Cruising Yachts

Pacific Shipping And Cruising Yachts

Another Rusden Ship

Comes To Grief

News that Hebrides shipowner Athol Rusden’s latest pur chase the 397-ton island trader Matipo —had piled up on a reef 30 miles off Noumea on May 7, was a set-back for his recently established NZ-New Caledonia and New Hebrides shipping service. And it also continued his extraordinary run of bad luck.

It was only 12 months ago, to the lay, that Captain Rusden’s 530-ton notor vessel, Wallisien, hit a Fiji eef and became a total loss; and he Wallisien was merely one of everal other Rusden ships which lave been involved in mishaps. Not ill have been under his own cap aincy.

Matipo hit the reef, 27 miles from ie Amedee lighthouse, in very rough 2as, at 1.45 a.m. On board was 400 pns of cargo for Noumea from New Zealand, consisting mostly of pre dicated houses.

Helicopters

Helicopters attached to a big rench naval force on the way to rench Polynesia helped to locate ie ship. Her chief engineer, Mr. C.

Simpson, of Suva, said later: “She went on the reef so gently id slowly that it did not even wake e up.”

Some of the crew went ashore and hers stayed to supervise salvage of rgo, which included two bulls which jre giving trouble.

Matipo’s captain, Gordon Brown, Nelson, NZ, stayed on board with e remaining crewmen. A Noumea port said he had “mistaken” a llage lighthouse ashore on New dedonia for the Amedee Light »use, which is one of the world’s w lighthouses to have a fixed, and •t a flashing, light.

In late May the ship was still on 5 r^ e f ar| d a Sydney tug was re nted on its way to Noumea in an ort to refloat her.

A few days before Matipo left

Auckland in April for Noumea a fire broke out in the crew’s quarters.

It was confined to below decks but it caused severe damage to several cabins.

Matipo had only recently started a service from NZ to New Hebrides and New Caledonian ports, in com petition against another NZ line, Holm and Company, of Auckland.

Matipo made her first run to the New Hebrides in early February with general and refrigerated cargo (PIM, Mar., p. 105).

Captain Rusden has been sailing yachts and small freighters around the Pacific Islands for 21 years. Apart

from the Matipo and Wallisien, here are three other happenings to his vessels: • Sorona del Mar, 260-ton island £ ad f er ’ burnt to * he waterline off Santo ’ New Hebr,des > in July, 1964. . Nikau. island trade, burnt to

he waterline, on reefs south of fanna, New Hebrides, in late 1964. • Tuvalu, freighter, hull ripped ►pen on rocks, 35 miles north-east f Wellington, NZ, in January, 1967.

One ironic sidelight to the Matipo rounding concerned an Australian rtist, Mr. Alan Thornton, who has ow made two attempts to transport collection of his paintings to be xhibited in New Caledonia, and is Imost as unlucky as Captain Rus en.

Mr. Thornton loaded his paintings board the Matipo in NZ and in inded to travel with them to Nou ica. A few days before the Matipo ft NZ the fire below decks made it npossible for the ship to carry issengers.

So Mr. Thornton flew to Noumea, aving his paintings on board the r atipo.

The irony is that at the same me last year another collection of r. Thornton’s paintings was en •ute to Noumea, on board the 'allisien which ended on that Fiji ef! The whole collection was lost!

What Mr. Thornton thinks about all hasn’t yet been recorded.

Ew Service

) Pitcairn

A consortium of British shipping mpanies Shaw Savill, Port and ue Star Lines have agreed to ovide a cargo service to isolated tcairn Island with calls each eight nine weeks north and southbound and from New Zealand and nama.

Last year Shaw Savill decided to >p making periodic calls at Pit irn for the first time in over 50 ars (PIM, July, 1967, p. 109). The mpany’s ships Gothic and Ceramic 11 end their calls in June this year.

The first two ships to call at Pit rn under the new arrangements II be the Shaw Savill freighter nalric and the Blue Star vessel nterbury Star. Both are in the w Zealand-West Indies trade.

Neither ship will carry passengers.

Hor I" For New Guinea

Phe Pacific Islands Transport Line sel Thor I will extend her normal i from Noumea in early July and ke calls at Lae and Rabaul.

Sydney agents for the line told IT that maufacturers in the US 1 offered sufficient inducements to k up big shipments of coffee and :oa (1,000 tons at Lae, and 750 s at Rabaul). fhe new calls will set up a direct ight link for NG produce to the

US which previously had to go through Hong Kong. NG calls will be operated from July every six weeks if cargoes warrant, the agents said.

At present PI Transport Line, with Thor I and Thorsgaard, operate monthly sailings from West Coast US ports to Papeete, Pago Pago, Apia, Suva, and Noumea.

