# The Lost Missionary Ship.



## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

The Vaomapa was an eighty foot auxiliary gaff-rigged ketch, and was used to carry freight up and down the Tongan Archipelago. She was owned by the London Missionary Society, and traded from the capital of Nuku'alofa, on Tongatapu in the south, and Neiafu on the island of Vava'u to the north. 
The London Missionary Society were given, in the will of an old lady on Vava'u, a ten ton sandalwood tree, which they had cut down and loaded on board the Vaomapa with the intention of taking it to Pago Pago. They then wanted to ship it to Japan in a container, where it would fetch a healthy price. The Vaomapa got underway while Debut was in Neiafu with 265 tons of cyclone relief on board, after a vicious cyclone had lain the Tongan Islands to waste.
We had just about unloaded the fifteen foot stack of timber from the decks of Debut, when we were contracted by the chief of police in Neiafu to search for and recover the broken-down Vaomapa, which had broken it's propeller shaft, causing damage to her hull and was seriously leaking. The sails were only used to assist and stabilize the frail craft at sea, and weren't up to much else.
At 17.15 hours on 24th March, 1982, Debut got underway with three police officers on board to oversee the salvage operation, heading north for the reported position of the Vaomapa.
There was approximately two knots of westerly drift to contend with, caused by the west-setting ocean current and the easterly trade winds. This was added into the calculations to locate the distressed vessel. There were also some two dozen passengers on board, and other cargo in transit to Pago Pago, in American Samoa. I set Debut's course at 358° magnetic, with an estimated ETA of 0300 hours the next morning.
At 2040 hours, I contacted Vaomapa on 2182, and they gave me their updated position of 17° south and 173° 14' west, so I altered the course to 010° when Debut was eight miles SE of Toku Island. After a further radio position by the distressed vessel, I altered my course to 005°. At 21.15 hours, Toku Island was nine miles off my port beam by radar.
At our ETA, I put on our powerful search light, pointing it straight up into the sky. Five minutes later, I fired a red parachute rocket into the sky, after announcing my intentions to do so on 2182 for any ships that may be in the area. There was no response from Vaomapa, so fired another rocket at 0330 hours to give them my position. The rocket was seen on a bearing of 050° towards my ship, so I altered course to 230° magnetic.
Half an hour later, I had a radar contact at 20 miles on a bearing of 250°, on a calm sea with cloud cover. Rockets were fired every half an hour, but the radar blip disappeared. Fearing the worst, I had everyone on board on lookout on the upper decks, firing a total of eight rockets in all. There was no other radio response from Vaomapa.
At 11.00 hours, I took my morning sun sight, then plotted my position after my noon sun sight. Fonuala Island was sighted on my port bow, bearing 220° and 30' on radar. At 19.45 hours, I was given a new position of the Vaomapa by Nuku'alofa radio at 17° south and 174° 12' west, so I altered course to 337° magnetic.
During the night I fired off another seven rockets half an hour apart, with one sighting at midnight by Vaomapa, but then only silence. I searched in a grid pattern, taking into account the two knots of westerly set. After searching all night, I took a morning sun sight at 11.10 hours, then plotted my position with my second sight at 12.42 hours.
At 1945, via 2182, I received a radio message that the Vaomapa had arrived back at Neiafu Harbour, in Vava'u, under sail, and the search was called off. At 0610 hours, on 27th March, 1982, Debut entered the Faihava Passage at Vava'u, and tied up at the wharf at Neiafu at 0650 hours.
From the interrogation of the captain of the Vaomapa by the chief of police, it was found out that he had never taken a ship beyond the sight of land before, and admitted that he had been completely lost. He had mistaken Venus for our flares, and after realizing this, he decided not to reply to my radio calls any more... not realizing that I would conclude that his vessel had founded. He was placed under arrest until the chief of police decided what to do with him.
I had offered the services of my ship free to the police, as I had already been paid for the charter for carrying the cyclone relief, as long as they paid for the fuel-oil used in the search operation in full. To add insult to injury, the charterer declined to pay for my ship's harbour dues, which were for US$ 1,200. I informed him, in the presence of the harbour master, the chief of police, customs and immigration in full white dress uniform that I would arm my crew and send them ashore to strip his hotel for ten times the sum owned, and I would put his possessions ashore at any port I was up to six months when I was paid. If he hadn't paid in full, which he did trembling before us all, I would have had to pay it myself, or face arrest for not having a outward clearance certificate when I arrived in Pago Pago.
It took two more years, when my ship was anchored in Suva, before the Tongan government eventually paid for my seven tons of fuel-oil, and then only after I had promised them to return to their island and confiscate any property I found, to cover the cost of the search operation. Good old gunboat diplomacy won through again, as they only had a rusty old patrol boat to guard their island, which I had promised to evaporate by gunfire if it ever approached my ship. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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## reefrat (Nov 4, 2007)

Charming bloke are you? More like a bombastic pom*y egomaniac Pr*ck. No wonder the Islanders don't like us, with ******s like this presuming that the Pacific is some kind of play ground, it is not, it is a place where serious struggles to survive are a daily event.
Some of my Tongan mates would like to meet him.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Queen Salote would of put you in irons


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## Cpt Dick Brooks (May 13, 2013)

*For reefrat and spongebob.*

Hi, fellows, good to hear from you this morning. I loved the Pacific, and did some really good work there. I loved the Polynesians even more, and married one of them myself. There were three Samoan girls in my crew to Tonga. 
On this specific occasion, I was chartered by Carter Johnson to take 265 tons of cyclone relief to Neiafu after a bad cyclone laid the place to ruins. Half the buildings were destroyed, and most of them were blown out to sea like wastepaper down an empty street. I carried supplies for the hospital, there, and foodstuffs for the islanders from their families in Samoa without charge. 
Fourteen of the sixteen yacht sitting out the cyclone season in Neiafu Harbour were wrecked against the cliffs, and were so badly damaged that they had to be rebuilt before they could be refloated. Their crews were in a terrible state, coming out in open sores, and being ripped off by an Indian doctor forty bucks a pop for Pembriton medication. They still had to live on their yachts against the cliffs, as the locals were stripping them out.
I had waited in Pago Pago six weeks for a charter to go down to Neiafu and help out with the salvage, until Carter Johnson flew up to Pago Pago to meet me and charter my ship. Many of my crew were friends of the wrecked yachties, and worked their passage to help them out. Despite offering my serviced free to search for the missing Missionary ship if they paid for the fuel, it still took them two years to cough up... and only then after some persuasion to do so. 
My ship used two and a half tons of fuel a day, at two thirds revolutions. I had no wish to go burning my fuel for free, and I knew that no-one would go burning theirs when my time came... as indeed it did five years later on Emily Reef. After six days from being shipwrecked, with only my young wife and baby son on board, the Marine Parks finally came out to see if I'd damaged the reef. By the way, reefrat, how is my ship, Debut, on Emily Reef, 25 miles SE of Cooktown?
Carter Johnson chartered my ship, which means that he pays for everything other than my crew. I even towed a hundred foot barge to Neiafu for him, to sink by his hotel for a dock. When I was presented with the bill for my harbours dues at the harbour master's office, he refused to pay. If he didn't, I would have to pay myself, or risk being arrested on my return to Pago Pago for not having an outward customs clearance. Might is right, and if anyone wanted some, they only had to ask me nicely. All the best, Cpt Dick Brooks.


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