''Tuaikaepau'' was a twenty-ton

cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * Cutt ...

, length,

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

bow, keeler, designed by Archibald Logan and built by

Logan Brothers Logan Brothers was a firm of boat and yacht design and builders. Although their Auckland yard lasted only from 1890 to 1910, it was the most significant yacht- and boat-building business in the Southern Hemisphere during its time, dominating the ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and launched in 1903. In July 1962 the ''Tuaikaepau'' was under sail between Tonga and Auckland, carrying a crew and passengers totalling 17. On 7 July 1962 the ''Tuaikaepau'', under the command of captain David Fifita, hit the outer edge of the Southern

Minerva Reef The Minerva Reefs () are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Tonga. The islands are the subject of a territorial dispute between Fiji and Tonga, and in addition were briefly claimed by American Libertaria ...

. 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 A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...

from which they were able to make fresh water. They found a match and lit a fire to run the still. The fire 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 Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, which they promptly did with tools found in the hull of the Japanese boat and from the wreck of ''Tuaikaepau''. The makeshift outrigger canoe, with the captain and two others on board, reached

Kadavu Island Kadavu (pronounced ), with an area of , is the fourth largest island in Fiji, and the largest island in the ''Kadavu Group'', a volcano, volcanic archipelago consisting of Kadavu, Ono Island (Fiji), Ono, Galoa Island, Galoa and a number of smaller ...

with the news that there were 13 survivors shipwrecked on the reef, although the captain's son, one of the two crewmembers, died just before arriving at Kadavu, drowning while swimming ashore. On Monday 16 October, an

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, becoming an in ...

Sunderland flying boat The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

from Laucala Bay, Fiji, flown by Group Captain J.D. Robbins, dropped supplies to them. The next day, Tuesday 16 October, the same Sunderland landed in the lagoon and rescued the ten survivors (of whom five were by now bedridden) and one body, 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 one, the onset of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. They were then taken to Nuku'alofa, where they were welcomed and acclaimed by the population and Queen

Sālote Tupou III Sālote Tupou III (born Sālote Mafileo Pilolevu; 13 March 1900 – 16 December 1965) was Queen of Tonga from 1918 to her death in 1965. She reigned for nearly 48 years, the longest of any Tongan monarch. She was well known for her height, stan ...

Bibliography

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References

{{1962 shipwrecks Ships of New Zealand Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Maritime incidents in 1962 1903 ships