By Tupuola Terry Tavita

The story of the Joyita can be described as one of a tragedy, wrapped up in a mystery covered in an enigma.

It takes its rightful place alongside other famous – or rather, infamous – maritime paradoxes such as the likes of the Mary-Celeste and the Flying Dutchman.

But for those who lost loved ones – still legally declared missing – the fate of the MV Joyita is personal, and painful.

“My father was an honest hardworking man who loved his family,” said an emotional Seiuli Paul Wallwork.

His father, James Simi Wallwork, 40, was a welder aboard that ill-fated voyage early morning, 4^th October 1955, out of Apia, bound for Fakaofo, Tokelau.

“I am thankful for this occasion in that we can finally say goodbye to him. I’ve lived with this pain for so many years. Today is one of the better days I’ve had in a long time.”

Seiuli was joined on Friday afternoon by the families of the 24 other missing crew and passengers at Mulinu’u Point where a plaque was unveiled in their memory.

“Finally we have somewhere we can come and bring our families and just sit and remember, and cherish, our loved ones.”

The families though expressed a sense of sadness towards the New Zealand government – who administered both Samoa and Tokelau that time – in that they never declared deceased nor issued death certificates for the victims of the Joyita.

“I know that under New Zealand law, if someone is reported missing for over seven years, that person is then legally declared deceased. It’s been 57 long years since the crew and passengers of the MV Joyita dissappeared.”

Delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said government had no hesitation in granting the location for the monument when it was asked of them by the Project Joy (Ita) group.

“The Joyita episode has always been a mystery for years and no doubt for many more years to come,” said Tuilaepa.

“Boundless theories have been put forward as to what actually happened.”

A tribute by the Joyita by Terry Dunleavy, MBE and its crew and passengers is as follows;

Luther Toloa and those associated with him in arranging commemorating the loss of LV Joyita and all 25 souls on board in October 1955 deserve the thanks not just of the families and descendants of those who were lost, but also the many of us who felt, and still feel, a sense of personal relationship to the tragedy.  And gratitude not just for the permanent physical memorial tablets, but for their efforts to bring closure to the say story through a coronial inquest.

I lived in Apia, Samoa 1951-58, as editor of the only weekly newspaper Samoa Bulletin, and reported for the New Zealand Press Association both the tragedy and the ensuring Commission of Inquiry in February 1956.  I flew for one day in one of the RNZAF Sunderlands searching for the missing vessel.  I had months earlier sailed for a day in  Joyita on a fishing trip out of Pago Pago, and got to know Captain T.H. (“Dusty”) Miller quite well during his subsequent stay-over in Apia.  As well I knew some of the passengers, especially Dr Andy Parsons, with whom I played golf and who delivered one of our children.

Ashore, during the days of the search, I sat long hours at Apia Radio with my good friend Llyod Webber as he maintained radio watch on 2128, the international distress frequency, all to no avail, as the subsequent inquiry would reveal a long-standing break in the radio aerial made it impossible for Joyita to transit or receive signals for any distance longer than just a few short miles.

I well recall Sunday, 3 October 1955, when our regular group of 9-hole “Sunday School” golfers arrived soon after midday back at the RSA Club, sitting at the harbourside patio, all surprised to note out beyond the rusting remains of the German warship Adler wrecked in the great hurricane of 1889, that Joyita had not yet met its scheduled departure time of 10 a.m.  We were told at the time that the delay was caused by the need to make last-minute mechanical repairs.  The next morning from our flat, I was able to see that the ship had left some time during the hours of darkness.

The following Wednesday, I was invited to Central Office to hear the news that Joyita had not arrived at its destination, the Fakaofo atoll in the Tokelau Island in what was normally a 40-hour voyage.  Although the RNZAF Sunderland base at Laucala Bay, Fiji, was notified to commence a search, no one was particularly worried because we all shared the view of Apia Harbourmaster, Captain J.W.Jones, that its wooden construction, insulated holds, and cargo that included 80 empty but sealed 45-gallon oil drums would ensure sufficient buoyancy as to make the vessel unsinkable.

Days passed; worry increased; with it the growing realisation that we were faced with likelihood of a major maritime tragedy.  Then likely tragedy became mystery five weeks later, on 10 November, when Joyita was spotted by a passing ship near Fiji, 600 miles from its scheduled track, abandoned, waterlogged and adrift.  Four tons of cargo were missing.  Officially, not a trace of the people on board has ever been found.  A Commission of Inquiry investigated the case thoroughly, and heard a range of detailed evidence, and issued a report that found ‘the fate of the passengers and crew as inexplicable on the evidence submitted at the inquiry’.

Probably the best account of the whole tragedy is the book Joyita: Solving the Mystery, an intensive search of the history of the vessel, its owners, people connected with its crew and those who may have in some way had a connection with Joyita’s fateful 1955 voyage, written by the late Dr. David G Wright.

Wright says evidence showed that a corroded pipe in the engine cooling system had leaked water into the vessel, but that by the time the crew would have noticed it would have been too late to fix.  The ship’s clock had also stopped at after 10pm, and with Joyita talking in water heavily at night, a decision would have been made to abandon ship in small rafts.  He believes the crew and passengers were forced into the rafts after a distress signal was sent.  But problems with the wiring meant that the radio was not working and the distress signal was not heard – meaning help would not be forthcoming from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland flying boars at the Laucala Bay base in Fiji.  He says the passengers and crew would have all drowned or been killed by sharks (Anyone interest in the story but unable to obtain Dr. Wright’s book, can access parts of on-line here: http?tinyurl.com/84q6be7)

For myself, it remain a mystery, except for one certainty: something must have happened to ‘Dusty’ Miller.  He was sufficiently well-versed in seamanship to know that Joyita would never sink, and he would not have willingly left her.

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