Cruising Yachts

Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts

Hefts From Ships

In Suva Cause

Concern

shipping companies and shipping mts at Suva are becoming con ned at the large number of thefts sh'ps at King’s Wharf. Hardly an ;rseas ship escapes the attentions the light-fingered gentry.

Vallets, watches, cameras, radios I cash are all grist to the mill of thieves whose impudence is only tched by the carelessness of the •pie who leave articles lying about, fime after time it is the same ■y: “I left my wallet on my bunk, I I was only away from the cabin few minutes.” But those few lutes are all the intruder needs— t and a certain amount of luck. )ne thief had a lucky escape on ril 10 on board the Aldebaran.

L purser’s clerk surprised him in cabin, but the thief managed to h the clerk out of the way and ipe, taking with him cameras, a t and cash worth £Bl.

L few days earlier Captain H. ty, master of the Union Steam p Company’s Waiana, had a brush i a thief who beat the band for sr persistence.

'aptain Pettty was dozing on his k in his darkened cabin when the t was switched on. He turned time to see a Fijian darting out )ugh the doorway, he captain gave chase but the in ier dodged him. Minutes later the tain again surprised him trying the in door on the other side of the k. There was another chase but man escaped again, ifter watching loading operations a few minutes. Captain Pettty irned to his cabin and was amazed find his quarry bending over the ned drawers of the desk.

Tiis time the would-be thief was of luck. The captain held him in arm-lock until assistance arrived the man was later handed over to police.

NEW SHIP: "Lakatoi", a new 40-ton motor vessel for Burns Philp (New Guinea) Ltd., left Sydney for Port Moresby early in April. See story on page 97.

» New Copra Ship: Island In

itries Ltd., a subsidiary of Car iters (Fiji) Ltd., has bought a sel-engine vessel from the Adelaide amship Company Ltd., and expect arrival at Suva about the middle May.

Tie ship, to be called Tovata if the sartment of Transport agrees, is ft. long and 454 tons dead-weight, i a carrying capacity of more n 4,000 sacks of copra.

'he ship carries a crew of 22 and a speed of 10 knots. She has :tric winches and two derricks ch can shift eight tons at a time.

Vith room for deck passengers and ted saloon accommodation, she is ly to be a popular ship among the ads.

> More Work On Trans

2IFIC CABLE: The British cable ng ship Monarch was due in midF il to start laying the first 1,000 :s of cable of the Vancouver lolulu section of the Common -Ith Trans-Pacific cable (COM -2). The Monarch left London for job in the last week in March, i October, the cable will be picked and spliced on to the Suva lolulu section of the cable by the e and wireless ship Mercury. » will complete the COMPAC e. The Australia-New Zealand section was opened last year.

Tien the COMPAC scheme is ipleted, there will be a direct tele ne link between London and Aus a, as the COMPAC cable will lect with the CANTAT micro e link across Canada and the intic to London.

New Ship For Burns

LP: Lakatoi, a 40-ton motor el, which was built recently for is Philp (New Guinea) Ltd. at ne Halvorsen Ltd.’s shipyard at y’s Bay, Sydney, left Sydney on il 4 for Port Moresby. akatoi will be used on the Papuan t to collect copra. She can carry o 500 bags. he ship was taken to Port esby by Captain McCormack, of ns Philp, and a crew of five aa-New Guinea natives who were ight to Sydney in the Malaita for voyage. he first of a new series of “L” 5 copra vessels built by Halvor >, Lakatoi proved so satisfactory ter sea trials that the keel for a nd vessel is now being laid for is Philp. akatoi has an overall length of it. and a beam of 16 ft. She is ered by a 150 hp Gardner 6L38 il engine.

• That Raft Man Again:

William Willis, that taciturn American, who drifted 6,700 miles in 115 days on a balsa raft from Peru to Samoa nine years ago, was due to begin an other trans-Pacific raft-drift in April —to make a close study of a man of 70 exposed to hardship and solitude.

The man Willis intends to study is himself, for, as on his previous drift, he will travel alone—unless you count the dog and cat he will take with him.

Willis’ new raft, called Age Un limited was built in New York and

WORK RESUMED: After a long delay, during which the owners went into liquidation, work is proceeding in Rabaul on the reconstruction of the ill fated trading vessel "Kavieng Trader".

The ship was damaged by fire follow ing an explosion off New Ireland in September last year in which two lives were lost.

made of steel. On it, Willis hopes ' drift some 10,000 to 12,000 miles om Callao, Peru, to Brisbane in om four to six months.

