BARQUE OLIVEBANK.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1930, Page 11

BARQUE OLIVEBANK.

QUESTION OF SAFETY;. . , GISBORNE LAD IN CREW. ’ The report that the Finnish barque Olivebank is long overdue does not ap.pear to be borne out. by a letter which has been received at Gisborne. A cablegram from Melbourne published on May 2 stated that the vessel left Sweden for Australia nearly six- months. ago, and , was last reported north l of the equator in December. On Decbmber 14, however, a Gisborne lad, who is a member of the Olivebank’s crew, wrote from" Hudiksvaal, Sweden, prior -to the vessel’s departure, stating that he did not expect the vessel to reach her destination beforesftlie end of April or the beginning of May at the earliest. As a result bis parents in Gigborne feel no anxiety. v _ ; ' ■...... The Olivebank is one of. the 20 vessels owned by ■ Mr. Gustav Ericksen, whoso headquarters arc on the. little island of Aland in the Gulf of Bothnia, north of the Baltic. She visited Auckland a*little over a year ago, and it was then that the Gisborne lad joined the ship. He experienced considerable diffi-C'ilty-in doing so, but was ultimately signed on as an ordinary seaman. Later he became an able seaman. ! - Oil completion of discharge at Auckland the Olivebank proceeded in ballast to Port Lincoln,-South Australia, whence she was dispatched laden with wheat for the United Kingdom,- via Cape Horn. She ran into a typhoon off. the AiiieTi- . can' coast. When ..she, reached Queenstown, Ireland, the barquq was ordered’ ‘ to Belfast, where she' discharged-. 50,000 bags’of wheat. . ■ • ■ ’. From Belfast the Olivebank went'in - ballast to Snndsvaal, Sweden,-where, she commenced to load Baltic pine for Melbourne. After some weeks-she proceeded to Hudiksvaal, a few miles, south of Sundsvaal, to complete loading. She left- there on December 14, which is only about four and a half months,ago.and not six months, as the cablegram would indicate.- 1 '• ■