Northland sailors on HMNZS Endeavour's final trip

By Kristin Edge

Northern Advocate·

13 Jun, 2017 07:30 PM3 mins to read

HMNZS anchors in BOI after a four month long deployment.

For the last four months Kaitaia's Hohepa Lewer has been helping to feed 51 other crew members at sea onboard HMNZS Endeavour.

But the 21-year-old chef was looking forward to a bit of his mum's home cooking and in particular a boil-up.

"We've just returned from Singapore and I can't wait to have mum's boil-up," said the sailor.

The 138m-long Endeavour dropped anchor in the Bay of Islands late on Sunday night to clear customs before sailing into Devonport yesterday for a homecoming welcome ahead of being decommissioned.

Mr Lewer was one of three Northlanders on the ship's last major overseas deployment. The other two were navigator Seagar Clarkson, from Kohukohu, and stores accountant and the ship's newest qualified replenishment-at-sea winch driver Nessa Reti, from Waikare in the Bay of Islands.

With just two years in the Navy Mr Lewer said joining after finishing Kaitaia College was a great career move. Prior to heading to sea he had not had much experience in the kitchen but did enjoy cooking.

"I'm aiming to get my qualifications and I'll see what will happen from there."

The crew has spent four months at sea and sailed to Australia, Brunei, Cambodia and Malaysia.

The person responsible for planning the route and avoiding all other ships and rocky obstacles was Mr Clarkson.

He joined the navy in 2009 and has worked his way through the ranks to be the number one navigator on Endeavour. Plotting the course for the massive trip included looking at forecasts, sea currents and being in the right place at the right time.

In the South China Sea at times he said there were about 500 vessels in sight - fishing boats, container ships and pleasure craft.

"We had to zig-zag our through, it was like dodgems," the 26-year-old said.

The Endeavour's role at sea is to refuel other navy ships at sea. Long black hoses carry diesel from Endeavour to other ships or helicopters.

Ms Reti played a major part in the 18 refuelling operations while on deployment. During the trip she qualified as a replenishment-at-sea winch driver - a crucial role when it comes to refuelling.

"I get a bit nervous when we do it. But so far it's been great. I never thought I would be doing anything like this when I joined the Navy."

The crew had been part of three multi-national exercises.

Captain Martin Doolan said it had been an experience for some of those onboard.

"We left in February with some inexperienced young sailors and we came back with some tattooed, bearded, salty sea dogs."

The Endeavour is due to be decommissioned next year after a trip to Australia and a few smaller trips around New Zealand.