LOSS OF FRENCH MOTOR-SHIP

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27408, 22 July 1954, Page 10

LOSS OF FRENCH MOTOR-SHIP

VESSEL WAS FORMERLY HOLMBURN

The motor-ship Jacques del Mar, which was driven ashore on a reef near the north passage of Lord Howe Island, was well known on the New Zealand coast as the Holmburn. In the last 48 years she has had her name changed no fewer than eight times. First named the Favorita Dona Catalina, the ship was build in Bremerhaven for the River Plate trade. When she left the River Plate she ran between various European ports, and then came to Australia for service between Sydney and Darwin. In 1932 the ship came to New Zealand and was bought by Captain A. F. Watchlin and renamed the Port Whangarei. During the Second World War she was handed over to the United States and was known as K.G.28. After the war she was acquired by Holm and Company and under the name of Holmburn frequently sailed to the meteorological stations on Campbell and Raoul Islands. The Jacques del Mar was bought last February by Captain Savoie, who also bought the Hokitika (Colorado del Mar), to replace the Monique, the former New Zealand-built ship Avon, which vanished last year without trace. The Jacques del Mar was in trouble last month with an engine breakdown 140 miles north-east of Sydney. She was rescued by the Waratah Tug and Salvage Company’s new ocean-going tug Woona.