HIS LAST VOYAGE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 113, 6 February 1937, Page 11

HIS LAST VOYAGE

Captain Nomura Retiring From Sea VETERAN OF OSAKA LINE When the Osaka Shosen K;u.-it:i motor-ship Canberra Maru left Australia for Japan last week, her master, Captain S. Nomura, started on the final stage of his last voyage as commodore of the company’s Japan-Australia Line. Captain Nomura, who is well known In Wellington, joined the service of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, one of the great shipping companies of the world, in 1909 as a junior officer, and received his first command in 1918. He made his first voyage to Australia in 1924 in command of the Madras Maru, and when the company built its trio of fast motor-ships named after Australian cities, Captain Nomura was appointed master of the Sydney Maru, which he commanded from her maiden voyage in 1929 until last year. In 1931 the Osaka Shosen Kaisha extended its Japan-Australia service to New Zealand, and in that year Captain Nomura made his first visit to Wellington and Auckland. He made regular calls here during the next five years.

Last year the Osaka Shosen Kaisha placed the fast motor-liners Tokyo Maru and Canberra Maru in the service and Captain Nomura was appointed, in command of the latter ship, in which he visited Wellington a few months ago. Captain Nomura, who is the third senior master in the service of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha which owns 150 ships, has made 49 voyages between Japan and Australia and New Zealand. He will retire from the sea when be completes the present voyage.

As a mark of esteem and appreciation, members of the Japanese wool shippers in Sydney gathered in the board room of Birt and Co.’s office last week, when Mr. Gordon presented Captain Nomura with a silver tea service, after which Mr. Hirodo, acting as spokesman for his Japanese confreres, presented Captain Nomura with a chiming clock as a token of high esteem from the senior members of the Japanese wool-buying houses in Australia. Mr. Hirodo, in presenting the clock, referred to the success with which Captain Nomura piloted his vessels without accident. He also eulogised Captain Nomura’s resource in assisting passengers and shippers at all times, and providing extra accommodation in order to cope with the additional wool during the peak seasons. In reply, Captain Nomura mentioned that he at all times did his best in satisfying the requirements of the shippers ip keeping with the progressive policy of his owners, and the able management of his Australian agents rendered this task a pleasant one. When the Canberra Maru left Australia she was carrying 22,000 bales of wool and 1200 tons of general cargo, in addition to the first shipment of chilled beef for Japan.