MVJoyitawas an Americanmerchant vesselfrom which 25 passengers and crew mysteriously disappeared in theSouth Pacificin October 1955. She was foundadrift with no one aboard.
 MVJoyitapartially submerged and listing heavily to port side
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Joyita |
| Namesake | Jewel Carmen[1] |
| Owner |
|
| Builder | Wilmington Boat Works[1] |
| Fate | Acquired by theUnited States Navy,October 1941 |
| United States | |
| Name | YP-108 |
| Port of registry |  Pearl Harbor,Hawaii |
| Acquired | October 1941[2] |
| In service | 1941[2] |
| Out of service | 1948[2] |
| Fate | Sold to Louis Brothers, 1948[2] |
| Name | Joyita |
| Owner | |
| Fate | Broke up inLevukain 1970s |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Luxury yacht,yacht charter,merchant vessel |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | 69 ft (21 m)[1] |
| Beam | 17 ft (5.2 m)[5] |
| Draft | 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)[5] |
The ship was in very poor condition, with corroded pipes and a radio which, while functional, had a range of only about 2 miles (3.2 km) because of faulty wiring. However, the extreme buoyancy of the ship made sinking nearly impossible. Investigators were puzzled as to why the crew had not remained on board and waited for help.
Vessel description and history
editConstruction
editMVJoyitawas a 69-foot (21.0 m) wooden ship built in 1931 as aluxury yachtby theWilmington Boat WorksinLos Angelesformovie directorRoland West,who named the ship for his wife, actressJewel Carmen—joyitain Spanish meaning "little jewel".[1]In 1936 the ship was sold and registered to Milton E. Beacon.[2]During this period, she made numerous trips south to Mexico and to the 1939–1940Golden Gate International ExpositioninSan Francisco.During part of this time, Chester Mills was the captain of the vessel.
The ship's hull was constructed of 2-inch (51 mm)-thick cedar on oak frames. She was 69 feet 0 inches (21.0 m) long, withbeamof 17 feet 0 inches (5.2 m) and adraftof 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m); hernet tonnagewas 47 tons and hergross tonnageapproximately 70 tons. She had tanks for 2,500 U.S. gallons (9,500 L) of water and 3,000 U.S. gallons (11,400 L) of diesel fuel.[5]
U.S. Navy service in World War II
edit
In October 1941, two months before theattack on Pearl Harbor,Joyitawas acquired by theUnited States Navyand taken toPearl Harbor,Hawaii,where she was outfitted asyard patrol boatYP-108. The Navy used her to patrol theBig Islandof Hawaii until the end ofWorld War II.
In 1943 sheran agroundand was heavily damaged, but the Navy was badly in need of ships, so she was repaired. At this point, new pipework was made from galvanized iron instead of copper or brass. In 1946, the ship was surplus to Navy requirements and most of her equipment was removed.[2]
Private purchase
editIn 1948,Joyitawas sold to the firm of Louis Brothers. At this point,corklining was added to the ship's hull along with refrigeration equipment.[2]The ship had twoGray Marinediesel enginesproviding 225horsepower(168 kW), and two extra diesel engines for generators.[3]In 1950 William Tavares became the owner; however, he had little use for the vessel, and sold it in 1952 to Dr.Katharine Luomala,a professor at theUniversity of Hawaii.[3]She chartered the boat to her friend, Captain Thomas H. "Dusty" Miller, a British-born sailor living inSamoa.Miller used the ship as a trading and fishing charter boat.
Disappearance
edit
About 5:00 AM on 3 October 1955,Joyitaleft Samoa'sApiaharbour bound for theTokelauIslands, about 270 miles (430 km) away. The boat had been scheduled to leave on the noon tide the previous day but her departure was delayed because her port engineclutchfailed.Joyitaeventually left Samoa on one engine. She was carrying sixteen crew members and nine passengers, including a government official, a doctor (Alfred "Andy" Denis Parsons, a World War II surgeon on his way to perform anamputation), acoprabuyer, and two children. Her cargo consisted of medical supplies, timber, 80 empty 45-gallon (200 L) oil drums, and various foodstuffs.[6]
The voyage was expected to take between 41 and 48 hours.Joyitawas scheduled to arrive in the Tokelau Islands on 5 October. On 6 October, a message fromFakaofoport reported that the ship was overdue.[7]No ship or land-based operator reported receiving adistress signalfrom the crew. Asearch-and-rescuemission was launched and, from 6 to 12 October,Sunderlandsof theRoyal New Zealand Air Forcecovered a probability area of nearly 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) of ocean, but no sign ofJoyitaor any of her passengers or crew was found.[8]
Five weeks later, on 10 November, Gerald Douglas, captain of the merchant shipTuvalu,en route fromSuvatoFunafuti,sightedJoyitamore than 600 miles (970 km) west from her scheduled route, drifting north ofVanua Levu.[9]The ship was partially submerged and listing heavily (her port deck rail was awash) and there was no trace of any of the passengers or crew; four tons ofcargowere also missing. The recovery party noted that the radio was discovered tuned to2182 kHz,the international marineradiotelephonedistress channel.
