A triumph for Captain Pierre

One of PlM’s men, a passenger in the Polynesie, who saw the “relief” operation from a front seat, writes: Allied to France's eagerness to appease the irate Wallisians and Futunions was the seamanship of the Polynesie’s captain, Com mandant Pierre Soulie, which made the whole manoeuvre a success.

From the time he received word to take stores and passengers to Futuna and Wallis, Pierre was both seaman and diplomat, hand ling his ship and the hysterical approach of a drama-seeking Noumea newspaperman with quiet aplomb.

The Polynesie, a small ship but, so far as the islanders were con cerned, one of the biggest they'd ever seen, had to take risks. There was no pilot and, close by the bridge, I shared the skipper’s anxiety as we passed only centi metres from deadly coral teeth.

And, to berth at a 28 metre wharf was no mean feat either.

No wonder Commandant Pierre was welcomed by the whole popu lation of Futuna and feted by the island chiefs in their large French style cathedral.

He returned the compliment, entertaining Lavelua, the King of Wallis, on board Polynesie after the Wallis welcome for Mr Stirn.

After the call at Wallis, Poly nesie had to return to Futuna to land passengers from Wallis and badly-needed supplies. The shelves at the superstore had been almost

empty. They were filled and any Sydney housewife would have been envious had she seen how the goods were marked down.

Hurricane Val was around and it was impossible to berth at Futuna so rough were the seas, so we had to cruise around Fu tuna and Alofi for a couple of days until we were able to anchor offshore between Futuna and Alofi and put off the passengers in the ship’s boat.

The boat was swamped and poor old Sampson, in charge of the boat, and his two crewmates were marooned—but not forgot ten by Commandant Pierre, whose precise messages to shore by hooter and morse betrayed his anxiety for his crew, My diary told me, while we circled Futuna, that it was Aust ralia Day. Although he had so much on his mind, Pierre knew it too. He served champagne for we Aussies and the flag hung in the dining room, The night we left Futuna, we were hit by Force 10 winds and heard later that Futuna had been hit by Val.

Perhaps the biggest compliment to Commandant Soulie’s handling of the whole affair was seen in the behaviour of the journalist photographer who reported the departure from Noumea of the Polynesie to Wallis and Futuna, He gave us a friendly wave on our return although we had no dramatic stories to tell. Maybe he expected a “bloody” report!