PAPUA NEW GUINEA –

PNG- CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR!!

It's as if the Zuiderdam is going out of its way to avoid Papua New Guinea (which I guess it is since New Guinea is not on our itinerary)! We're traveling up the Northeastern coast of Australia from Cairns to Darwin. We thread the needle through the Straits of Torres. New Guinea couldn't be much closer, but there was no stopping there. It's a shame because John has good stories about his experiences with the USS Tripoli (LPH-10), which made a port call into Port Moresby in 1979. The story is too good to pass up, so he shares it here.

John's Story

After ten days of pleasant R&R in beautiful Sydney, we spent six days in Hobert, Tasmania. By the way, the real live Tasmanian Devils you may remember from the Bugs Bunny cartoons look exactly like the one in the cartoon. However, I did not see one spin like a tornado, as I remember from the cartoons. After Tasmania, we sailed to New Guinea.

A memorable moment for me was the evening we left Hobert. The Night Orders, signed by our CO, Captain Collins Haynes, a former Vietnam POW, indicated we were to leave Hobart and proceed on a direct course to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

(Backstory: Captain Haynes talked to the wardroom the day before we returned to San Diego about his incredible POW experience, but that story is for another time.)

I was the Officer of the Deck standing the Bridge Watch as we got underway. Several of us discussed that it would be nice to sail south until it was dark enough to see the Southern Cross in the southern night sky. We approached the CO and requested that he amend his Night Orders to allow us to sail South to see the Southern Cross. Captain Haynes quickly agreed and amended his orders per our request.

The Southern Cross is a group of five stars in the Constellation CRUX: four bright stars in the shape of a Cross and one lesser star offset from the center of the Cross.

Interesting note: The lesser star in the Southern Cross is 570 light years from earth. It gives me a headache to try to understand that light travels 186,000 miles / second, then there is per minute, per hour, etc., etc. Heck, I find it hard enough to wrap my mind around the fact that in the Coral Sea where we are sailing there is 7,854 feet of water beneath our keel. The thought occurred to me the first time I sailed in water over a mile deep, you only swim in the top three feet. Go Figure!

Early Explorers used the Southern Cross for navigation because they are some of the brightest stars when sailing in the Southern Hemisphere. The five stars of the Southern Cross appear on the Australian Flag. That evening, once the Southern Cross was in view in the night sky, we turned north to Port Moresby.

Being a person with a simple, if not novel, appreciation of life, seeing the Southern Cross is one of my memorable experiences. Seeing President Eisenhower at six feet along with a thousand other Boy Scouts as he drove past at the Boy Scout Jamboree in Colorado Springs in 1959 is another. Enjoying the original Sons of the Pioneers Western Band on the same day at the Jamboree made for two memorable moments in one day.

Back to New Guinea. I believe the USS Tripoli LPH-10’s visit to Papua New Guinea was connected to a State Department Goodwill event. A reception was planned on board Tripoli for Prime Minister Michael Somare, his wife Veronica, and other VIPs. The Executive Officer requested (told) me to be the escort for the Prime Minister’s wife as they arrived. I was to accompany her on board and stand by her during the reception. I was glad to oblige.

To repay in kind, the PNG Navy hosted a reception at their Officers’ Club. The building was modest but had nice decor, and there was a spread of wonderful food of all types—I especially remember enormous shrimp. There were two dozen or more PNG Navy Officers attending. I got the impression that a major portion of Officers of their entire Navy were in attendance.

Over a Gin & Tonic, I struck up a conversation with a PNG Lieutenant Commander, who was the same pay grade as me at the time. We enjoyed sharing Sea Stories. He spoke perfect English, as he had trained in the USA. Over the second G&T, he said, “I know you cannot help but notice the tattoo on my forehead.”

I acknowledged, and said, “Yes, I have noticed it.” He explained that he was from a primitive mountain tribe and had not received any formal education until his mid-teens. He explained the tattoo is a rite of passage ceremony, no longer practiced, called “kuije kanan,” which means (thorn hit).

Then, with a serious look on his face, he said, “I hope you are not offended, but I must tell you that my parents were cannibals, but I assure you they are no longer. I am not a cannibal and never practiced the ritual. I assured him I was not concerned, but I certainly have never had a similar conversation with anyone else.

Once we determined there were no cannibals in attendance, my friend asked me if I would like to accompany him on his official duty the next day, which was to travel by jeep to a PNG special force training camp in the mountains. It certainly sounded like an exciting adventure. I immediately said yes, as we were scheduled to be at anchor for another day or so. He said he and his driver would meet me on the pier the next morning at 0800 hours. I returned to the ship that evening with thoughts of an excellent adventure the next day.

Regretfully, the USS Tripoli received a FLASH Navy Message late that night. Navy Messages were ranked in the precedence of: Routine, Priority, Op Immediate, and Flash. The message directed USS Tripoli to proceed at the most reasonable speed to the Indian Ocean because of an International Incident. We left Port Moresby before morning and sailed for the Indian Ocean, so I missed my trip to the PNG Special Forces Camp in the mountains. I had no method of notifying my friend I could not join him; I guess he figured it out. After a day or so, as we headed toward the Indian Ocean, our mission was canceled, so we turned around and returned to our original OpSked., but not to New Guinea.

Two weeks later, I read a story in the NAVY TIMES newspaper that on the day of my scheduled jeep ride to the PNG Training Camp, mountain tribesmen ambushed a Navy jeep near the Camp with spears. The news article reports scratches on the jeep, but no personnel were injured. I would have been on that jeep - that would have been quite an adventure!

Photo of Port Moresby Harbor, Public Domain Photography