With the Little Ships to Fiji

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 808, 21 January 1955, Page 15

With the Little Ships to Fiji

\) HEN a flotilla of the Royal New Zealand Navy visited Fiji and outlying islands last year, the NZBS feature writer and producer Bryan O’Brien went with it. The flotilla consisted of two "little ships’’-the corvettes Tui and Kiwi. These 600-ton vessels did anti-submarine patrols and mine-sweep-ing in the Pacific during the war. Now in peace-time they have three main tasks -to give basic training to men in the permanent force and to Reservists who must learn the art of living in a ship; to prepare the ships and their companies for war; and to "show the flag" around New Zealand ports and as far into the Pacific as the limits of the New Zealand Naval Station. Commanding officer of Kiwi and of the flotilla was Lieuten-ant-Commander B. L. Twomey, D.S.C., R.N.Z.N. Bryan O’Brien travelled in Tui, which was commanded by Lieuten-ant-Commander M. J. McDowell. The corvettes left Auckland and once under way gear was trimmed, machinery adjusted and sights taken on the bridge. This "squat, rather comfortable old lady," as Bryan O’Brien calls Tui; and her sister-ship, sailed on to Raoul in the Kermadec Islands. Raoul has a total population of eight meteorologists. Because the water round the island boils over treacherous reefs the ships had to approach Fishing Rock cautiously, From a whaler which put out from the ships, a crane and basket mechanism mounted on the Rock hoisted supplies ashore. Off Suva the ships carried out fourinch and anti-aircraft gunnery practice. It was not long, however, before the jagged mountains of Suva rose up behind the reef. On shore the ships’ companies played football enthusiastically. Next port of call was Savusavu on Vanua Levu Island. Making port there the ships used echo-sounding equipment to get safely over the reefs. On the village green there was a great welcome from the local population, a pattern of kava ceremony, singing, greetings. and the pledging of loyalty to the Crown, which

was to be repeated at every call around the islands. There was another football match which, lacking . finesse perhaps, certainly made up for it in speed. The children at these villages delightedly inspected the ships. At Lomaloma the visitors played cricket, and at Levuka, the old capital of Fiji, a great feast was held. Chickens, prawns, pork and fruit swelled the banquet and the sailors were particularly charmed by the native custom of having the local maidens on duty at the feast, equipped with fans to shoo away insects. At Levuka, too, there was a hockey match against the local women’s team, but nobody can be persuaded to tell who won. A little later emergency duty overtook the cruise. A wireless message was received that a small trading vessel, the Adi Keva, was stranded on a reef in the Tomberua Passage, twenty-seven miles out from Suva. Fortunately, she was stuck fast at the only spot on the reef which had a sandy bottom. The two ships hastened to the rescue and Tui disembarked as much as possible of the vessel’s copra cargo. Hawsers were attached and a dinghy took a tow line from Tui. Then a hawser parted, so they tried again. Cheers rang out when the Adi Keva finally, if reluctantly, slid off the reef, On board the Tui, Bryan O’Brien recorded interviews with the crew and found that the men in training liked the | individual instruction they received in these smaller ships. He found also that meals were excellent. The men thoroughly enjoyed their Islands cruise, especially, as one of them said, the "mekes," as Fijian dances are called, where they dance the "tra-la-las,"’ a distinctively Fijian variation of the foxtrot. Bryan O’Brien’s feature programme, Little Ships of the New Zealand Navy. will be broadcast in ZB Sunday Showcase at 9.35 p.m. on Sunday, January 30.