NEW SCHOONER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 12, 15 January 1929, Page 9

NEW SCHOONER.

HOKIANGA LAUNCHED. FOR WEST COAST SERVICE. "KNEES" WITH A HISTORY.. "She's moving!" called out the workman who was -underneath knocking out the "dogs" that held the chocks. Crash! went a bottle of champagne on the iron rim of the hawse-pipe, and the auxiliary schooner Hokianga slipped swiftly down the ways into the tide. It was a perfect launching, the vessel taking to her future element like a duck. The new vessel was designed and built by Mr. Geo. Niccol. to the order of Messrs. A. G. Frankham, Ltd. She will replace the Isabella de Fraine, which was lost with all hands on Hokianga Bar last June. As Mrs. A. G. Frankham christened the new schooner everyone's silent hope was that the treacherous bar would not claim another victim.

Besides the sad ending of her predecessor, the Hokianga has other traditions. In her strong hull, the foreman who built her can point out the iron "knees" that came out of the old barquentine Retriever, the charred shell of which new lies on Pine Island. Readers of Peter B. Kvne's romances will remember the part that the Retriever played as Mat Peasley's command in "Cappy Ricks."

Similar in general design to the auxiliary vessels employed in the Northern Co.'s coastal services, the Hokianga contains, several, modifications and improvements. Both the crew and the afterguard have surprisingly roomy quarters, considering that the vessel is only 97 feet long, with a beam of 25ft and depth of Bft. Her engines, two FairbanksMorse full Diesel engines, have been installed, and her masts are being stepped at the Prince's wharf this afternoon.

Trials will be held on Saturday, and the vessel is expected to be commissioned early next week.