Moby Dick?

Is It Another Moby Dick?

LAST September in our yachting columns (p. 107) we reported that an American yacht, Easterling, had arrived in Tahiti from the Marquesas with patches over a couple of holes in her hull caused by a 50 ft whale, which attacked the vessel between the Galapagos and Marquesas.

Now we’re beginning to wonder whether there isn’t another Moby Dick at large in the Pacific. (Over)

A Rarotonga correspondent, Mr. . H. Percival, reports that while I New Zealand trimaran Highlight is on her way from Auckland to iely Rapa (French Polynesia) in ay, she was attacked by a whale me 400 miles north-east of ickland.

It was dusk at the time, and ipper John Glennie and crew *mber Oleg Whimp were resting the main cabin. John’s brother, ive, was on watch.

Without warning, Dave saw the lale’s tail shoot out of the ocean d slam down on the starboard at, smashing it in. Then the lale swam under the vessel, lashed |it again and damaged the port at, before swimming away.

Highlight shipped about 80 gallons water, and the crew decided to ad for Rarotonga, 1,200 miles for repairs.

For the rest of the voyage, the ;w had to bail continuously—a \k which John Glennie, on arrival Rarotonga, likened to a night ire.

FOOTNOTE: Moby Dick, Herman elville’s famous novel about a tale of that name, was inspired by i story of a whale that attacked 5 whaleship Essex near the [uator in the eastern Pacific in 20. That whale stove in and sank 5 Essex, forcing the crew to make r South America in open boats, me of the crew were picked up tside Valparaiso; some reached mderson Island and were rescued >m there; and the rest were lost sea.

,nd THEY Think It

tight Be Mongolia!

THERE did the Polynesians come r from?

Captain Cook had the idea that might have been South America, nes Morrison, the scholarly boat ain’s mate of the Bounty, had the ne idea. And so did the Rev. illiam Ellis, an early LMS mis >nary, who published a cele ated book on the Pacific in 1829 [led Polynesian Researches.

Thor Heyerdahl, leader of the >n-Tiki Expedition in 1947, is of j opinion that the Polynesians ly have come from South America, d North America, via Hawaii.

But most modern scientists go >ng with the idea that the Poly sians originated somewhere in the lucasus and found their way into 5 Pacific through the corridor of uth-East Asia.

No one, however, has yet pro ced irrefutable proof of the

frectness of his theory, and it tns probable that he never will, flit there’s no harm in trying [ and that is what a team of six ianese anthropologists with what -believe is a brand-new theory are [ to do. fhe six Japanese, led by Professor ro Shima, of the Osaka City iversity’s medical faculty, left an for New Zealand, Tonga and btern Samoa early in June in an Hnpt to find basic proof that the fcnesians originally came from

jngolia.

h'ofessor Shima said in Tokyo ore leaving that Mongolia was ieved to be the place of origin the Japanese, and that linguistically I physically there were many amon traits between the people the South Pacific and those of [ Japanese islands.

ew Guinea Misses

n Opportunity

fDNEY freelance journalist Keith [Adam, widely known for his ABC io sessions and documentaries st year he did an excellent series six half-hour documentaries about w Guinea) has just returned from P-NG film-making trip. Textbook ms, a company formed by him and > colleagues, is producing educa aal films on the Pacific and South -5t Asia to be sold to libraries and Ication departments in Australia, ' US and Britain. \dam tells us they had excellent operation from individuals and lanisations in P-NG. but the Ad jistration was “another story”.

To our astonishment,” he says, e were told that District Adminis tion had given orders that no help s to be given us for a short [uence we had hoped to film in pua—a mock-up of a patrol leav a patrol post. We were not told y; and no amount of inquiry h the public relations staff seemed I sort out the matter. The net ult was that our film will show fling of the work of Adminis tion officers in the field. What a s! Seeing that one patrol officer 1 a few police would have been olved for no more than a couple hours, we were quite baffled. All i more baffled because we had a :at deal of useful help from the Ad nistration in the Western High ids, where the District Commis ner couldn’t do enough for us.”

It seems to us that the Department Information and Extension Services ght to correct this attitude if the rritory ever wants to build up a irist industry.