Five Months In Open Boat

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 17

Five Months In Open Boat

(N Z. Press Association —Copyright)

PAGO PAGO (Samoa), A 30-year-old water melon farmer who survived 155 days on the open seas today is awaiting transportation back to his native Tahiti for a reunion with his wife and six children. Since July 6, when his boat

struck a reef off the island of Uau Manua in American Samoa, Kemanihi Tepa has been under the care of the Rev. J. W. Soli of the Congregational Church in the village of Fitiuta. Tepa left the island of Maupiti in Tahiti on February 2 for nearby Bora Bora on a boat with another water melon farmer, Natua Raioho The men took with them four outboard motors, all of which failed before they could reach their destination 23 miles away. The boat then began to drift west. Their food lasted until about March 7 and their water supply was gone two days later.

Fashioning a spear out of a piece of wood, a pair of scissors and a screwdriver, the men were able to catch some fish.

For water, they made a receptacle out of a rubber mat to collect the rain.

On July 3, three days before the boat reached Tau Manua, Raioho died and Tepa lowered his body into the ocean.

Insurance Sale.—The Brisbane insurance man who sold a Melbourne businessman a £1 million personal life assurance policy, earned himself about £22,000 in commission.—Melbourne, Aug. 4.