Suva Businessman

Buys "Fairwind"

Suva businessman Mr. I. C.

Rodger has bought the Fiji ketch Fairwind from the Fiji Government for £FB7B. Mr, Rodger, manager of

Ivon Watkins-Dow Ltd., will sail the Fairwind with the Royal Suva Yacht Club. Mr. Rodger was one of five tenderers for the well-known ketch.

Once the proud possession of the distinguished Fijian leader, the late Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, Fairwind is a 28 ft craft of the well-known Herres choff design.

Fairwind was built by the colony’s Public Works Department in 1941 under the supervision of two of Fiji’s best boatbuilders, Alf Lee and Alec Bentley.

Fairwind was the first vessel in Fiji to have hollow spars and originally fitted with stainless steel rigging and carried in addition to

ain, jib and mizen, a spinnaker, asthead genoa and mizen stay il.

In her Alf Lee, her first owner, uised extensively in Fiji waters, e early voyage being around the iu group in which she logged 135 miles.

The ketch was sold to the late itu Sir Lala in 1955 for £1,250 d later sold to the Macuata Pro ice and then used by the police the area for patrol work.

Her latter days in government vice have seen her based at utoka where she was used by the Strict Administration to service ter islands in the area.

Fairwind is planked with Fiji iri and has a keel of fase loa loa. \ Government Minister and sen civil servants are among several >ple reported to have shown an Jrest in her.

Ree Dead In

Baul Blaze

fhree men died in a blaze which ted part of the inter-island trader, tia, as it lay alongisde Rabaul irf early in May.

'he men were: chief officer Geof i Clifford Bye, of Boolaroo, NSW, if engineer James Francis Con s, of Auburn, NSW, and crew nber Marogo Amai. The two Jtralians were flown to Australia burial. Amai was buried in >aul. it a coroner’s inquiry after the

tragedy, the master of the freighter, Captain Robert Pugh, told how he had tried to help the three men who had been trapped between decks in the accommodation section of the Frisia, but his help was in vain.

At the time of going to press the hearing had been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

The Frisia, which carries a crew of 17, caught fire at 3.30 a.m. on May 3. Police believed that the fire was caused by a mattress which had been smouldering since midnight. It had probably been set alight by a dropped cigarette.

Captain Pugh and nine other mem

bers on board at the time of the fire were taken to hospital. Doctors kept Captain Pugh in hospital under sedation but the others were allowed to leave.

The Frisia is a 440-ton freighter which went into service in the terri tory last year. She is operated by Pacific Islands Shipping Company.

She was built in Holland in 1950.

Two New Geic

Vessels En Route

Temauri, the second 85 ft touring vessel for the GEIC Government, should have reached Tarawa from Singapore by the time this sees print Her delivery voyage was to be under

The "Fairwind".

he command of Captain J. B, Wallace.

Temauri successfully underwent icceptance trials in March and was pven another name by popular equest. Her previous name was Tabuariki.

Ninikoria, the GEIC’s passenger hip, was to leave England for de ivery to the GEIC in mid-May.

Jnder the command of Captain E. V.

Yard, Ninikoria is expected at Tarawa i late June after calls at Panama and ate June after calls at Panama and Jonolulu.

Meanwhile, something described s “comfort boxes”, supplied by tie Red Cross, are being fitted to 11 GEIC Government vessels.

The boxes contain aids to travel ers who become seasick during long oyages among the scattered atolls f the GEIC. They contain pillows, lankets, milk, tea, food, a basin nd pieces of scrap material.

They are already fitted about the aders Nivanga and Tautunu and ill be fitted aboard the Temauri ad Ninikoria, when they arrive,

Jacques Del Mar" Will

Ontinue Lord Howe Service

The island trader Jacques del Mar, hich operates a regular weekly run om Sydney to Lord Howe Island, orfolk Island and Noumea, will not ase calling at Lord Howe Island.

Captain Emile Savoie, the trader’s aster and part-owner, was reported cently in the island’s newsletter, gnal, to have indicated the ship ould stop calling “in the near ture”.

Loading operations for the trader f Ned’s Beach, Lord Howe, will be iproved when a new barge, cur ntly under construction in Sydney, in operation, and the del Mar 11 continue her service.

I The Steps Of

Ie Early Polynesians

A New Zealand school teacher in arotonga plans a voyage from the >ciety Islands to NZ—a distance of 965 miles—late next year in a > ft Maori-type canoe with a crew up to 74 people.

He is Mr. Martin G. Wilson, head the English department at Tereora allege, Rarotonga, and he is seek ? NZ assistance in raising the ,000 he estimates the expedition ill cost.

