SHIP FOR ISLAND TRADE

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28051, 20 August 1956, Page 6

SHIP FOR ISLAND TRADE

MELVA REFITTING IN WELLINGTON USE IN COOK GROUP "The Press” Special Service WELLINGTON. August 19. A coat of white paint relieved by light green trimming has greatly smartened the appearance of the little wooden motor vessel Melva. The Melva has been bought by Captain H. Williams from the receivers of the now defunct Greymouth Shipping Company for the inter-island trade in the Cook group, and is undergoing a survey and refit. It is reported that the price paid for the vessel was approximately £?000. Built at Auckland, and completed in 1946, the Melva is stoutly constructed of heart kauri timber. As recently as 1952 she was fitted with two new eight-cylinder diesel engines which have had little service, but are now being stripped for a thorough overhaul The vessel was surveyed on the Patent Slip during the last two weeks, and her hull was found to be in thoroughly sound condition. ‘'She is in almost perfect order,’’ said Captain Williams. “She has not been pumped for two years and has made no water at all during the time she has been laid up.” A new wheelhouse is to be built above the present bridge and other are being made to meet the requirements of the Cook Islands trade.

The Melva will be manned by a native crew under Captain Williams and his engineer, Mr L. Livingstone. Her port of registry will be changed from Wellington to Suva.

For the last five years Captain Williams has been engaged in the Cook Islands trade with the 80-foot oil-engined vessel Inspire, which he brought from England to Australia in 1950. He found the Inspire too small for his business.

He intends to base the Melva on Penrhyn Island, which lies in the northern part of the Cook group, about 750 miles north of Rarotonga. A good deal of pearl shell is produced by the natives of Penrhyn and Manihiki, and this together with copra, fruit and other products will be carried by the Melva, which will also give much greater space for deck passengers. “The Cook Islanders are fond of travelling,” said Captain Williams, “but when they go to sea they insist on taking with them live pigs and crates of chickens, and an occasional goat as presents for the relatives and friends they go to visit.”