Plans For Tuatea To Lead Convoy

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31461, 30 August 1967, Page 26

Plans For Tuatea To Lead Convoy

Plans are taking shape for a convoy to the Chathams, according to Mr N. Millar, owner of the Wellington-registered trawler Waimare, which has been at Lyttelton for a month.

Mr Millar said that he expected the 62-year-old, 114-ton Tuatea to lead the new convoy, which would consist of the Waimare Pendella, MarieAnne, and Kestrel. This had been the nucleus of the convoy originally planned. The Tuatea, owned by Otakou Fisheries Ltd., of Dunedin, once a mother ship for Perano’s Picton whaling fleet,

was being equipped with a new diesel engine at Dunedin, Mr Millar said. Cannot Go Alone

Mr Millar has been unable to take his craft, the Waimare, to the Chathams because she does not meet Marine Department standards for a solo voyage. After he solved his original problem of manning, he was not allowed to sail except in convoy. He said the delay was costing a lot of money. The trawler Miss Te Maru, which was a member of the convoy in which the Rimu was lost, has returned to the Chathams on her own. Three trawlers returned to Lyttelton from the Chathams in the past week for overhauls. They are the Tawera, of Lyttelton, the Gisborneowned Silver Dawn, and the Picton. Captain A S. Aberdein, master of the Picton, said yesterday about a dozen fishing craft would probably return in convoy to the mainland next month for overhaul. He did not know what plans had been made for the overhaul. About six tons of refrigerated crayfish from the Chathams were discharged from the 150-ton Picton yesterday morning.