Boat linked to treasure
Monday, Jan 5, 1970
T he Tongan treasure boat, Aquila, arrived in Fiji on January 4 1970 to rendezvous with its owner Colin Prast. The Aquila was believed to be the boat from which Mr Prast and two other New Zealanders, Mr B.J Curtis and Mr R.H. Rossiter found treasure of the English privateer Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince sank in Tongan waters in 1806 with about 30 tonnes of bullion, and gold and silver ornaments on board.
It was reported the New Zealander hid the treasure before trying to negotiate with the Tongan government for a share.
But the crew of the Aquila said the treasure was “all a dream” and the stories about the find were made up.
The Tongan government appeared to have treated the story seriously, however.
A report from New Zealand said five men who were removed by Tongan police from the 50-ft yacht Maraenui after a search on Monday, were believed to have helped the government search for a multimillion-dollar treasure trove.
One of the men taken from the Maraenui into the government vessel Hifofua was said to be Mr Curtis.
The Maraenui, which sailed under a Nauruan flag, called in Suva on November 22 for repairs to her radar set and left on Christmas Eve.
She was owned by Harrison Shipping corporation of which one of the crew Bob Cohen was managing director. Also on board while the yacht was in Suva were three other Australians - Fred Murray, Rib Gregg and Mike Adare - all from Sydney.
The New Zealand report of the Maraenui incident in Tonga said Tongan government diver had unsuccessfully searched for the Port-au-Prince treasure in the waters around Haapai Island for three days.
The Fiji Times on January 5 1970 said there were speculations the crew of the Maraenui were decoys to draw the attention of the government to the Haapai area while a yacht was picking up the treasure. ■