- Barnaclegrowth high above the usual waterline on the port side showed thatJoyitahad been listing heavily for some time.
- There was some damage to thesuperstructure.Herflying bridgehad been smashed away and the deckhouse had light damage and broken windows. A canvasawninghad been rigged on top of the deckhouse behind thebridge.
- Joyitacarried adinghyand threeCarley liferafts,[3]but all were missing. She did not carry enough lifejackets for everyone on board.[9]
- The starboard engine was found to be covered bymattresses,while the port engine's clutch was still partially disassembled, showing that the vessel was still running on only one engine. Thestarter motorof the starboard auxiliary engine was also missing, indicating that this engine was unserviceable.
- An auxiliary pump had been rigged in the engine room, mounted on a plank of wood slung between the main engines. However, it had not been connected.
- The radio on board was tuned to the international distress channel, but when the equipment was inspected, a break was found in the cable between the set and theaerial.The cable had been painted over, obscuring the break. This would have limited the range of the radio to about 2 miles (3.2 km).
- The electric clocks on board (wired into the vessel's generator) had stopped at 10:25 and the switches for the cabin lighting andnavigation lightswere on, implying that whatever had occurred happened at night.
- The ships'logbook,sextant,mechanicalchronometerand other navigational equipment, as well as the firearms Miller kept in the boat,[9]were missing.
- Adoctor's bagwas found on deck, containing astethoscope,ascalpel,and four lengths of blood-stainedbandages.
There was still fuel inJoyita's tanks; from the amount used, it was calculated she made some 243 miles (391 km) before the vessel was abandoned, probably within 50 miles (80 km) of Tokelau. The leak had probably started after 9 p.m. on the second night of the voyage, with nine hours of darkness ahead.[9]
AlthoughJoyitawas found with herbilgesand lower decks flooded, her hull was sound and once the water was pumped from her hull she floated on a stable and even keel and was easily towed into harbour at Suva. When at her mooring there, investigators heard the sound of water entering the vessel. It was found that a pipe in the raw-water circuit of the port auxiliary engine'scooling systemhad failed due togalvanic corrosion,allowing water into the bilges. The first the crew would have known about the leak was when the water rose above the engine room floorboards, by which time it would have been nearly impossible to locate the leak. Also, the bilge pumps were not fitted withstrainers,and had become clogged with debris, meaning that it would have been very difficult to pump the water out.
Maritime inquiry
editA formal inquiry into the fate ofJoyitawas held in Apia in February 1956.[10]It found that the vessel was in a poor state of repair, but determined that the fate of the passengers and crew was "inexplicable on the evidence submitted at the inquiry." An especially perple xing point was that the threeliferaftsJoyitacarried were missing, but it would not make sense for the crew and passengers to voluntarily abandon the vessel. Fitted out for carrying refrigerated cargo,Joyitahad 640 cubic feet (18 m3) ofcorklining her holds, making her virtually unsinkable. In addition, furtherbuoyancywas provided by a cargo of empty fuel drums.
The inquiry was able to establish only the reasons for the vessel becoming flooded. It found that the vessel would have begun to flood due to the fractured cooling pipe.[11]The bilge pumps were unserviceable due to becoming blocked.Joyitalacked watertight bulkheads or subdivisions in the bilges. The water would have gradually flooded the lower decks. As the boat began to sink lower into the water, the one remaining engine would not have been able to maintain enough speed to steer.Joyitathen fell beam-on to a heavy swell and took on the heavy list it was found with. While flooded to an extent which would sink a conventional vessel,Joyitastayed afloat due to her cork-lined hull and cargo of fuel drums.
The inquiry also placed much of the responsibility for the events on Captain Miller.[11]They found him reckless for setting out on an ocean-going voyage with only one engine and numerous minor faults, and negligent for failing to provide a working radio or properly equipped lifeboat. He was also in breach of maritime law, since he had allowedJoyita's license to carry fare-paying passengers to lapse.
