ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 5

ALMOST A TRAGEDY.

j BOYS IN A SINKING BOAT. A SMART RESCUE. Had it not been for the promptitude of two waterside workers on Thursday afternoon, a drowning fatality, involving the lives of four boys, might easily have occurred in Evans Bay, Wellington. From facts gathered by a "Dominion" reporter, it appears that four school jboys, bent on enjoying their holidays to the. utmost, sot out from Evane Bay at about 3.30 o'clock in a small flatbottomed boat, their intention being to cross the bay to the Miramar wharf. When they were about three hundred yards from their objective, the boat . began to leak badly, and was soon sinking fast. The cries of the terrified boys, accentuated by the wild barking of a dog they had "with them, attracted.the attention of two waterside workers on ! the Miramar wharf. One of them, J. i Napier, immediately stripped, and, diving I off the high wharf, swam out with a lifebelt. The other, named Hanson, ran to the new power station and secured a boat and assistance. Both men were quickly on the scene, and only just in time, for the boat was quickly disappearing. The boys were brought ashore, but apart iro».i a bad fright, and fifteen minutes or so in the cold water, they were not much the worse for their experience. Not one. of the boys, whose ages ranged from 11 years to 13 years, was a strong swimmer.