GUBA AT COCOS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 160, 8 June 1939, Page 9

GUBA AT COCOS

ISLAND SURVEY BEGINS. FLIGHT FROM BATAVIA. LAGOON ANCHORAGE. (United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received June 8, 8.5 a.m. SYDNEY, June 7. A message from the Commonwealth correspondent aboard the flying-boat Cuba, which is in tin: course of an experimental survey of the Indian. Ocean, says: “We left Batavia at 10.30 p.m. for Cocos via Christmas Island, which was surveyed as a possible base for flying-boats. Then we proceeded to Cocos where we arrived at 7.25 a.m. (Greenwich Mean Time). A later report from Keeling (Cocos Island), says that the Guba was anchored under the direction of the islanders, care having to be exercised when alighting to avoid the coral outcrops which might have cut a hole in the hull of the flying-boat. .A launch came out and showed the way inshore, and the Cuba is now riding in tho lagoon at its own anchor. “We made an excellent flight from Batavia and saw some of the inhabitants on Christmas Island. This is the first time the island has been visited by any type of aircraft. The residents waved to us while Captain Taylor was surveying the island,” said the message. “We rail into thick cloud with occasional breaks thereafter, and Cocos Island was located with extreme difficulty. Wc had to descend to 1000 feet in order to get a glimpse of the sea. The complete survey of Cocos Island begins to-day.”