ADVENTUROUS CRUISE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 2 August 1922, Page 5

ADVENTUROUS CRUISE.

NEW GUINEA EXPLORATION

The auxiliary ketch "Wattle, in many respects a remarkable vessel, built in Sydney, and used by the Commonwealth expedition to the mandated territories, now lies at anchor in the harbour of Madang, New Guinea. The object of the expedition was to report on the natural resources of the territory. The wattle was designed to work with safety among the coral reefs, cross over river bars, negotiate submerged timber in muddy river beds, as well as other snags. This was essential, as the investigations of the party were for the most part confined to ai-eas which have never been 'charted, nVistted, or ex plored. Dr. Campbell Brown, the director of the expedition, gave some interesting facts relative to the adventures of the expedition in an interview in Sydney. "The cruise of the Wattle was confined, for the most part, to uncharted waters, amid coral reefs, little known rivers, swamps, and unexplored coasts,'1 he said. "The expedition came within an ace of destruction on the dangerous i reef at Owen's Spit at midnight on ! April 26, 1921. On May 11 the vessel j got on a reef at Cape Stephens while ; engaged in close examination of geological outcrops exposed to a precipitous rock face. On May 14. on the return from LokustTe Falls, the Wattle again got on the reef in waters practically impossible to navigate. Five days later, while emerging from the Torfu river at low tide, the Wattle ran aground on the bar and great difficulty wa-s experienced in getting her off. On June 1, after further strandings, the boat was hurled, before daybreak, during a gale, on the reef at Iboki. and remained there for IS hours."