, Cap sterre and Cap Palmas —on the by early February, giving it a ng every 25 days.

NEW WHARF: Work began Qtly on the reconstruction of the sh Residency Wharf at Iririki, 5 . The wharf, which will be 80 mg, has been designed by Mr.

G. Cox, director of Public ks in the BSIP. It will replace old wharf which was partly de fed in the 1959 hurricane.

Survey Ship Sails: The

al Australian Navy survey vessel, AS Paluma, sailed from Sydney lecember to begin her third year perations in New Guinea, ae Minister for the Navy, Senator ton, said that the 300-ton Paluma Id continue a survey of the south t of Papua.

In particular, the vessel would con centrate on the Cheshant Bay area between Hood and Arthur Points.

Paluma has a crew of three officers and 22 ratings.

She was due to arrive in Cheshant Bay on December 11.

Senator Gorton said the vessel was responsible for the biggest peacetime survey programme undertaken in New Guinea, and the Navy intended that she should work in the territory for some years, returning to Sydney only for annual refits.

The vessel would work off the south coast of Papua until next March when she would go to New Britain to survey Kimbe Bay. She would return to Sydney for a refit next August.

Paluma is under the command of 31-year-old Lt.-Commander Michael Calder, of Melbourne. • PAPUAN CREW: Papuan sailors will comprise two-thirds of the crew of the general purpose vessel HMAS Banks.

Announcing this in December, the Minister for the Navy, Senator J. G.

Gorton, said that nine Papuans would serve in the ship, including a petty officer, four able seamen and four engineering mechanics.

These seven letters were found floating in the sea in November by Fijian women fishing off the coast of Kadavu. They were from the survivors of the Tongan yacht "Tuaikaepau" and were written while they were still on Minerva Reef. The letters, addressed to kin in Tonga, were tied in a bundle by a piece of string. They are believed to have been lost when the out rigger boat in which Captain Tevita Fifita and two others sailed to Kadavu capsized on reaching the island. The letters were sent on to Tonga.

Photo: Rob Wright.

tree Australian ratings, an lie-room artificer, a radio elec mechanic and a communication itor were included, because iers of the Papua-New Guinea >on were not trained in these 5. • e only other members of the • company of 15 would be two Talian officers. nator Gorton said this would be srst time that members of the ion had manned a commissioned iof the RAN. ic Banks would be based at ns Island for general duties and mg.

Britannia In Fiji: The

d Yacht Britannia will be creat interest in Fiji by the end of ary. She will arrive in Lautoka enty of time to take aboard the ;n and the Duke of Edinburgh i they reach Nadi by air from lon at 10 p.m. on February 1.

Royal couple will spend two in Fiji before heading for NZ Australia aboard the Britannia. ley will board Britannia at oka shortly after arriving at i, which is 15 miles away. mnia will then travel to Suva night, along the east coast of Viti i, arriving off Suva at 10.30 the morning, where a 21-gun salute greet her passage through the re Royal Yacht will berth at the y reconstructed King’s Wharf, h has cost £2i million. Work been continuing at a great pace le last few months. ;fore the Queen and the Duke ashore they will be welcomed ceremony aboard ship by repre itive Fijian chiefs. The ceremony died cavuikelekele . s an invitation to land and dates i the ancient days of the big )le canoes when chiefs visited ; other. The Fijians were per ling this ceremony even before I Tasman discovered Fiji in 1643, it’s rarely seen these days, for reserved only for the most dis jished visitors. ritannia will head for NZ late the e afternoon, February 2, after Royal couple conclude a busy in Suva. he yacht will be used frequently ng the Australian Royal tour to the Queen the chance to rest.

Plans For Joy It A :

tough it is many months now s Lord Maugham bought the ta, the famous vessel is still )ped up on the beach at Levuka, She is apparently likely to

<y there until Lord Maugham gets mg on plans to film the story of Joyita in Fiji—using the vessel ;a starring role.

Negotiations are believed to be EJer way for this film—although w it conflicts with the recently norted separate American plans to a the same story in Honolulu, Dody knows. Anyhow, Lord uigham certainly has the main nibit all legally tied up. Captain n Brown, of the Maroro, keeps eye on Joyita on the beach, on lugham’s behalf. • FOR THE BSIP: Four new isels for the BSIP Government are mg ordered for delivery in 1963 or 9 4. They include a new K class, 2 the Komaliae and Kangava ; a ft launch which will be built at the ki boat-building school; a launch h a speed of 15 knots for the Wes n Solomons; and a landing-craft carrying heavy equipment and go, which is expected to arrive nit March or April 1964.

• Skimming Sea Service: A

pping company in Auckland hopes operate a 75-passenger hydrofoil ft between the city and residential liheke Island this year. The ship, ning on the surface of the water at

40 knots, would cut the trip from 75 to 20 minutes.

• Brass Salvage: After

several setbacks due to shipping diffi culties, Mr. Reece Discombe, a Vila engineer and deep-water diving ex pert, and Mr. Geoffrey Seagoe, a planter, got away to Vanikoro, in the Southern Solomons, in late Novem ber, to salvage brass scrap jettisoned by the MV Milos when she went on a reef a few years ago. Mr. Discombe and Mr. Seagoe surveyed the possibi lities of salvage on an earlier visit in June. It was understood in Vila in

December that salvage operations were being hampered by the growth of coral on the brass.

• First Storm Warning:

The New Hebrides received its first storm warning of the season on De cember 4 when the Meteorological Officer reported a depression 300 miles to the west of the Banks Group, moving slowly south. Although Santo and much of the north of the New Hebrides experienced fresh winds and driving rain, the depression didn’t de velop, and the storm warning was withdrawn next day.

RABAUL: The KPM "Sungei Bila" ?ove), of 175 gross tons, recently made last trip to Rabaul before being based ?ingapore. The "Sungei Bila" was built Amsterdam in 1950 and operated in ?st New Guinea, but was often seen in ?aul. Because of the Indonesian take ?r of WNG it became unprofitable to ?rate as before. Below is the USS yuga County" an American LST, which

? emergency supplies to typhoon

attered Guam from Rabaul recently.