SCHOONER NAVANORA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 187, 9 August 1932, Page 5

SCHOONER NAVANORA.

SOU) IN THE SOLOMONS. FOURTH PARTNER RETURNS. « Advico that the former Aucklandowned schooner Navanora had been sold in the Solomon Islands was brought to Auckland by Mr. J. O'Neill, who returned from the Islands, via Sydney, by the Maunganui this afternoon. The Navanora, formerly known as the Saucy Kate, was built at Mercury Bay 56 years ago, and left Auckland in 1930 to go pearl fishing in the New Hebrides. Mr. O'Neill, who was interested in the Navanora, went to the Islands three and a half months ago, to sail the schooner from the Reef Islands to the Solomons. On liis arrival he learnt that Mr. N. M. Sarich, a partner in the ship, had died. Mi-. Sarich was the third of the four partners to dia within eighteen months, Captain F. C. Townsend and Mr. C. A. Cowan having died previously.

It was with the idea of sailing the Navanora to the Solomons and offering her for sale that Mr. O'Neill left Auckland. On learning of Mr. Sarich's death he made arrangements to carry on alone. With a crew of five natives and one white man he sailed the schooner from the Reef Islands to Tulagi, calling at Santa Cruz and Reynold Island on the way.

"It was a seven-day trip, and the worst I have ever had in my life. We had adverse conditions all the time," said Mr. O'Neill.

Shortly before Mr. O'Neill arrived at the Islands the Navanora lost her rudder and damaged her keel on a coral reef. Altogether, the pearl fishing quest proved an ill-fated venture.