Kadavulevu Disaster

On the 26th of March 1964 families were scurrying to the Suva wharf. Moored at the wharf for the final time was the Kadavulevu. The day planned 2 years earlier was finally here and the excitement was palpable. The 44 year old schooner was destined for Waitoga village in Nairai. The women from the village had requested Temalesi a Nairai woman living in Suva for funds to help repair the village church.

This is an excerpt from  “SAILORS and TRADERS – A Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples:

The auxiliary cutter Kadavulevu was chartered for the trip. Built in 1920, she was 23 GT, 58 feet in length, and 15 feet in breadth and had recently been surveyed and licensed for the carriage of twenty-two passengers and seven crew . The vessel carried lifeboats and life rafts to take thirty-one persons, and lifejackets for twenty-nine. The Fijian captain was an experienced seamen, Filimoni Samaki, aged sixty-two. He was qualified for this size of ship and had thirty-five years of sea service locally.

On the afternoon of 26 March members of the party began to board the ship. They stowed their kaukau (goods to present) in the hold and elsewhere. These included single and double beds, bales of cloth, 173 mats, and on-deck pens of fowls and drums of kerosene. They also carried food and drink for the trip and AU$800 collected for the church.

People continued to arrive at the berth by taxis up until after 2200. By the time the boat left Suva at 2240 there were some ninety persons on board. Fortunately the weather was favorable for the sixty-five-mile passage. The boat anchored off Waitoga village before midday on Good Friday, 27 March. Everyone disembarked by boats, and the goods were unloaded. After being housed and fed, the visitors presented their solevu and money at the rara (ceremonial grounds). There were speeches, and quantities of yaqona were consumed, followed by a magiti (feast) and meke (women’s sitting dances) and later a taralala (joint circle dance, one behind the other).

On Saturday the Waitoga people arranged their solevu in an elaborate display some five feet high. This comprised 250 Nairai thick mats, 3 tons of yams, 4 tons of dalo, 800 coconuts, 3 sacks of tapioca, 8 bundles of bananas, 6 bundles of voi voi, 150 bottles of coconut oil, 8 live pigs, and 4 live chickens. A magiti, dancing, and drinking went on until midnight and, for some men, throughout the night.
On Easter Sunday all but three of the original passengers boarded along with four additional from Nairai. All the goods were stowed along with personal gifts. The ship sailed at 1530 for Suva. At 1900 they passed the island of Gau. The sea was then rough, and the boat was rolling heavily.

After some debate it was decided to press on to Suva rather than shelter at Gau. At about 2300 the Kadavulevu capsized within sight of the lights of Viti Levu. There were only three survivors. They were able to relate what happened. One woman (Nina, aged forty-nine), who was supported mats at night saw a raft. She climbed on board, as did about ten other people, including two sailors and a boy aged fourteen.

On Monday morning there was only debris to be seen in the rough sea. The sailors managed to retrieve green coconuts and peel them with their teeth for the survivors. By Thursday only one woman and the boy remained there to be rescued. All others on the raft had disappeared into the sea. The sailors may have tried to swim ashore for help but never made it. The other woman survivor (Saine, aged forty-three) also left the raft to swim ashore. She supported herself with timber and was washed up on a reef on Thursday morning. From there she swam ashore and gave details of the tragedy to the marine rescue parties already searching. By then about ninety people had drowned.

Changes were made to maritime laws as result of the Kadavulevu disaster.

This is the Kadavulevu disaster song