The object of the expedition would to test the seaworthiness and pabilities of a single-hulled migra m-type canoe and its loading pacity. “This would throw light •on the recorded traditional Maori

history,” Mr. Wilson told reporters m^ Z - , The canoe would be built by the Rarotonga master canoe builder, To loapa Marsters, at Avatiu, and would be ready for testing by May, 1969.

On about November 28, 1969, the canoe would sail to Ra’iatea in the Society Islands, said to have been Mao" n g e toN? 8 P °' nt ° f The main trip would begin about December 3 when the canoe would sail from Ra’iatea to Rarotonga (600 nautical miles); from there the canoe would go to the Kermadecs (1,090 nautical miles) and then to Whakatane, NZ (580 nautical miles).

At the end of the trip—estimated to last about 17 days—the canoe would sail around NZ, visiting places traditionally associated with Maori migration marima rfimp RIIIIT

Makina Being Built

Near Port Moresby

R P %‘ . businessman Mr.

Pr i or building a marina cap boats at fin™™" 8 ! in R at fhnnt 8 JSS?’ f ff Bo °sj es^ k„ b T u 4 fr °? Port Moresby harbour. It is not far from the Port Moresb y airport, Up to May, Mr. Prior had built

two cabins, the foundations of a trade store, a kiosk, a workshop and a small jetty.

He has modified an access road to his site on the formations of an old railway line which was used 40 years ago to carry copper ore.

An old causeway which led to a 400 ft jetty, now long gone, will form the basis of Mr. Prior’s planned large jetty.

Not Much Work

For Cooks' Vessels

Normally, in the coming months, the citrus exports from the outer Cook Islands keep local shipping busy—if not well loaded.

But the recent hurricane has changed all this. Although citrus expectations in Rarotonga are now good, the citrus prospects from Aitu taki, Mauke, and even Atiu, present such a reduced picture that it is hardly foreseeable that the three ships — Tagua, Bodmer and Akatere will find much incoming cargo.

The Cook Islands News says it may be that these vessels —as the Bodmer is now doing—will have to look to New Zealand and Fiji for business to keep them going for the next months.

"Pacific Islander"

Aground At Saipan

Pacific Islander, 4,128-ton vessel, a familiar sight to Micronesians in the scattered islands of the US Trust Territory, was grounded on a reef in Tanapag Harbour, Saipan, by the typhoon Jean.

She had arrived at Saipan from Japan and 1,100 tons of her unloaded cargo had to be removed while she

was on the reef.

Two US Navy tugs, USS Grasp and YTB 777, combined to pull the Pacific Islander off the reef, and soon after the 321 ft vessel was re floated.

Pilot Vessel

For Lautoka

Se-ni-Ua, (meaning, roughly, “sea spray”), a pilot vessel to be based at Lautoka, Fiji, is under construction in Suva.

When she is operating, by next February, she will be the top craft of the Fiji Marine Department, with a speed of up to 20 knots.

In mid-May her keel was laid by

the Minister for Communications, Works and Tourism, Mr. C. Stinson.

Se-ni-Ua’s length will be 58i feet and displacement about 30 tons.

Death Of Captain

Askel Evensen

Norwegian-born Captain Askel Evensen, popular skipper in the NG Islands, has been buried at sea from Rabaul.

His body, wrapped in the Austra lian flag, was consigned to the deep of St. George’s Channel, between New Britain and New Ireland, from the Administration trawler Maravut, his last command.

Two other administration vessels,

\ndewa and Toa escorted Maravut.

Two weeks before the burial, ■aptain Evensen was found dead in is bunk on the Maravut.

Since 1945 he had skippered lany small ships in NG waters.

Captain Evensen gave distin iished service for the Allies in the acific War and was captured by e Japanese in Java.

)Rtnightly Service

Mrns-Png

For the first time in 20 years, a rect cargo service from Cairns, aeensland, to Port Moresby and aru, P-NG, has begun.

In late April a 90-ton motor vessel rdine arrived in Port Moresby with full freezer cargo. Jardine will amtain a fortnightly service to the ree ports. A North Queensland m is running the service, which [lows a tour of NG by a group of leensland businessmen,

Bang's New Wharf

Use Now

Pedro Miguel, a 560 ft long 7,892i Panamanian tanker, was the first Jsel to use Madang’s $U million w wharf recently.

Her cargo of bulk fuel was un ided in less than 36 hours and spite her unexpected early arrival morning instead of evening bourmaster Captain R. Davis took tanker—the biggest-ever to enter idang straight to her berth.

Iagga Dan" Continues

Tahiti

he 1,700-ton Magga Dan nered by the NZ shipping com y, Holm and Company Ltd., has imed her regular monthly run kl an d, NZ, to Rarotonga Tahiti.

