Tiare Taporo

Hi,

I have been very interested from time to time in news of the steel North Sea trawler which was converted and refitted in Newfoundland and renamed "Tiare Taporo" - taking largely under false pretences the famous name of my family's NZ Kauri built schooner owned by A.B. Donald Ltd. of Auckland NZ  and which traded reliably through the Cook Islands, the Societies, Tuamotus and Marquesas, including a voyage to the US in the late 1940's and many voyages to NZ for many years from 1913 to 1964 - 51 years.

In spite of these sentiments, I did wish the owners of the new (actually #4 TT) well and I hope that they are able to continue their plans for trading around the Cooks.

However, the last news that I am aware of is that the steel trawler "Tiare Taporo" left Avatiu sometime in 2018 for Pago Pago in American Samoa where she has been in dry dock ever since and certainly not fulfilling the owners' obligations to offer a reliable passenger/cargo service around the Cook Islands as they are legally required to do. I hope that there has been more positive news since.

The original "Tiare Taporo"'s most famous skipper was Captain Andy Thomson with whom I at the tender age of 21, was enormously privileged to have sailed on the company's replacement for the original "Tiare Taporo" - the motor ship "Akatere" on a voyage from Auckland to Rarotonga in 1968 - a voyage which took 14 days!!! Andy had retired by then but during the voyage he taught me how to use a sextant in successfully achieving celestial navigation. Captain Archie Pickering (later Harbourmaster at Avatiu) was the skipper on that voyage. Archie and Andy were great friends and valued employees of my family's company.

Sadly our businesses were all sold soon after and it was not until 2011 that I and my new partner sailed our own NZ built 12.5 metre classic timber built Gauntlet double ended yacht ("Tiare Taporo III") to New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand thus fulfilling a long held ambition to sail my own yacht offshore. 

Subsequently and sadly she was sold in Turkey last year as advancing years were taking their toll on us. A difficult decision indeed.

We are now living in final retirement in Medellin, Colombia.

You can read all about our adventures over the last 10 years if you go to our website - www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

Our email is: tiare.taporo3@gmail.com

There is obviously much more information that I can give you if you are interested.

I hope you find the foregoing of historical interest - please contact me if I can't help you further and I hope that you can publish this letter for any of your readers who may have further interest in the rich history of the Cook Islands.

With best regards,

Jim Donald

Medellin

Colombia