YACHT'S LONG CRUISE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23111, 9 August 1938, Page 10

YACHT'S LONG CRUISE

ISLANDS IN PACIFIC DEPARTURE OF THE NGATAKI LAND'S END ALSO LEAVES Commencing a Pacific cruise of 9000 miles, the well-known .Auckland yacht Ngataki, with her owner, Mr. J. W. Wray, and a crew of four on board, left' at 4.30 yesterday afternoon for Kawau. Picked up by the coastal motor-vessel Clansman outside Rangitoto, the yacht was towed to Kawau, from which her long voyage to Tubuai, in the Austral Group, will be started to-day. A part in the farewells which marked tho Ngataki's departure from the private launch stops at Queen's Wharf was taken by the Mayor, Sir Ernest Davis, who lent Mr. Wray a chronometer for use on the voyage. Wishing the crew a pleasant cruise, Sir Ernest said Mr. Wray called himself a vagabond of the sea, but others respected him as a gentleman. He was of a similar type to those British sailors who had embarked on the long and enterprising voyages that marked the 18th century. After calling at Tubuai, some 2000 miles from Auckland, the Ngataki will proceed to Tahiti. A visit will then be paid to Smvarrow, 900 miles northwest of Tahiti, in an endeavour to test the truth of a story that a treasure is buried beneath the sand on one of the beaches of tho island. Mr: Wray, who is making his sixth Islands cruise in the Ngataki, is accompanied on the present voyage by Messrs. L. Bakewell, T. Clarkson, A. Coates and D. Quayle. It is expected that the yacht will return to Auckland late in December. The South African ketch-rigged yacht Land's End, which reached Auckland six weeks ago in the course of a world cruise, also left yesterday. Sho is proceeding to the Bay of Islands, and will then commence a voyage to tho Tongan Group, returning to New Zealand in November to spend part of the yachting season in Auckland.