Built as a motor yacht by Camper & Nicholsons, Gosport near Portsmouth, U.K. for Paris Eugene Singer one of the famous American sewing machine family.
Launched as the PIONEER.
Tonnage 399 gross, dim. length 45 meter.
Powered by a Polar diesel engine, 250bhp. (The first yacht built by the yard fitted out with a diesel engine)
1913 completed.
During World War I hired at 21 October 1915 by the Royal Navy as an auxiliary patrol vessel and fitted out with 1 – 12pdr. and 1 – 6pdr. gun.
14 March 1919 returned to owners.
1920 Sold to the Fiji Government and refitted.
The Fiji Post then gives:
The motor yacht HMCS PIONEER, originally built for cruising in the Mediterranean was a familiar sight in Fiji waters in the 1920 and 30s as it conveyed the Governor and other government officials on tours of inspection, including tours to inspect Fiji’s many fair-flung lighthouses.
24 March 1939 scuttled off Suva, Fiji Islands.
Fiji 1998 $3 sg1034, scott?
Source. Various web-sites. Ships of the Royal Navy Vol 2 by J.J.Colledge.
Compendium of Australasian Merchant Ships 1831-2008 by Robert Tompkins.