{{Short description|Tongan cutter wrecked in 1962}} {{coord|23|55|19|S|179|05|34|W|display=title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox ship <!-- age of sail --> |display_title=ital |infobox_caption=''Tuaikaepau'' |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= |image_caption= }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country= |flag= |name=*''Ilex'' (1902–c.1942) *''Tu{{'}}uakitau'' (c.1942–1957) *''Tuaikaepau'' (1957–1962) |owner= |ordered= |builder=Logan Brothers |original_cost= |laid_down= |launched=1903 |acquired= |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |struck= |reinstated= |honours= |honors= |captured= |fate=Wrecked 1962 |notes= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |type=[[cutter (ship)|Cutter]] |tonnage=20 tons |length={{convert|51|ft|abbr=on}} |beam= |draught= |draft= |hold_depth= |propulsion= |sail_plan= |complement= |armament= |notes= }} }} '''''Tuaikaepau''''' was a twenty-ton [[cutter (ship)|cutter]], {{convert|51|ft|m}} length, [[clipper]] bow, keeler, designed by [[Archibald Logan]] and built by [[Logan Brothers]] of [[Auckland]], [[New Zealand]] and launched in 1903.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}
In July 1962 the ''Tuaikaepau'' was under sail between [[Tonga]] and Auckland, carrying a crew and passengers totalling 17.<ref name="Theoria">{{cite book|title=Theoria to Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sBcWAAAAMAAJ|year=1968|publisher=Gordon and Breach Science Publishers}}</ref><ref name="Titchener1978">{{cite book|author=Paul Titchener|title=Little Ships of New Zealand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBfwAAAAMAAJ|year=1978|publisher=A. H. & A. W. Reed|isbn=978-0-589-01068-3}}</ref>
On 7 July 1962<ref name="Theoria"/> the ''Tuaikaepau'', under the command of captain David Fifita,<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Neptune|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mmnVAAAAMAAJ|year=1964|publisher=Peabody Museum of Salem}}</ref> hit the outer edge of the Southern [[Minerva Reef]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Pacific Islands Monthly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=71HjAAAAMAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Pacific Publications.}}</ref><ref name="Titchener1978"/>
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. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lolohea |first=Alice |date=2020-06-08 |title=Tuaikaepau: Tonga's forgotten shipwreck |url=https://tpplus.co.nz/community/tuaikaepau-tongas-forgotten-shipwreck/ |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=TP+ |language=en-NZ}}</ref>
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''. The makeshift outrigger canoe, with the captain and two others on board,<ref>{{cite book|title=From the U.S. Government Printing Office, Best Sellers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0a7Qz9EylXcC|year=1963|publisher=The Office}}</ref> reached [[Kadavu Island]] with the news that there were 13 survivors shipwrecked on the reef,<ref name="Office1963">{{cite book|author=Great Britain. Colonial Office|title=Fiji Annual Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INIVAAAAIAAJ|year=1963|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office}}</ref> although the captain's son, one of the two crewmembers, died just before arriving at Kadavu, drowning while swimming ashore.<ref>{{cite news|agency=Australian Associated Press|title=Captain's Son Gave Life to Save Wrecked Tongans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzpVAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA8|date=18 October 1962|newspaper=The Age|page=15}}</ref>
On Monday 16 October, an [[RNZAF]] [[Sunderland flying boat]] from Laucala Bay, Fiji, flown by Group Captain J.D. Robbins, dropped supplies to them.<ref name="Bentley1969">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Bentley|title=RNZAF: a short history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZ-4AAAAIAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Reed}}</ref> 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]]. They were then taken to Nuku'alofa, where they were welcomed and acclaimed by the population and Queen [[Sālote Tupou III]].<ref name=":2">{{cite book|access-date=2022-12-09|date=1998|first1=James C.|isbn=978-1-57409-066-6|language=en|last1=Simmons|pages=183–199|publisher=Sheridan House, Inc.|title=Castaway in Paradise: The Incredible Adventures of True-Life Robinson Crusoes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XjQ2rNrgHUC&pg=PA183}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |first=Olaf |last=Ruhen |title=Minerva Reef: Fourteen desperate weeks with the castaway Tongans |location=Sydney, Australia |publisher=Minerva Bookshop Ltd |date=1963}} *{{cite book |first=Fine |last=Feuiaki |title=Minerva reef = Hakau Minerva: the Tuaikaepau's tragic voyage |location=Nuku'alofa, Tonga |publisher=Friendly Islands Bookshop |date=1992}} *{{cite book | author = Titchener, Paul |title = Little Ships of New Zealand | location = Wellington | publisher = A.H & A.W. Reed | year = 1978 | type = Hardback | isbn = 0-589-01068-9}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{1962 shipwrecks}}
[[Category:Ships of New Zealand]] [[Category:Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]] [[Category:Maritime incidents in 1962]] [[Category:1903 ships]]