EMERGENCY CALL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 9

EMERGENCY CALL

PARTY AT KERMADECS

RELIEF SHIP FROM AUCKLAND

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Quietly leaving port, on Wednesday afternoon -he auxiliary ketch Miena, with a crew of eight hurriedly signed on, sailed for the KerrrWecs with provisions urgently needed by. a survey party which has been working on the island for some time.

The Miena was chartered by the Government for a special trip, as the plight of the party was becoming desperate. Two attempts had been made by the cruisers Achilles and Leander to land storey but on each occasion, owing to rough weather, the warships were unable to get sufficiently close to the island. Subsequently, radio messages were received in New Zealand requesting that provisions be dispatched urgently, and also asking, that a cow and three sheep be sent.

The Miena is regularly engaged carrying cement from i Auckland to Whangarei. Difficulties were experienced owing to the holidays in obtaining a crew, but the Marine Department and the Seamen's Union' cooperated. The usual master of the Miena, Mr. V. J. Sayer, who has a home trade certificate, went as first mate, and Captain Burgess, formerly of the Melanesian Mission steamer Southern Cross, sailed in command. Mr. H. J. C. George, a well-known solicitor and yachtsman, and brother of the owner of the Miena, signed on as "boy."

The Miena has a crew of eight and a passenger, and she will bring 'a passenger back on her return. She took 20 tons of provisions and some timber. The live stock could not be procured in time. Difficulty in landing at the Ker-madecs-is caused by big swells and a dangerous surf.