WRECKED ON A REEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21934, 18 October 1934, Page 8

WRECKED ON A REEF

WELL-KNOWN YACHT LOSI ZANE GREY'S. FISHERMAN CAREER OF MANY CHANGES " 'fl '—- ■ [FBOM OUB, OWN correspondent] ' s| PAPEETE. Oct. i After a life full of glory and movement, the vessel once known ag Fisherman No. 1 met a true sea-grare on the coral reefs of Raiavarae— an island belonging to the Austral Group j —at three o'clock in the morning of September 19. • Originally baptised Marecbal Focb and launched in 1918 at Wards Brook' Canada, the vessel looked a real pi c l ture out of a South Sea story. First used to carry coal between Canada and Europe, Zane Grey took a fancy to ber and converted the sailing vessel into a yacht, put a couple of 60 horse-power motors in her and sailed ber round the South Seas, after calling his ship Fisherman No. 1. In 1928 Father Rougier, a Roman Catholic priest, owner of Christmas -M Island and a famous personage known over the whole of the South Seas, 'til bought the vessel from Zane Grey and restored her original name oj" Marechal Foch. She was then used to carry copra from Christmas Island to San Rran- " v ; : cisco. When the good priest died his nephew, Monsieur E. Rougier, inherited the ship and lost her, when she split in two on the coral reefs. There was "' ! no loss of life, and only 4(1 per cent of the cargo, owned by Chinese, was " lost. The vessel, not being insured, became a total loss to the owner.