Harvard-Bound Ketch Docks Safely After Five-Day Disappearance at Sea

After five days of radio silence, the 48-foot ketch Miru has docked safely at Willmington, N.C., in the last leg of its trip from New Zealand. The Miru is en route to Cambridge, where its skipper, Dr. Thomas R. A. Davies, will enroll in the School of Public Health.

Roger B. Spaulding, Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, said last night he had received a message from Davis announcing the Miru's safe arrival at Wilmington after having weathered several storms at sea. Spaulding said other vessels of that size had been in severe danger.

Davis set sail from Wellington, New Zealand, on May 31, 1952, to prove that Polynesian natives might have sailed to Peru in ancient times. The raft sail of the Kon-Tiki proved the converse; that Peruvian natives might have sailed to the Polynesian islands.

With him Davis brought his wife, his two children, and two children, and two crewmen. The Miru, powered by a diesel engine, arrived at Callao, Peru, on August 21, after braving two hurricanes and 60-foot seas.

Since crossing the Panama Canal the Miru has been making its way up the east coast. Before its arrival at Wilmington yesterday the Coast Guard had last reported the craft at St. Simon's Island, Ga., on the 17th of this month. Spaulding said the Miru will probably dock at Boston in a week's time if the weather permits navigation.