Former Pilgrim Ship Calls At Lyttelton

Press, Volume C, Issue 29504, 4 May 1961, Page 14

Former Pilgrim Ship Calls At Lyttelton

A Norwegian-built and owned vessel, the Mui Ann, a Chinese phrase for “happy prosperity,” arrived at Lyttelton from Wellington yesterday to load 375 tons of tallow for Shanghai. Commanded by Captain Magne Fiskaaen, of Haugc,sund, in Western Norway, the Mui Ann. a 14j-knot cargo ship of 2*750 tons, has in her time carried as many as 500 pilgrims at once in her holds from Siam to Jeddah. the Red Sea port for Mecca. Trips to Jeddah varied with the pilgrim seasons, said an officer of the Mui Ann, yesterday. Large buses would meet the ship at Jeddah and transport the pilgrims to Mecca in comfort, he said. They returned to the port in the same way after their pilgrimage. Deaths sometimes occurred among the pilgrims, and an occasional birth aboard ship was also to be expected, he said. Owned by Norfinn, of Oslo, the Mui Ann was built in 1950, and is their only vessel, a sister ship, the Mui Nan, having been sold to Indonesia. An interesting feature of the Mui Ann is her engine room. Four diesel-electric motors geared to a single shaft and propeller are controlled from the bridge, a feature bv no means common in ships of her age. ' Captain Fiskaaen, who has spent much of his seafaring life in the East, said yesterday that he had brought two tugs from Singapore to Wellington in 1947. They were the Empire Shirley and the Empire Jane, well known today to those in Wellington as the Tapuhi and Taioma

Captain Fiskaaen arrived in Wellington last week-end again when he flew from Hong Kong to take command of the Mui Ann, the previous master having returned to Norway for leave. Apart from seven Europeans, the bulk of the crew are Chinese. The radio operator is Miss Perna Hetland. of Stavanger—the only woman aboard she has been at sea in many Norwegian ships for eleven years. Before going to sea, she was a trained nurse. The Mui Ann sailed for Napier and Auckland last evening to complete loading, and will then proceed to Shanghai to discharge.