The inquiry made no mention of the used medical equipment found on board.[12]
Hypotheses
editJoyitais sometimes referred to as the "Mary Celesteof the South Pacific "and has been the subject of several books anddocumentariesoffering explanations that range from rational and conventional to supernatural and paranormal. Numerous hypotheses for the disappearance ofJoyita's crew and passengers have been advanced. Many were circulated at the time of the event, and several others have been put forward since. Given the fact that the hull ofJoyitawas sound and her design made her almost unsinkable, a main concern of investigators was determining why the passengers and crew did not stay on board if the events were simply triggered by the flooding in the engine room.
Injured captain hypothesis
editCaptain Miller should have been well aware of the vessel's ability to stay afloat, leading some to speculate that he had died or become incapacitated for some reason (someone on board was injured—hence the bloodstained bandages). Without him to reassure the other people on board, they may have panicked whenJoyitabegan to flood and taken to the liferafts. However, this in itself would not account for the missing cargo and equipment, unless the vessel had been found abandoned and had her cargo removed.
A friend of Miller, Captain S. B. Brown, was convinced that Miller would never have leftJoyitaalive, given his knowledge of her construction.[13]: 208 He was aware of tension between Miller and his Americanfirst mate,Chuck Simpson, and felt that their mutual dislike came to blows and both men fell overboard or were severely injured in a struggle. This left the vessel without an experienced seaman and would explain why those remaining on board would panic when the ship began to flood.
Japanese involvement and other hypotheses
edit
The FijiTimes and Heraldquoted at the time from an "impeccable source"to the effect thatJoyitahad passed through a fleet of Japanese fishing boats during its trip and "had observed something the Japanese did not want them to see."[14][15]
The Daily Telegraphin London hypothesized that somestill-activeJapanese forces from World War II were to blame for the disappearances, operating from an isolated island base.[13]: 199 There was still strong anti-Japanese sentiment in parts of the Pacific, and in Fiji there was specific resentment of Japan being allowed to operate fishing fleets in local waters.[16]
Such theories suddenly gained credence when men clearingJoyitafound knives stamped 'Made in Japan'.[17]However, tests on the knives proved negative and it turned out the knives were old and broken - quite possibly left on board from whenJoyitawas used for fishing in the late 1940s.
Also there was a proposition that "the vessel's occupants were kidnapped by aSovietsubmarine,with the world at the time in the midst of the growingCold War."[18][9]
Early reports that theJoyitahad been involved in a collision led to speculation that she had been rammed,[19]and thatmodern sea piratesattacked the vessel, killed the 25 passengers and crew (and cast their bodies into the ocean), and stole the missing four tons of cargo.[20]
Insurance fraud hypothesis
editIt was also revealed that Miller had amassed large debts after a series of unsuccessful fishing trips onJoyita.[13]: 187 However, it would have been difficult to see the events surroundingJoyitaasinsurance fraud,given that noseacockswere found open and the ship would be almost impossible toscuttle.Also, Miller was relying onJoyitabeing chartered for regular runs between Samoa and Tokelau—these government charters would have quickly cleared his debts.
Mutiny hypothesis
editA subsequent owner ofJoyita,British authorRobin Maugham,spent many years investigating the vessel's past, and published his findings asThe Joyita Mysteryin 1962. Maugham agreed that events were started by the flooding from the broken cooling pipe and the failure of the pumps. The mattresses found covering the starboard engine were used either in an attempt to stem the leak or to protect the electricalswitchboardfrom spray kicked up by the engine'sflywheelas the water level rose. At the same time,Joyitaencountered increasingly heavy swells andsquallyweather.
Captain Miller, knowingJoyitato be unsinkable and desperate to reach his destination to clear his debt, pressed on. However, Simpson, and possibly other crew members, demanded that he turn back. This effectively led tomutinyand Miller and the crew struggled, during which Miller sustained a serious injury.[13]: 210 By now the ship was entering heavier weather, with winds around 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), and with one engine and a flooded bilge, was beginning to labor. The flooding in the engine room would have eventually caused the starboard engine to fail, also cutting all the vessel's electrical power. Simpson was now in control and made the decision to abandon ship, taking the navigational equipment, logbook and supplies, as well as the injured Miller, with them.[21]
It still seems unlikely that Simpson would choose to abandon a flooded but floating ship to take to small open rafts in the Pacific Ocean. Maugham proposed that they sighted a nearby island orreefand tried to reach it, but in the strong winds and seas the rafts were carried out to sea, leavingJoyitadrifting and empty. The damage to the lightly-built superstructure was caused by wave damage while the vessel was drifting in heavy seas.
