Pacific Reefs Claim
p. 10 · Read in the full issue
Three More Ships
REEFS in the South Pacific claimed three more victims in
July—the Samoan trading vessel
Fa’asalafa, the Cook Islands trad ing vessel Siren, and Burns Philp’s Samoan cutter Aolele.
The Fa’asalafa, owned by the Oldehaver Co., of Apia, struck a rock near Apolima, off the western end of Upolu, on the night of July 17 while on her way to
Sala’ilua, Savaii. She was badly holed and was abandoned.
The Siren, an auxiliary ketch owned by Don Silk and Bob Boyd, of Rarotonga, struck a reef while trying to enter Avatiu Harbour, Rarotonga, on the night of July 12, which was moonless and over cast. She became a total loss.
The Aolele, which was on her way from Apia to the Tokelaus to transfer a medical team from one island to another, ran aground on a reef at Swain’s Island, about 350 miles north of Apia, on July 25. Salvage was impossible.