“I haven’t the slightest doubt about tting there,” Willis said in New ork before his raft was put on a ;amer for the voyage to Callao. “I ive an inspiration. I am physically id mentally fit. It is destiny.”

Willis said he designed the new ft of steel as a tribute to the space e and technical advancement.

Several space engineers had helped 3rk out stresses on the raft which is ft. long, and 18 ft. wide at the ;rn, narrowing at the bow.

Willis will again use a mainsail, jib d mizzen.

• Rescued After Five

XJRS: A native crew member of i 40-ft. Rabaul workboat Olobo, io fell overboard in heavy seas be een Rabaul and Ulu (Duke of >rk Islands) on March 30, was and and rescued five hours later. ie native, an Arawe named Kum k, had asked to be relieved at the leel of the Olobo and had gone aft. e skipper later noticed that Kum k was missing and began a search • him.

• New Vessels For Bsip:

e MV Timbala, a new launch for : BSIP Marine Department, and a useboat for the Forestry Depart ing arrived in Honiara in the MV rronbank late in March. The house at will be used by Forestry officers extended tours. It will be towed im place to place by a work boat.

• Norwegian Freighter

LEAKS UP: The 9,000-ton Nor gian freighter Ragna Ringdal, iich ran aground on Vatoa Reef the Lau Group of Fiji on Novem r 29, has broken into four pieces, :ording to Captain A. G. Shearer, Fiji Airways pilot.

Captain Shearer, who flew over the eck in March on a flight from Fiji Tonga, told the Fiji Broadcasting mmission that heavy seas were making over the vessel.

A. Customs Department spokesman d a representative of Lloyds said Suva later that they still did not ow what would be done with the gna Ringdal’s timber cargo, worth msands of pounds, that had been shed up on Vatoa Island.

More than 500,000 superficial feet timber have been salvaged. The iber is in the custody of a Customs icer at Vatoa, who will stay there til it has been disposed of.

• Wreck Up For Sale: Ten

’s were due to close with the Re ver of Wreck in Suva on April 27

for the purchase of the Japanese fishmg vessel Toka Mam No. 8 which went aground on a reef at Qelelevu, in the Ringgolds, on August 31 last y ear - Qelelevu, shown on some maps as Nggele Levu, is 35 miles east of the eastern extremity of Vanua Levu.

The Toka Maru No. 8 is an 80-ton wooden vessel, the engine room and lower compartments of which are under water. The successful tenderer for her will get “all existing deck and other equipment as she now lies”.

• Trip To Walpole Island

FOR GUANO: The former French Naval patrol vessel Tiare, now owned

by two Noumea businessmen, recently visited Walpole Island to look into the possibility of working the guano de posits. The Tiare carried a guano ex pert and a work force of 14.

Walpole Island, a flat-topped island of about 310 acres, is some 80 miles east of New Caledonia’s Isle of Pines.

Its guano deposits were worked in the 1920’s and 1930’s by the Austral Guano Co. Ltd., of Melbourne, which included New Caledonian interests, Austral Guano established moorings for overseas ships, and exported about 10,000 tons of guano a year, mainly to New Zealand, until 1934. After that only limited markets could be (Over)

id and shipments ceased in 1940. he party in the Tiare found there a considerable stock of guano on pole, but due to the destruction of ler loading facilities, only about tons could be brought back to imea. PlM’s Noumea corres- Jent says: “It is thought unlikely the experience will be repeated he cost price of the guano is too : due to lack of loading facilities.”

Mystery Ship Off Pen

fN: A large, unidentified vessel, nated to be of about 14,000 tons, seen about two miles off Penrhyn id, in the Northern Cooks, on il 1. Penrhyn’s Resident Agent reported that when a Govern t launch went out to investigate, ship made off quickly. No flag ther means of identification could een.

Total Wreck: The Mv

cy, which has been in use in the J as a district touring vessel, be s a total wreck when she went und at Hauhui on March 25, but engine and all her gear were sal d. The Nancy was built as a 39- :etch-rigged schooner before the Her first name was Boe Boe. le was hidden in the Western mons during the Japanese occu m, and was towed to Suva in t and refitted with an auxiliary ae. She was given a diesel engine ad of sail in 1948.

Modern Devices On New

SION SHIP: Everyone who saw London Missionary Society’s new John Williams VII on her arrival farawa recently was much im >ed by her remote control steer engineer on the bridge, ship to 2 radio, and other modern devices to small Pacific Islands ships.

