SEA OF PUMICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 248, 19 October 1928, Page 3

SEA OF PUMICE.

MILE WIDE AND A FOOT THICK. STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF THE VERONICA.

FALCON ISLAND BUSY AGAIN.

"It was just like putting jour foot into a pot of porridge," said one of the officers of HJM-s. Veronica, when describing a 6ea of pumice the ship steamed through when bound from Fiji to Tonga, two of the groups touched at during her cruise of 8046 miles, which ended this morning when ehe tied up at the Sheerlegs wharf, at the naval dockyards. It was on the night of the 7th-Bth of October that the sloop ran into the stuff that felt like porridge, but w? really pumice. There was a huge field of it, a mile broad. In order to see how thick it lay on the water one of the officers went over the side, tried it with his foot and found there was a layer a foot thick, under which the water was quite clear. As pumice comes in handy on hoard a ship, taking the place of sand for rubbing down woodwork, some of it was brought up in a bucket, but it was so soft as to be useless. As a rule pumice floating on the sea —out on the West Coast for instance, where some of the Lake Taupo pumice finds its way —is in fairly large pieces, but this field into which the Veronica ran was very fine, and when rubbed between the fingers went into impalpable dust. Another patch, of about the same extent, but not so thick, was met with the following afternoon.

A Mysterious Island. It was concluded aboard the Veronica that the pumice came from Falcon Island, that mercurial dot in tie ocean, which has been, appearing tnd disappearing in a most strange manner since it was first seen by ELM*. Falcon away back in 1865—then being nothing more than a reef, over which the sea broke. Falcon Island is about 40 miles from Nukualofa, Tonga. When it was parsed by the Veronica on her way down to New Zealand, steam or smoke was issuing in volumes, but the island was not actually in eruption. The Veronica's officers estimated the height of the island at 405 ft. In 1927 the Laburnum put it down at 305 ft, and another recent estimate gave 550 ft. In spite of its precarious character the island has been visited by some daring Tongans—whose ancestors were the Vikings of the Pacific. The brown men planted the Tongan flag, and also threw ashore some coconuts—which they hoped would plant themselves. So far, however, the island is as bare as a New Zealand clay road. This cruise of the Veronica began on June 5. From Auckland she went to the EUice and Gilbert Islands, after calling at Suva to coal. The seat of Government, or rather Administration, ie at Ocean Island, where the phosphate comes from. The Resident Commissioner for the two groups has hitherto resided at Ocean Island, but as his backyard | happens to be on a very valuable deI posit of phosphate, he is moving to Tarawa Island. The commissioner was taken by the Veronica on a visit to some of the outlying parts of his extended area, which embraces hundreds of scattered islands. August 2 found the sloop back in Fiji waters, where ! gunnery practice was carried out, then i she went on to Levuka, the old capital, and while there some successful sweeping was done in the ship channel, a number of rocks being located in the j northern passage. Death of Chief Engineer.

At Levuka the Veronica was unfortunate enough to lose the chief engineer, Mr. C. H. Nichols, who died from heart failure and was buried ashore.

The ship again returned to Suva, where she found the Dunedin and the Brisbane (of the Australian squadron), which had just returned from Honolulu, where they had been taking part in the Captain Cook celebrations. From Suva the sloop cruised in the Lau Group, considered by many to be the most beautiful of the Fiji group. The natives there are more unsophisticated than at the more frequented islands, and the visit of a man-o'-war is a considerable event in their placid lives. Leaving Suva finally on October 6 for Tonga, it was on the way up that the sloop ran into the great fields of pumice mentioned above. At Vavau, the first port of call, the ship sounded the narrow part of the channel at the anchorage, and again at Haapai a little survey work was undertaken. Haapii was left on the 13th and Auckland was reached this morning early. Good weather was experienced Airing the whole cruise except for a blow with heavy seas when proceeding to Lautoka on the north side of Viti Levu, and again when approaching the New Zealand coast.