I have found a record of SS PERMANENTE departing San Francisco on or about October 25, 1945, destination Auckland, and returning to San Francisco on January 14, 1946. This likely would fit an arrival in Auckland in late November 1945. The record includes a notation of her presence in Auckland as of November 30, 1945, possibly the date she departed Auckland. Her master (captain) on this voyage was Charles G. Wertz, and one of her radio operators was Grover Piper, who has posted to this thread of messages.
I estimate the date of departure as October 25 as this is the date on which the last of her crew reported onboard. She could not have sailed prior to October 25 but could have sailed later than that date.
The record I found contains only the names and positions of crew members on this voyage, i.e., there is no information about passengers. It was a very large crew, in excess of 100, likely indicating that the ship carried passengers in addition to crew. There is no indication in the record of the ship calling in Tahiti or Rarotonga but there would not necessarily have been a reason to make that notation in the type of record I found.
I hope the above information is useful.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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