Shipping News

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34030, 19 December 1975, Page 11

Shipping News

Assistance given distressed yacht

1 In a dramatic encoun-i 5 ter in mid-Pacific re- > cently, the banana boat [ Plod was probably responsible for saving- the lives of the crew of a 12ft yacht. I I The Plod was steaming 400 miles east of Pitcairn Is- : land for Ecuador, on a voyage from New Zealand, when the monotony of the long ocean passage was ' abruptly broken. ;; The chief officer had just: /climbed to the bridge at 7 ‘:a.m. when he spotted a !: yacht almost dead ahead.' i The yacht ran up a flag i ! signalling “Stop your engines.” I When alongside, it was, (discovered that the crew, [was a young Canadian man. and a Dutch girl. They were’ : 44 days out of Panama, and, (desperately short of food, land water. : The master of the Plod,; | Captain Ivor Kalinic, who: 'arrived back in Lyttelton' (yesterday, said that the; | yacht’s supplies were repl-1 enished, and an accurate position was' given her. Al-' though the yacht had drifted a little south, she was on a good line for Pitcairn Island,! he said. On the return passage to New Zealand, with 28,000 cartons of bananas for the Christmas market, Captain Kalinic radioed Pitcairn Isiland as he passed to find; 'out how the yacht had fared/ Pitcairn radio reported that: the yacht had just arrived and the crew, thinking they: had found the haven of their; dreams, had decided to stay, i I The Plod, whose trim lines 'belie her name, has just! completed her third trip to ;New Zealand with Ecuado-; rean bananas. “Plod” in Yu-i (goslavian simply means ;“fruit”. She is one of a fleet; of four banana boats run by! the Mediteranska Plovidba company, which is based on; the small Adriatic island ofi Korcula. Almost all the Plod’s crew come from this island and! are related to one another.! The island has a long tradi-l tion of fishing and wooden.

■ boat-building, but with post- . war development this has , largely given way to a mod--1 ern shipbuilding industry. Captain Kalinic himself > comes from the ancient city j of Dubrovnik, the Dalmatian port which in its hey day as ja nation state rivalled Ve- ; nice, before loosing its inde- > pendence under Napoleon. The Plod will sail for Tau- ’! ranga early next week, > where she will load a cargo “i of kraft paper, used in mak- ■ i ing banana boxes in Ecuador. ARRIVALS Neptune Jade 13.12 p.ni.J, 3175, liNapier (Scales). I Rangatira <6.40 p.m.). 9337, ’lCapt. J. D. Cleaver, Wellington ((U.S.S.). (Daylight.) DEPARTURES H.M.N.Z.S. Hawea (9.4 a.m.), , to sea (Fisheries patrol vessel). Rangatira (9.28 p.m.), 9387. Capt. J. D. Cleaver, Wellington |(U.S.S.). EXPECTED ARRIVALS (Messiniaki Anagennisis, today. (Westbury, New Plymouth, Decem- ' ber 20. jStraat Colombo, Dunedin, Decem- | ber 21. ■Osca Sailor, December 23. ’Holmdale, Chatham Islands, DecI ember 23. I Maheno, Adelaide, December 23. Hawea, Wellington, December 23. PROJECTED DEPARTURES iKapitan Izotov, Napier, today. N.Z. Aorangi. Bluff, today. J Messiniaki Anagennisis. DecemI ber 20. I Plod. Tauranga, December 20. I Neptune Jade, December 20. Crocus, Timaru, December 21. Hawea, Dunedin, December 23. Maheno, Tauranga, December 23. Coastal Trader, December 24. VESSELS IN PORT Neptune Jade, Gladstone Pier. IKapitan Izotov, No. 1 breastwork. I N.Z. Aorangi, No. 2 East. Plod. No. 3 West. Tekoa. No. 6 West. I Crocus, No. 7 East. (Coastal Trader, graving dock. | . New director (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 18. I Lieutenant-Colonel .1. M. Masters has been appointed : director of the Royal New (Zealand Artillery and Army Air Corps. He has been commanding officer of the Territorial Force Depot, Wgiouru, for two years and replaces Lieu- ; tenant-Colonel D. R. Kenining, who has taken command of the Wellington-East (Coast Army Area.