Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 12, 2022 0:26:07 GMT 12
N.Z. Man Seeks Treasure
(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 27.
A Canadian engineer living at Otahuhu intends to sail soon in a 34ft yacht on a treasure hunt in the pirate-infested Sulu Sea.
Mr R. E Bellamy bought the yacht Waimihi at Takapuna this week and with a Vancouver journalist will search for treasure abandoned in the area in World War II. During the last war, he said, an Englishman and a Chinese trader lived on an island in the Sulu Sea. The trader’s hobby was collecting exquisite pearls, which he stored in a tin box.
When a Japanese gunboat put into the island, the Chinese buried his pearls before he and the Englishman were taken prisoner. The Chinese either died or was executed and the Englishman was sent to Changi Gaol.
“Some years ago in Vancouver.” said Mr Bellamy. "I befriended a sick old Englishman from the Far East, He told me the story of himself and the Chinese.” The Waimihi is a double-ended 34 ft ketch of all-steel construction with a beam of 9 ft 2 in, drawing 5 ft 5 in. She displaces 5½ tons. Built five years ago, she has proved her seaworthiness on trips to the Pacific Islands. Mr Bellamy said no sailing dates for the Sulu Sea or anywhere else would be set until they were approved by his friend in Vancouver, but he hoped to go as soon as possible. They would have to have a crew of at least four.
In his fifties and a bachelor, Mr Bellamy describes himself as “a plain, ordinary adventurer.” He does not anticipate trouble with the piratical Moros, still the scourge of seas surrounding the Sulu archipelago.
Mr Bellamy has spent several periods among savage peoples and the Moro pirates, who now use fast junks powered by engines looted from war-time disposal dumps, hold no fears for him. He thinks the fact that he is a musician too, helps him make friends with primitive peoples. His friend was a war correspondent and spent four years in corvettes.
PRESS, 28 NOVEMBER 1962
(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 27.
A Canadian engineer living at Otahuhu intends to sail soon in a 34ft yacht on a treasure hunt in the pirate-infested Sulu Sea.
Mr R. E Bellamy bought the yacht Waimihi at Takapuna this week and with a Vancouver journalist will search for treasure abandoned in the area in World War II. During the last war, he said, an Englishman and a Chinese trader lived on an island in the Sulu Sea. The trader’s hobby was collecting exquisite pearls, which he stored in a tin box.
When a Japanese gunboat put into the island, the Chinese buried his pearls before he and the Englishman were taken prisoner. The Chinese either died or was executed and the Englishman was sent to Changi Gaol.
“Some years ago in Vancouver.” said Mr Bellamy. "I befriended a sick old Englishman from the Far East, He told me the story of himself and the Chinese.” The Waimihi is a double-ended 34 ft ketch of all-steel construction with a beam of 9 ft 2 in, drawing 5 ft 5 in. She displaces 5½ tons. Built five years ago, she has proved her seaworthiness on trips to the Pacific Islands. Mr Bellamy said no sailing dates for the Sulu Sea or anywhere else would be set until they were approved by his friend in Vancouver, but he hoped to go as soon as possible. They would have to have a crew of at least four.
In his fifties and a bachelor, Mr Bellamy describes himself as “a plain, ordinary adventurer.” He does not anticipate trouble with the piratical Moros, still the scourge of seas surrounding the Sulu archipelago.
Mr Bellamy has spent several periods among savage peoples and the Moro pirates, who now use fast junks powered by engines looted from war-time disposal dumps, hold no fears for him. He thinks the fact that he is a musician too, helps him make friends with primitive peoples. His friend was a war correspondent and spent four years in corvettes.
PRESS, 28 NOVEMBER 1962
