Tuaikaepau

Coordinates: 23°55′19″S 179°05′34″W / 23.92194°S 179.09278°W / -23.92194; -179.09278

Tuaikaepau
History
Name:
  • Ilex (1902–c.1942)
  • Tu'uakitau (c.1942–1957)
  • Tuaikaepau (1957–1962)
Builder: Logan Brothers
Launched: 1903
Fate: Wrecked 1962
General characteristics
Type: Cutter
Tonnage: 20 tons
Length: 51 ft (16 m)

Tuaikaepau was a twenty-ton cutter, 51 feet (16 m) length, clipper bow, keeler, designed by Archibald Logan and built by Logan Brothers of Auckland, New Zealand and launched in 1903.

Tuaikaepau was launched as Ilex and sailed around Stewart Island before returning to Auckland where she was raced on the Waitemata Harbour, later returning to coastal sailing around New Zealand. By this time she had been under several owners.

In 1946 she circumnavigated New Zealand, at the time the yacht was owned by Mr. N.W.Thomas, who also raced Ilex in the 1946 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Shortly after the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, the vessel was sold to the Free Church of Tonga, where she was relocated and renamed the Tu'uakitau for a period. During this time she was used by Missionaries to service outlying stations on the Tongan Islands. It was also during this time that the yacht was neglected and began to deteriorate.

In 1957 she was sold to Tofa Ramsay and renamed again Tuaikaepau, in English: "Slow but sure". Tofa sailed Tuaikaepau to Auckland where he had repairs carried out to restore the ship to her former glory.

March 1962 Tofa Ramsay decided to take Tuaikaepau to Auckland again for repairs. He called Tevita (David) Fifita, who held a foreign going masters certificate to Captain the ship on the 1,050-nautical-mile (1,940 km) voyage. This was the second time Tevita had Captained Tuaikaepau to New Zealand, and with Tevita's reputation of excellent seamanship, Tofa had no qualms about putting Tevita in charge.

The crew were:

Tevita (David) Fifita (Captain), aged 42.
Tevita (David) Uaisele (Carpenter)
Fine Feuiaki (Engineer)
Ve'etutu Pahulu (Mate)
'*'Sateki Fifita (Deckhand) (Captain's eldest son), aged 22
Talo Fifita (Deckhand) (Captain's illegitimate son)
'*'Sione (Johnny) Lousi (Deckhand), aged 30

Tongan boxers were keen to visit Auckland where they could find new opponents to fight and most of the ships passengers were boxers.

Passengers:

'*'Fatai Efiafi (Widower), aged 46
Vaiangina Unga (Copra Planter), aged in his early 40s
Viliame Fa'onuku (William Fa) (Carpenter), aged 34
Teiapa'a Bloomfield (Taxi Driver), aged about 23
Soakai Pulu (Boxer/Coach, former heavyweight champion of Tonga), aged 51
'*'Fetaiaki Pulu (Boxer, Soakai's son)
'*'Sione (Johnny) Sikimeti (Boxer, under Soakai's management), aged 18
Sipa Fine Sekona (Boxer, then-current heavyweight champion of Tonga), aged 20
Finau Laione Sekona (Boxer, Sipa's cousin), aged 17
Saia Peni (Boxer)

'*' indicates died during the ordeal.
On 4 July 1962 they set off for New Zealand. Shortly after leaving harbour they discovered they had no torch and returned to shore until someone threw them a torch. Then they discovered they did not have the correct chart.

Tevita checked the charts they had and decided they could make it anyway, and they continued.

They stopped briefly at the Island of Ata, south of Tongatapu, before continuing on to New Zealand. At about 10pm on 6 July 1962 Tuaikaepau hit the outer edge of the Southern Minerva Reef.

They all survived having spent the night clinging to the hull and at day break saw what would be their saviour: the hull of a Japanese fishing boat, Number 10, Noshemi Maru, K30, which had been wrecked in 1960, two years earlier. In the hull of the Japanese fishing boat they built a still from which they were able to make fresh water. A fire to run the still was kept burning almost constantly with wood from the hull of the wreck in which they were living.

By the end of August it was decided that the only hope of rescue was to build a small boat and sail to Fiji, which they promptly did with tools found in the hull of the Japanese boat and from the wreck of Tuaikaepau.

Tevita Fifita, Tevita Uaisele and Sateki Fifita were the three that sailed the "raft", which they named Maloelelei, to Fiji. They set sail on Saturday 6 October, but overnighted in the reef passage, where they lost their anchor, before setting out from the reef on Sunday 8 October. Passing Ono-i-Lau and Matuku at night, and afraid of approaching at night the reefs fringing those islands, they reached Kandavu on Sunday 14 October. As the three sailed the raft through the Kandavu reef Maloelelei capsized, and while swimming to shore within sight of land, Sateki, the Captain's son, drowned.

Besides Setaki, four others died before being rescued, three before Maloelelei set sail: - Fatai Efiafi on the evening of Friday 28 September, after a long period of illness. He was initially buried in a grave dug into the reef. - Sione Lousi and Sione Sikimeti, both died on Sunday 30 September, their bodies wrapped in canvas and set adrift with glass fishing floats. Lousi collapsed and died while helping lift Maloelelei, when the others went back to the bedridden survivors, they found Sikimeti had also died. After Maloelelei set out, 11 men were left on the reef. Seven were still able to work, but William Fa and Fine Feuiaki were bedridden with polyneuritis, and unable to walk, while Finau Laione and Fetaiaki Pulu were very weak and ill, but still able to move about. - Fetaiaki Pulu then died on Monday 15 October. The body was kept by the fire in the Japanese wreck overnight, the survivors sure Maloelelei had reached help and rescue was imminent, so they wanted to take the body with them.

On the night after Fetaiaki's death, an RNZAF Sunderland flying boat from Laucala Bay, Fiji, flown by Group Captain J.D. Robbins, dropped supplies to them. The next day, Tuesday 16 October, the same Sunderland, but flown by Squadron Leader B.J. O'Connor, with medical officer Squadron Leader K.R. Bremner and Tongan medical student Tupou Vaipulu as interpreter, left Laucala Bay at 8 a.m., reaching Minerva by noon. It landed in the lagoon and rescued the 10 survivors (of whom 5 were by now bedridden), and the body of Fetaiaki, departing Minerva at 3:30 p.m. and reaching Suva by dark. The Tongans were taken to Suva's Colonial War Memorial Hospital, but the only real health issues were dehydration and, for Finau, the onset of tuberculosis. The two Tavitas on Kandavu were transferred to Suva by Sunderland on Wednesday 17 October (Tavita Fifita had lost 112 lb (50 kg) of his 288 lb (130 kg) weight). Fetaiaki was buried in Suva's Nasuinu cemetery on Saturday 20 October after a service at the Centenary Methodist church, with Tongan students from the Fiji School of Medicine as pallbearers. Only Soakai and Ve'etutu were well enough to attend. The 13 survivors were all flown back to Tonga on Monday 22 October, meeting their families and granted an audience with Queen Salote. Sadly, Soakai Pulu, who had lost his son Fetaiaki on the reef, also learned that on 5 October, his 28-year old illegitimate son Finau Lahi was killed in a boxing match in Nuku'alofa.

Vaiangina Unga died in 2003. Tevita (David) Uaisele died in 2009. Fine Feuiaki was still alive in 2015 and lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Two other survivors were reported to still be alive as of 2009, one in Tonga and sipa Sekone in America.[1]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYodV3OunHA&lc=6kqlXd2ypTI6gzZS-rNMGqXfdiJZFZMjEBDoCgtYT90

External links

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