  Two--kaon production in proton--deuteron collisions has been studied at three
energies close to threshold using a calibrated magnetic spectrograph to measure
the final $^3$He and a vertex detector to measure the $K^+K^-$ pair.
Differential and total cross sections are presented for the production of
$\phi$--mesons, decaying through $\phi\to K^+K^-$, as well as for prompt
$K^+K^-$ production. The prompt production seems to follow phase space in both
its differential distributions and in its energy dependence. The amplitude for
the $pd\to ^3${He}$ \phi$ reaction varies little for excess energies below 22
MeV and the value is consistent with that obtained from a threshold
measurement. The angular distribution of the $K^+K^-$ decay pair shows that
near threshold the $\phi$--mesons are dominantly produced with polarization
$m=0$ along the initial proton direction. No conclusive evidence for $f_0(980)$
production is found in the data.
