MV Joyita
MV Joyita partially submerged and listing heavily to port side
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | Joyita |
| Namesake: | Jewel Carmen |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Wilmington Boat Works |
| Fate: | Acquired by the United States Navy, October 1941 |
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United States
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| Name: | YP-108 |
| Port of registry: |
 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
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| Acquired: | October 1941 |
| In service: | 1941 |
| Out of service: | 1948 |
| Fate: | Sold to Louis Brothers, 1948 |
| Name: | Joyita |
| Owner: |
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| Fate: | Broke up in Levuka in 1970s |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Luxury yacht, yacht charter, merchant vessel |
| Tonnage: | |
| Length: | 69 ft (21 m) |
| Beam: | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
| Draft: | 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) |
MV Joyita was a merchant vessel from which 25 passengers and crew mysteriously disappeared in the South Pacific in 1955. It was found adrift in the South Pacific with no one aboard. The ship was in very poor condition, with corroded pipes and a radio which, while functional, had a range of only about 2 miles (3.2 km), because of faulty wiring. However, the extreme buoyancy of the ship made sinking nearly impossible. Investigators were puzzled as to why the crew had not remained on board and waited for help.
The 69-foot (21.0 m) wooden ship was built in 1931 as a luxury yacht by the Wilmington Boat Works in Los Angeles for movie director Roland West, who named the ship for his wife, actress Jewel Carmenille — joyita in Spanish meaning "little jewel". In 1936 the ship was sold and registered to Milton E. Beacon. During this period, she made numerous trips south to Mexico and to the 1939–1940 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. During part of this time, Chester Mills was the skipper of the vessel.
The ship's hull was constructed of 2-inch (51 mm)-thick cedar on oak frames. She was 69 feet 0 inches (21.0 m) long, with beam of 17 feet 0 inches (5.2 m) and a draft of 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 m); her net tonnage was 47 tons and her gross tonnage approximately 70 tons. She had tanks for 2,500 U.S. gallons (9,500 L) of water and 3,000 U.S. gallons (11,400 L) of diesel fuel.
In October 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Joyita was acquired by the United States Navy and taken to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she was outfitted as Yard patrol boat YP-108. The Navy used her to patrol the big island of Hawaii until the end of World War II. In 1943 she ran aground and was heavily damaged, but the Navy was in need of ships so she was repaired. At this point, new pipework was made from galvanized iron instead of copper or brass. In 1946, the ship was surplus to Navy requirements and most of its equipment was removed.
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Wikipedia