"NEVER BEEN HIT"

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 102, 27 October 1945, Page 8

"NEVER BEEN HIT"

NORWEGIAN SHIP IN

PORT

TWO NARROW ESCAPES

A charmed ship—with a charmed name —is the Norwegian motor-vessel Marie Bakke at present berthed at the King's Wharf. Few Norwegian ships visit Wellington and it was the war which brought the Marie Bakke here. She was built in 1926 for the Knutsen Line and was designed for the lumber trade. Before the war she used to trade regularly between Vancouver and Chile, returning to Norway after periods of about three years on the American Pacific coast. When the war broke out she was on the Vancouver-Chile run, and since Norway was invaded by Germany in April, 1940, she has voyaged over 200,000 miles around the world. It is eight, years since the Marie Bakke and her crew last returned to Norway, the skipper of the ship, Captain J. Skaare, told a "Post" reporter yesterday. When the ship finishes loading in New Zealand she will sail for the Middle East and from there the crew hope they will return to Norway. She has been run by the Admiralty under charter during the war. When asked whether the Marie Bakke had had any exciting experiences during the war, Captain Skaare replied cheerfully, "Well, we've never been hit!" But although the Marie Bakke has never been actually hit, she has had several narrow escapes.

In 1941 she was travelling in convoy from Greenland to Newfoundland. The convoy struck a storm and the Marie Bakke lost the rest of the convoy. Buffeted and beaten by the storm most of her superstructure was flattened and her lifeboats were torn away. In the midst of the storm she was sighted by two German submarines, but they did not attack her because of the weather. To be tossed and blown about at the mercy of the Atlantic for 20 days would not be a happy experience, yet Captain Skaare spoke of it as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. She finally made port at Halifax and underwent repairs.

RAIDER TURNS TAIL,

On one occasion in the Indian Ocean Captain Skaare received advice that a Japanese raider was in the vicinity, so a course was set with a view to evading the enemy. On the following day, however, the raider sighted the Marie Bakke. Captain Skaare prepared for a fight. The crew manned the ship's only gun, a 4in one, and signals were sent out stating that she was being attacked and giving the position of the raider. Suddenly, when it was expected that the raider would open fire, the enemy turned and broke away, evading any action. "I can never understand why the raider failed to attack us," Captain Skaare said. , , „ The Marie Bakke has wandered all over the world. On one voyage she went to America, thence to England, through the Mediterranean, to Persia, India, and Australia. On her latest trip she came from England to Canada. Then she sailed to South Africa and Australia and finally to New Zealand, bringing mostly trans-Tasman cargo here. It is the first time she has been to New Zealand. Her crew numbers 35—officers and men. Most of them are Norwegians, but there are two Australians and two Chinese among them. Captain Skaare has been on the Marie Bakke for the past nine years and the chief officer has served on her for 12 years. She is a twin, screw three-masted steel vessel of 4307 gross tonnage, and like all Norwegian ships is built on well-cut and solid lines. Among her sister ships are the Elisabeth Bakke, of 5450 tons, and the John Bakke, of 4718 tons, all of which are owned by the Knutsen Line.