Joyitaafter 1955
editIn July 1956,Joyitawasauctionedoff by her owners for £2,425 to a Fiji Islander, David Simpson (no relation to Chuck Simpson).[22]He refitted and overhauled her and she went to sea again that year. However, she was surrounded by legal disputes over the transfer of her registry from the United States to Britain without permission. In January 1957 she ran aground while carrying thirteen passengers in theKoro Sea.[23]She was repaired and in October 1958 began a regular trade betweenLevukaandSuva.
Joyitaagain ran aground on a reef in November 1959 at Vatuvalu near Levuka.[4]She floated off the reef assisted by high tide, but while heading for port began to take in water through a split seam. The pumps were started, but it became clear that the valves for the pump had been installed the wrong way round, meaning that water was pumped into the hull, not out. Now with a reputation as an 'unlucky ship' and with a damaged hull, she was abandoned by her owners and beached.[24]She was stripped of useful equipment and was practically ahulkwhen she was bought by Maugham. He sold the hulk in 1966 to Major J. Casling-Cottle, who ran a tourist and publicity bureau at Levuka. The Major planned to turn it into a museum and tearoom, but the plan never saw daylight. The hulk disappeared piece by piece and the process of disintegration appears to have been complete by the late 1970s.[4]
On 14 March 1975, the Western Samoa Post Office released a set of five stamps dealing with the mystery ofJoyita.[25]
In 2009, a walkway was named after Dr Alfred Dennis Parsons near his formerTorbayhome inAuckland,New Zealand.[26][27]In 2012, two memory stones in honor of the event were erected in Apia, Samoa and inFakaofoVillage, Tokelau.[6][28]
Crew and passengers
editAs of 2012[update],all aboard were still declared as "missing".[6]In 2012 there was a call for a formal declaration that they were dead.[29]
| Crew(16) | |||
| Name | Rank | Age | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| MILLER Thomas Henry (Dusty) | Captain | 41 | Britain |
| SIMPSON Charles R. (Chuck) | Mate | 28 | United States |
| TEEWEKA Tekokaa (Tekolo) | Bosun | 25 | Kiribati |
| TANINI Aberaam Tanini | Engineer | 24 | Kiribati |
| McCARTHY Henry jr. | Engineer | 27 | Samoa |
| PEDRO Penaia Kolio | Seaman | 22 | Tokelau |
| FARAIMO Ihaia Kitiona | Seaman | 24 | Tokelau |
| LEPAIO Tagifano Latafoti | Seaman | 27 | Tokelau (Atafu) |
| HIMONA Haipele Fihaga | Seaman | 28 | Tokelau (Atafu) |
| APETE Ioakimi Iapeha | Seaman | 23 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) |
| MOHE Himeti Falaniko | Seaman | 31 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) |
| ELEKANA Tuhaga Hila | Greaser | 26 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) |
| KOLO Leota Telepu | Greaser | 24 | Tokelau (Atafu) |
| PELETI Mohe Maota | Cook | 24 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) |
| WALLWORK James William | Supercargo | 44 | Western Samoa |
| WILLIAMS George Kendall[31] | Supercargo | 66 | New Zealand |
| Passengers | ||||
| Name | Occupation | Age | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAIVA Liua Noama Rosaiti | 3 | The adopted daughter of Tokelau Lapana | ||
| HODGKINSON Herbert T. (Bert) | Dispenser | 49 | New Zealand | From Apia hospital |
| LAPANA Takama | Dispenser | 51 | From Fakaofo hospital | |
| LAPANA Tokelau | 40 | (Fakaofo) Tekai | Wife of Takama | |
| PARSONS Alfred Dennis (Andy) | Physician | 41 | Ireland | From Apia hospital[Note 1] |
| PEARLESS Roger Derrick (Pete) | District Officer | 30 | New Zealand | |
| PEREIRA Joseph Hipili | Radio Operator | 22 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) | |
| TALAMA Founuku Uluola | 11 | The adopted son of Tokelau Lapana | ||
| TEOFILO Tomoniko | 30 | Tokelau (Fakaofo) | ||
Note:
- ^"Alfred Denis Parsons - Date of Death 03/10/1955, Granted on 19/06/1961 - State Records NSW".nsw.gov.au.Archived from the original on 30 October 2014.Retrieved13 March2015.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Archive.org
See also
editReferences
editNotes
edit- ^abcdeDavid Wright: "Joyita: Solving the mystery" pages 1&3.