Jr. I. A, McKay, the company’s eral manager, told PIM that

Magga Dan had been drydocked in Auckland in March. He said she had been re-chartered from a Danish company for a second 12-month period—until May, 1969.

Holm and Company had “some success” with Magga Dan last year, Mr. McKay said.

A Grounding In

American Samoa

Mr. Tony Steffany’s inter-island motor vessel Lady Elizabeth was re floated by villagers of the island of Ofu, American Samoa, after she was grounded on a reef in a small chan nel off northern Ofu in late April.

Ofuans tied sealed empty barrels to the side of Lady Elizabeth before high tide took her off the reef. She was driven to Pago Pago drydock with minor damage.

Because of the Lady Elizabeth’s incapacity for a week, the govern ment’s new inter-island passenger

vessel Manusina made a return trip to the three Manua Islands from Pago Pago in early May.

New Tug For

Am. Samoa

A new, 85 ft, $U5450,000 sea going tug for the Government of American Samoa is expected to arrive at Pago Pago in late July. The tug is being built by the builders of the American Samoan inter-island passenger vessel Manusina, Equity Equipment Company, New Orleans.

Manusina’s skipper, Captain John Calver, will sail the tug on her de livery voyage, with an eight-man Samoan crew,

Suva-Built Barge

Towed To Wallis

Fiji shipbuilders Bish Limited launched a 70-ton capacity barge in early May, on a special order for the French-owned Wallis and Futuna Islands. The barge immediately left Suva for Wallis, towed by the New Caledonia-registered ship Moana.

Bish took less than five weeks to build the barge, and used 25 tons of steel. The barge’s length is 60 ft and her width 20 ft.

Island Skipper

Honoured

Steamships Trading Company’s newest island trader, the 63 ft Peter Ikori, is named after a 72-year-old mariner of the same name, who was born on Bona-Rua Island, about 50 miles west of Samarai.

Mr. Ikori started work as a ship’s cook in 1914, and worked his way up to skipper of the island trader, Tiero, in 1924. He later commanded the

"Lemana", 965-ton motor vessel, started a regular cargo service from Port Moresby to Lae, Rabaul and Madang in April. Her owners are Southern Cross Shipping Pty.

Ltd. (see story "PIM", May, p. 101). Her master is NG skipper, Captain J. Hague, and her complement incudes four European officers and 12 NG crew. "Lemana" has been chartered for four years.

It was the first look at Sydney for these islanders from the remote Carteret and Mortlock Islands, Bougainville, when they arrived in May aboard the 6,500-ton Australia-West Pacific Line freighter "Delos", which trades between Australia and major NG ports.

AWPL recently re placed the Asian sea men of the "Delos" with 30 islanders from these two groups.

transport ship Bronze Wing (sunk: during the Japanese invasion ofl Milne Bay in 1942) and the trader Maclaren King (sunk on a reef near Kerema).

From 1945 to 1966 he skippered! several other Steamie ships and them took on a shore job at the company’se Samarai bulk store.

Peter Ikori went into service ini early April, trading out of Samarai north to Lae.

Trawler For Namatanai

Bakan, a 46 ft. administration trawler, will be based out of Nama tanai, on the east coast of New Island, NG. The Bakan was launched recently at the Toboi Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Rabaul, Loca, shipbuilders took seven months tc build her.

Fourth Patrol Boat

For New Guinea

The fourth Royal Australian Navj patrol boat to be based at Manus Island, NG, was launched at Mary borough, Queensland, on May 11 bj Mrs. Robert Tabua, wife of a formei member of the P-NG House o' Assembly.

Walkers Ltd., of Maryborough built the boat, called HMAS Ladava

Freight Rates Up

On "Moana Roa"

Increased freight rates —up fivt per cent. —on the 40-passenger Nev Zealand Government vessel Moam Roa, mean that cargo costs SNZIB.SC a ton Auckland-Rarotonga.

Moana Roa operates a monthb schedule from Auckland to Raro tonga, with occasional calls at Niue or other Cook Islands, when carg( warrants.

New Ship For

Micronesia

The motor vessel James M. Cook the US Trust Territory’s latest ship was commissioned by Acting Deput; High Commissioner Paul L. Winso at Saipan on May 11.

The ship was named in honour o the territory’s first Director of Trans portation, who died last October.

The 660-gross ton vessel wa acquired from the US Army Maj Service.

James M. Cook joins the fleet o 10 ships of the teritory. They ar Pacific Islander, Gunners Knot am Polau Islander, logistics vessels Militobi, Ran Annim, Kaselehlic Truk Islander, Yap Islander an Feioch, field trip ships, all owned b the Trust Territory Government; am MV Majuro, owned by the Unite* Tanker Corporation.