A ROUGH TRIP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 239, 23 July 1935, Page 7

A ROUGH TRIP

LAUNCH ON HAURAKI GULF. INJURED MAN AS A PASSENGER. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Jfily 22. Bringing to Auckland in his launch Ocean Queen a man injured on the Great Barrier Island, Mr A. Blackwell experienced the worst trip of his 45 years’ experience of the gulf and the coast. Mr Blackwell left Whangapara yesterday afternoon at 4 o’clock, and arrived in Auckland this morning at 11 o’clock. His passenger was Mr W. Monaghan, an employee of the Kauri Timber Company, who, while working in the bush at the back of Whangapara on Saturday afternoon, caught a thumb in a wire and lacerated it badly. He was taken to hospital on arrival in Auckland.

As soon as the accident happened, Mr Blackwell was communicated with at his home at Tryphena, where he owns a farm.. The weather then, however, was too bad for him to attempt to leave that port, and it was not until yesterday afternoon that he was able to make Whangapara. 'ln the meantime, the injured man was made as comfortable as possible. » “It was the worst trip I ever made,” Mr Blackwell said. “Not only was there a gale blowing; but also it was hardly possible to see your hand in front of your face. We had to steer by the compass. A trip that usually takes me six hours at most —and I have done it hundreds of times—took me 11 hours, and even then we had to put into shelter under the Coromandel Peninsula last night.”