Aorangi Will Need Protection

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 28, 4 December 1950, Page 8

Aorangi Will Need Protection

The Aorangi, it is stated, may sail under the Panamanian flag. All New Zealanders will wish her luck. She will need it so far as naval protection is concerned in a troubled world, because Panama has never boasted an outsize naval force. When World War II was imminent Panama had put her navy up for sale. At that time it consisted of a steam yacht manned by two caretakers who did not dare ever to get up steam in their navy for security reasons. She had not left her moorings for years. About the same time Chile had ' also put her navy up for sale. Only 7000 dollars was asked for it—a battleship that captured the Peruvian monitor in 1897, an armoured cruiser of 1898 vintage, a survey ship, and a transport. As for maritime fame, it is probable though that Austria’s mercantile marine broke all records —one vessel, the Wien, of 8000 tons. She used to bring onions to Britain from Egypt before the last war. She had other claims to fame in that she was almost the only ship in the world without a home port. She was registered at Vienna, but that city never saw her because vessels of 8000 tons cannot get there. Kapitaen Anton Scarpa, her commodore, said, “Yes, I am the sole representative of Austria’s sea power—now Austria has a real ship.” Just what the war did to Wien, alias Trevillv of St. Ives, built by Roundheads of South Shields, is not known.