In February, 1966 a 200 tonne twin-screw motor vessel was returned to Australia after it failed to obtain a certificate of seaworthiness from the Fiji Marine Board.
The vessel, that was capable of carrying 30 passengers, was brought to Fiji in November, 1965 for island cruising off the north-west coast of Viti Levu.
According to The Fiji Times on Monday February 14, 1966, the vessel Havannah was purchased in Australia in 1965 at a cost of more than 15,000 pounds by Trevor Doctor.
Mr Doctor was a leading Australia clothing manufacturer, who had intended to lease the vessel to a R.Smith of Stardust Cruises Ltd for economy class cruises in the Mamanuca and Yasawa groups of islands.
Mr Smith, whose company had successfully operated the luxury motor yacht Stardust for several years on island cruises from Lautoka was constructing a 50 room hotel on an island in the Mamanuca Group then and had considered that a potential for cheaper cruises to outer islands existed.
He knew that the Havannah with her comfortable accommodation, spacious deck and public rooms was ideally suited for the task.
Many visitors to Fiji, Mr Smith stated could not afford the higher-priced cruises that were operating then but they could afford two or three days cruising at a cost only slightly higher than hotel prices.
The Havannah was slipped at Suva and inspected by the marine board engineers soon after her arrival in Fiji in 1965.
The article reported that a certificate of seaworthiness was being refused until certain work was undertaken by the owners.
Mr Smith told The Fiji Times in 1966 that following the survey, the surveyors declined to give them a list of defects and a reply to an official request to the marine board for a list was being awaited.
Mr Doctor told The Fiji Times at Lautoka that he had learned unofficially that to bring the Havannah up to the standards demanded by the marine board it could well cost upwards of 5000 pounds in spite of the vessel being the current holder of a Commonwealth survey certificate issued in Queensland.
The work suggested was, he considered too excessive and uneconomical and he had therefore decided to abandon the introduction of the Havannah to Fiji’s tourist industry.
He then returned with the vessel to Australia in February, 1966.
