JAPANESE SHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22488, 4 August 1936, Page 11

JAPANESE SHIP

ENCOUNTER OFF FIJI NAVAL PARTY IN YACHT INSPECTION OF VESSEL DIVING REPORTED BY TRADER [FROM OUIt OWN* COIinKSPONRKNT] SUVA, July 31 With the acting-Governor of Fiji on board and also several officers from FT.M.S. Dunedin, the Fiji Government yacht Pioneer, while off the Vanua Levu coast on July 11, encountered a Japanese motor-ship, well fuelled and well supplied with stores. A party from the Pioneer went on board the vessel, but could obtain no information as to where she had come from or where she was going. When the Pioneer sighted the stranger she was proceeding toward them, but immediately altered course in order to place the Pioneer astern. A request from the Pioneer for the stranger to show her colours was ignored, and the Pioneer continued to follow her. A sienal was then hoisted requesting the other vessel to stop. The stranger thereupon hoisted the Japanese mercantile flag, but still continued upon her wav. The Pioneer, the faster boat of the two, continued to overhaul the Japanese vessel, which shortly afterwards stopped. A party from the Pioneer, including the naval officers, who were on board as guests of tho actingGoveruor, rowed across and boarded the ship. They attempted to engage the Japanese in conversation, bnt the latter indicated that they could not speak English. Marking on Chart The vessel was about 130 ft. long and equipped with high-powered diesel engines. From what the inspecting party could gather it was well supplied with oil fuel and food supplies. W r liile tliej- were on board Captain Mullins, of tho Pioneer, asked for the vessel's chart, making his meaning clear by pointing to it in tho chart rack. Tho men produced it, and Captain Mullins noticed a pencilled lino drawn on it from the Solomons to the island of Kia, off tho Vanua Levu coast. Two or three years ago natives on this lonely island reported that they had been visited by a foreign vessel. The party from the Pioneer apparently observed as much detail of the strange vessel as possible and photographs of it were taken. On board was a youth of about 16 years, who had been badly burned on one leg, his condition obviously calling for urgent medical attention. The visitors made signs that they would take him to hospital, and the people on board seemed to consent. but when tho time for departure arrived tho lad would not leavo. It is possible that there may have been some suspicion that once in hospital in Fiji the lad might have been open to questioning. On the other hand, there may have been a natural disinclination on tho boy's part to leave his ship and go with strangers to a strange country. Vessel Allowed to Proceed

\Vlion tho Japanese vessel was accosted she was more than three miles from land, but within three miles of the reef. If the visitors had landed at any of the islands of the group they would have broken the regulations regarding pratique. A bunch of bananas was seen on board, but it may possibly have come from the Solomons. However, it is obvious that, whether in Fiji or not, the people on board had landed at some island in the Western Pacific. In view of the circumstances nothing could be done but have a good look at the vessel and allow her to proceed. A further encounter with the vessel was reported in Suva yesterday, when the captain of the cutter Ono I Lau arrived and said lie had sighted it off Udu Point. He said a diver was operating, and that a Chinese storekeeper at Udu Point had described tho diving equipment. The Chinese had said the diver was not wearing full diving dress, but only a helmet. Udu Point is at the northern end of Vanua Levu, not far from the place where the Pioneer sighted tho vessel. When the Ono 1 Lau left the Vanua Levu coast the Japanese vessel had worked down to near the Island of Kia. Trochus shell, for which it is suspected the Japanese were diving, is worth £O4 a ton in Fiji to-day. The price recently was much higher than this, but advices received from London stated that, owing to Japanese vessels arriving Home with good cargoes, supplies had been flumped upon the market, 300 tons being unloaded in one consignment. For trochus shell this is a large quantity. In Fiji the shell is not plentiful, and efforts made by the Government recently to devise better methods of collecting it by utilising proper diving equipment were not considered practicable.