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Capitaine Cook
 Sourced from the G. Ferguson collection
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Built in Gothenburg, she was powered by one 1175hp Burmeister & Wain diesel engine, producing a service speed of 12 knots.
She operated around Europe before being acquired by New Caledonian interests in late 1967, and two years later South Pacific Navigation, from the Wallis & Futuna Islands, were her owners.
She changed hands again in 1971, with Sofrana her new operators, and remained in their hands for three years, before Warner Pacific Line acquired her for the Pacific Island trade.
She was a good fit for their capital-tight financial situation. Buying or chartering old ships aged 20 or more from owners keen to sell due to increasing repair costs became the norm, the idea being to run the ship until it reaches its special survey at around 32 years of age, a stage when owners generally choose to scrap the majority of ships.
As well as carrying out repairs in Tonga, where costs were cheaper than in New Zealand and Australia, Warner Pacific Line further minimised costs by running their fleet at a lower cruising speed than designed, e.g. reducing cruising revs from 1200rpm to 900 rpm. This saved wear and tear on the main engines and fuel, although it meant a slower voyage.
While named "Capitaine Cook", she carried Tupou IV, the King of Tonga, to witness a volcanic eruption on a reef just south of Late Island which had formed a temporary sandy cay. This was approached cautiously, with the echo sounder prominent in charting the rising sea floor. Before the island disappeared, a party including one of the King's nobles landed in a lifeboat and planted the Tongan flag.
The change of name to "Sami" took place at Onehunga on 9 October 1978.
She was sold for scrap value to Honduras interests in 1980, but passed her special survey enjoyed an extra four years of service before being broken up at Kaohsiung in December 1984.
The above photo shows her entering Greymouth in 1974, the year she first visited Onehunga.
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Some of the information above is sourced from "Ocean Of Light", the autobiography of Peter Warner, and is used with his kind permission.