YACHT CAPSIZES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 286, 15 September 1947, Page 6

YACHT CAPSIZES

One Man Dies from Exposure RESCUE ATTEMPTS FROM SHORE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 14. Caught by a sudden squall midway between Somes Island and the Hutt Road shortly after noon on Saturday, a small yacht, the. Blue Peter, capsized and was car- ’ ,ried by a high wind and choppy seas' on to the breastwork, about a mile north of Ngahauranga, where it was smashed.

Three members of the crew, Cecil Payne (the owner), Bruce Wardell, and Owen Smith, were rescued with great difficulty, but Payne died of exposure while being conveyed to hospital.

A crowd gathered on the Hutt Road as . the yacht was borne toward the breastwork, with the three men clinging to it. Ropes were quickly produced by motorists and combined into a lifeline. A man, believed to be Mr D. A. C. Clapperton, stripped to his underclothes and plunged into the surf in an effort to take the line to the yacht. Re was forced back by the heavy seas, i David McMahon, of Johnsonville, managed to get through the surf to the yacht, and assisted the three men to safety. The yachtsmen had kept their circulation going by turning over the boat. When they were helped ashore all three were in a state of severe exhaustion.

One of the rescuers, Mr W. T. Jones, who had removed his overcoat and sports jacket to help near the water’s edge, found when he returned to the nearby railway line that someone had taken his clothing, i

TWO MEN KILLED CAR GOES OVER BANK INTO RIVER (P.A.) AUCKLAND, September 14. Two men lost their lives when a car went over a bank into the Wailiarakeke River on the Whangama.ta road, 14 miles from Waihi at about 8.30 p.m. yesterday. The men were: —Eddie Douglas, aged 43, married, a bushman, the father of several children, and Geoffrey James Clarke, aged 29, a Maori, of Waitoa. The only other passenger in the car, Henry Smith, aged 36, a mining contractor of Waihi, escaped unhurt, and went for assistance to a nearby Maori settlement. When he returned his companions were found dead. The car was driven by Douglas.