- ^abcdefghDavid Wright: "Joyita: Solving the mystery" p. 4.
- ^abcdefDavid Wright: "Joyita: Solving the mystery" p. 5.
- ^abcdefgDavid G. Wright (2013).Joyita: Solving the Mystery.Auckland University Press. pp. vii–x, xii–xvi, 1–9, 14–17, 32, 91–92, 121, 123–124.ISBN978-1-86940-725-4.
- ^abcdeDavid Wright: "Joyita: Solving the mystery" p. 2.
- ^abc"Joyita tragedy remembered ‹ Savali News".savalinews.11 March 2012.Retrieved13 March2015.
- ^"Search For Overdue Ship Off Samoa".The Press.8 October 1955. p. 9.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^"MYSTERY OF THE JOYITA".The Press.25 October 1955. p. 10.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^abcde"Author says he's solved MV Joyita mystery, 47 years later".New Zealand Herald. 29 March 2002.Retrieved26 September2021.
- ^"INQUIRY INTO THE 'JOYITA' MYSTERY".Pacific Islands Monthly.Vol. XXVI, no. 7. 1 February 1956. p. 21.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^ab"Broken' Pipe Held To Be Cause Of Joyita Disaster".The Press.14 April 1956. p. 2.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^New Zealand. Commission to Inquire into the Casualty to the Motor Vessel Joyita; Marsack, C. C (1956),Report,Govt. Printer,retrieved3 September2013
- ^abcdJohn Harris (1981).Without Trace: the Last Voyages of Eight Ships.London: Methuen.ISBN0-7493-0043-4.
- ^"PIRACY ON JOYITA DENIED".The Press.21 November 1955. p. 11.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^"LAST NIGHT'S CABLE FLASHES" JAPS MURDERED JOY ITA'S CREW "".The Argus.21 November 1955. p. 2.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Watch On Japanese Fishing Fleet Sought In Fiji".The Press.7 December 1955. p. 18.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^"JAPANESE KNIVES IN JOYITA".The Press.5 December 1955. p. 16.Retrieved26 September2021– via Papers Past.
- ^"He says it was bloodbath after— RED SUB HIT JOYITA ARGUS SPECIAL".The Argus.2 February 1956. p. 3.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"She's at Suva, but......WHAT HIT GHOST SHIP?".The Argus.14 November 1955. p. 1.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"MYSTERY SHIP STORY".The Central Queensland Herald.17 November 1955. p. 16.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Lord Maugham 'Solves' the 'Joyita' Mystery".Pacific Islands Monthly.Vol. XXXII, no. 10. 1 May 1962. p. 24.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Mystery Ship Joyita Sold".Canberra Times.13 July 1956. p. 3.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"Second Mishap For Joyita".Canberra Times.9 January 1957. p. 3.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"NO HOME FOR" JOYITA "".Pacific Islands Monthly.Vol. XXXII, no. 3. 1 October 1961. p. 55.Retrieved26 September2021– via National Library of Australia.
- ^"shipstamps.co.uk • View topic – Joyita".shipstamps.co.uk.Retrieved13 March2015.
- ^"Doctor lost at sea given permanent memorial".The New Zealand Herald.Retrieved13 March2015.
- ^"Parsons Walkway Torbay, Auckland 0630 NZ – Google Maps".google.fi.Retrieved13 March2015.
- ^"Joyita finally remembered"(PDF).Te Vakai: An Insight To Tokelau. 2012. p. 8.Retrieved26 September2021.
- ^"Call for coronial hearing into Tokelau's Joyita tragedy".RNZ.8 March 2012.Retrieved26 September2021.
- ^ab"Remembering the MV Joyita's Photos – Remembering the MV Joyita – Facebook".facebook.Retrieved13 March2015.
- ^George Albert Kendall Williams (b. 17 Jul 1890, d. Oct 1955)
Bibliography
edit- John Harris (1981)Without Trace: the Last Voyages of Eight Ships.London: MethuenISBN0-7493-0043-4
- Robin Maugham (1962)The Joyita Mystery.London: Max Parrish & CoISBN0-906754-59-3
- Stephen Noakes (1965) "TheMarie Céleste[sic] of the South Pacific (Joyita) ", in:Wide World Magazine,January 1965
- John Pinkney,World's Greatest Mysteries.Five Mile PressISBN978-1-74211-664-8
- David G. Wright (2002)Joyita: Solving the Mystery.Auckland: Auckland University PressISBN1-86940-270-7