The new ship left Tarawa on March 23 for Western Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands and Tahiti,

• Shorter Passage Found:

The Royal Navy survey ship HMS Cook has found that Round Island Passage in the north of Fiji’s Yasawa Group is navigable by large ships.

HMS Cook discovered this during a recent survey.

Her skipper, Commander F. W.

Hunt, told the Fiji Times that the passage shortened by 80 miles the route of any ship going from Levuka to Far Eastern ports. However, he said navigation marks, such as a light, would have to be installed in the passage before it could be used.

Overseas ships leaving Lautoka might also be able to use the passage.

“There is no question of whether the passage is deep enough,” Com mander Hunt said. “The passage is deep and we know the extent of the reef ledges.”

• New Addition To Fleet:

The MV Pacific Islander, a new ad dition to the US Trust Territory fleet, arrived at her home port of Saipan recently from Guam on her maiden voyage to the Eastern Carolines (Truk and Ponape) and the Mar shalls.

The Pacific Islander is captained by Joseph Lablanc and has 45 crew members. The vessel has 15 two berth cabins, one single-berth cabin and four four-berth cabins. One two berth cabin is to be converted to a four-berth cabin to provide space for a total of 49 cabin passengers.

To Be Repaired

"Ai Sokula", one of Fiji's best-known inter-island traders, which damaged her hull when she ran aground on a reef on March 10, will be riding the waves again soon. For weeks, her fate trembled in the balance while her owners, Pacific Shipowners Ltd., a sub sidiary of W. R. Carpenter (Fiji) Ltd., pondered the alternatives —to scrap or not to scrap.

Finally, it was decided to accept a tender from Millers Ltd. to repair her.

The ship is shown here on the slipway at Suva on March 16 for an inspection of her hull. Photo: Stan Whippy.

• First Time Unlucky: The

IP ship Cape Torrens, which went •ound on a reef on the eastern side Manaoba Island at the north item tip of Malaita on February 28 i was later abandoned ( PIM, April, 105), had never previously been in üble. fhe ship was owned by Lever’s :ific Plantations in the Russell Is ds, and had been in service in the )tectorate for more than 16 years. ; took part in the search for the fated MV Melanesian in 1958, and s used by Lever’s as a recruiting p to transport labourers to planta is.

iews of Cruising Yachts

» GOLDEN HIND, 36 ft ketch m Los Angeles, with Lyle and rma Graham and their two sons, :hael, 19, and Lee, 14, arrived at •otonga on March 21. They had nt the previous six months in the rquesas, Tuamotu, and Society inds. After leaving Papeete, the Iden Hind had to return for an urgency appendicitis operation for . The Grahams expected to reach jo Pago about the middle of ril.

Tom Rarotonga, Mr. Graham dly sent us news of four other hts — Marinero, Ghana, Hunakai Lobo del Mar (see below), I STAGHOUND, Paul Hurst’s 40 /acht, has recently been spending eisurely time among the Trobri- Islands and at Lusancay Atoll, the north coast of Papua. Our news of Paul was from Rabaul. n a cordial note to PIM from leiula Island, Lusancay Atoll, on rch 27, Paul said: “I have spent days aboard Staghound at iva and now I am in my second ith among the Trobriands and islands of the Lusancay Lagoon, ancay is said to be the world’s ;est coral atoll. Undoubtedly ; the atoll with the largest amount :oral uncharted.

Reg Stephenson, of Battery Ser s, Rabaul, made the trip down i me from New Britain. It was first voyage on a sailing yacht.

Our three weeks aboard con led his earlier notion that he it have a similar boat. Now he elling his business to buy one.

Ferii (Paul’s Tahitian wife) ed me when Reg's vacation was We have a Trobriand crew nber, the first native I’ve shipped i experience in sail.

“This is the first raw and singing part of Polynesia I’ve seen since leaving the Tuamotus eight years ago aboard Primavera.”

Footnote : Paul’s description of the Trobriands as part of Polynesia may at first sight seem off the beam, but the natives of those islands are ap parently Polynesians rather than Melanesians. They have the same fair skins and the same friendly and hospitable dispositions. • MARI NERO, 38 ft San Diego ketch with Floyd and Doris Christen son and their two children was at Bora Bora in mid-March. They in tended to return to Papeete before

going on to Maui, Hawaii, in May.

