Castaway Skipper

To Say Thanks With A Boat

Captain Tevita Fifita, Tonga's famous castaway skipper, plans to build a boat for villagers of Naco moto, on Fiji's Kadavu Island, as a gesture of thanks for their help at the end of last year’s Minerva Reef epic.

CAPTAIN Fifita said this in Suva in August when he passed through there on his way to New Zealand and Australia as a guest of TEAL to publicise the release of Olaf Ruhen’s book Minerva Reef, which tells of the gruelling ordeal of Cap tain Fifita and 16 other men who were wrecked on Minerva Reef in the cutter Tuaikaepau in July, 1962.

Most of the castaways (some died) were rescued 102 days later after Captain Fifita, his son, Sateki Fifita, and Tevita Uaisale, sailed 300 miles to Kadavu in a makeshift outrigger to seek help. Sateki Fifita was drowned at the end of this voyage.

Kava Ceremony

On his trip to NZ and Australia, Captain Fifita was accompanied by his wife, Alapasita, Tevita Uaisale, and another castaway, Teiapa’a Blomfield.

In NZ, Auckland’s Tongan com munity welcomed the Minerva Reef men with a kava ceremony in TEAL’s Airways House. Those present in cluded Prince Taufa’ahau, son of Crown Prince Tungi and grandson of Queen Salote.

Olaf Ruhen’s book, published in Australia and New Zealand in early September by Angus and Robertson Ltd,, has been very favourably re viewed.

If sales reach the dimensions ex pected, the Tongan castaways—a dozen of them survived—will benefit financially.

The rights to the story were bought by Fiji Times and Herald Ltd, from the Tongans concerned, and sold to the publishers; and all the royalties received, after deduction of expenses (which include the author’s fee) will go to the Tongans.