Shipping Briefs
p. 122 · Read in the full issue
© Two Gilbertese women drown ed when a canoe capsized on a recent voyage from Butaritari to Makin Atolls, in the northern Gilberts. Two canoes had set out on the trip, but they became separated by heavy seas and one, with the women, three men and a child, capsized. The men and the child managed to reach Makin, with the aid of some tornout parts of the canoe, which they used as floats.
• Union Steam Ship’s trader Waimate, taken off her Australia- Islands run last year ( PIM, Oct., 1969, p. 108), is now operating a four-to-five weeks NZ-Islands run.
Her schedule is Tauranga - Auckland - Lautoka - Suva - Apia - Nukualofa - Auckland. She supplements the fort nightly runs of the other two Union vessels, Tofua and Taveuni. From late June, Nauru will switch its first vessel Eigamoya off NG routes onto a Melbourne-Suva return run and introduce its second
ship, Rosie D, onto Eigamoya’s NG run (Melbourne-Portland-Rabaul-Lae and Moresby). The republic’s third vessel, Enna G, is expected to sup plement these services in September.
Rosie D is formerly the Triaster and Enna D is formerly the 9,336ton Holland America Line Princess Margreit (PIM, May, p. 105). • Burns Philp’s trader Montoro will begin a 38-day run to New Guinea from Melbourne, instead of Sydney and Brisbane, starting June 5. Her new itinerary will be: Melbourne-Port Kembla (optional )- Lae-Madang-Rabaul-Port Moresby- Melbourne. As much cargo as possible will be palletised and unitised. © A marine board of inquiry has been ordered into the capsizing of the O. F. Nelson and Co. Ltd. 60 ft trader Betty Lou in Western Samoa.
Of the alleged 50-odd people aboard on a voyage from Savaii to Upolu, two —a 12-months baby girl and a 35-year-old adult—drowned. Over 25-years-old, the Lou had left Sale lologa wharf, Savaii, heavily laden with cargo and many passengers. © Modifications have been com pleted on the Amedee lighthouse, outside Noumea, so that it now pro duces a flashing light for shipping.
The over-100-years-old lighthouse previously produced a fixed light, a danger which was highlighted by Captain Gordon Brown, when he ran onto the nearby reef with the New Zealand vessel Matipo, in May, 1968. © A dock to handle overseas ships recently began operation at Takatik Island, Ponape, in the East ern Carolines. Pacific Paul, a MILI ship, was the first vessel to use the dock and she discharged 458 tons in just over 40 hours. • Meegara, formerly a British ferry, recently arrived at Lautoka, Fiji, for Beachcomber Cruises Ltd.
The 25-year-old 80 ft vessel will be used on cruises between Lautoka and Etai Island; she can carry up to 120 people. © Bismarck Shipping Company, which runs the trader Leilani around the NG Islands, has bought a second ship, the 400-ton Papuan Liberty, from Holland. She arrived in Rabaul recently with fertilisers from Ham burg for cocoa and coconut planta tions. A 164 ft freigher ,she was captained on the 14,000-mile trip by Captain A. Inwerson, of Rabaul.