Our last report of Marinero was from Rarotonga in October. • GIT AN A, 34 ft yawl from Long Beach with the Bill Taylor family of five was at Bora Bora in mid-March after several weeks at Tahaa. They were planning to return to Honolulu.

Ghana was in Honolulu last Nov ember after a trip from San Diego, California. • HUNAKAI, 36 ft Block Island ketch from California with the Chris Christopher family of four, returned to Papeete for a haul-out and engine repairs in March. The ketch had spent

Stories on the inquest into the "Polurrian" disaster off Bougain ville and on the Sydney yacht "Cythera", which was stolen from Lord Howe Island, appear on pages 113 and 117 respectively.

ne time at Huahine and Bora ra. After Papeete, the Christophers re planning to voyage west. » LOBO DEL MAR, 30 ft Tahiti ch of Newport Beach, California, h Terry Dalton was waiting at :a Bora for mail in March. Plans ■e to sail for Rarotonga about ril 1 and on around the world. > MONSOON, Herb Hope’s 47 ft i Diego-registered yacht, reached Iney from Auckland on March 21 h an Australian, an Englishman ' three New Zealanders as crew, lope, a 31-year-old engineer from Angeles, told the Press in Syd that he had lost his entire five i American crew since leaving Pedro in July last year. Three stayed in Tahiti and two in New land. ionsoon, a former salmon trawler ch operated on the US West ist, is on a three-year voyage nd the world. On reaching Syd , she had done 9,000 miles, lope planned to sail for New nea and Indonesia after a stay in ney. • JOHN HANNA, 30 ft. yacht, i K. Wing, of California, and J. nterman, of Michigan, began a se round Fiji in March after e months in Suva. Messrs. Wing Counterman spent a few hours .evuka in mid-March before go on to Koro. he two men are realising a life ambition to see people and es off the beaten track. Their it, which they built themselves named after her designer, left Pedro, California, on May 4, -• Before reaching Fiji last smber, they visited the Marque the Tuamotu Archipelago, Ta and other Society Islands, the k Islands and American Samoa, fter their look-see round Fiji, two yachtsmen planned to sail the New Hebrides.

FLYING CLOUD, 65 ft Ameri staysail schooner, with owner )er Charles Daniels and a crew ve, including two girls, reached ley on April 2 after crossing the nan from Auckland. The oner was within 25 miles of

Sydney Heads on March 30 when gale force winds blew up and drove her more than 80 miles to sea. Heavy seas broke over the vessel. The boom split and other gear was dam aged, and it took four more days to get into Sydney.

Flying Cloud left Los Angeles in October, 1961; called at the Mar quesas and Tahiti; and then spent nine months in New Zealand. She will stay in Sydney from one to eight months, and then move on, via the Barrier Reef, to Bali, Sumatra, Singapore, Ceylon and the Med iterranean. Skipper Daniels does not expect to get home to Los Angeles, where he has an electrical engineer ing business, until 1968.

Mr. Daniels said the two girls in his crew—Nancy Martinez, a swim ming instructor of Los Angeles, and Mary Pietsch, a nurse from Port land, Oregon—were permanent mem bers, making their first voyage. The other crewmen were signed on in each port, and they stayed with the schooner until they got to where they wanted to go. The three male members of the crew on reaching Sydney were Trevor Griffiths, of Maltby, Yorkshire, England, and Bruce Merriman and Mark Williams, of Auckland. • WEST WIND, Mr. D. Cochran’s 99 ft. steel-hulled auxiliary schooner.

In The News This Month

Age Unlimited Marinero Ai Sokula Melanesian Cape Torrens Mercury Carronbank Monarch Challenger, HMS Monsoon Cook, HMS Nancy Flying Cloud Olobo Gitana Pacific Islander Golden Hind Ragna Ringdal Hunakai Staghound John Hanna Tiare John Williams VII Timbala Lakatoi Toka Maru No. 8 Lobo del Mar Tovata Malaita West Wind left Madang on March 13 for An goram, Wewak and Bangkok. West Wind reached Madang on March 5 from Gizo, BSIP. She is on a world tour which began in Germany in 1961 ( PIM, April, p. 114).

West Wind carries a crew of 10, among whom are Australians, Ame ricans, Germans and Englishmen.

One of the crew is the skipper’s daughter Katherine.

The schooner’s twin masts carry 7,000 square feet of sail, but her cruising speed of eight knots can be maintained on auxiliary power alone.