TRAGIC WRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1937, Page 8

TRAGIC WRECK.

THE SCOW RANGI. FOUR MEN DROWNED. SURVIVORS TELL STORY. EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. The only t«o survivors from the tasic «rrck of the scow Hangi. which foundered off Rakino Island, at the eastprn entrance to (lie Hauraki Gulf at the height of the gale on the evening of Thursday, January 14, with the lose of four live.-, tokl their t-tory this afternoon at. the inquest held before. Mr. C. K. Orr Walker. S.M.. in the Magistrate's Court. The prow abandoned the vessel when she hoolo<l over, and drifted in a dinghy to a point about a. mile and a half off Torhay. There the dinghy swamped. John Masou, a member of the crew, and Donald Woodruffe. aped 14, a schoolboy, who was making a trip on the voyage from Tauranga to Auckland as the guest of the captain, managed to get aehore safely. Maeon clung to the boat and was washed ashore, the boy Woodroffc being washed ashore in an unconscious condition. The inquest concerned the deaths of: The master. Captain Peter Petersen, uged 54, married, of 4, Greenfield Avenue, Epsom. An A.8.. Harold Helgeson, aged 34, single, of 104. Xeleon Street. Charles De Faire, cook, aged 64. single, who bad no relatives in Xew Zealand. William Douglas Robineon, aged 21, labourer, of William Street. Waihi. Deck Hand's Story. Xineteen-year-old John William Frederick Mason, the rescued deck hand, told how the Rangi, under the command of Captain Petersen, had left Freeman's Bay, Auckland, on January (i on her fateful voyage to Omokoroa Beach, near Tauranga, to load pine logs for Auckland, and how on January 12, after loading, the scow was towed from Omokoroa to the channel about noon, and sailed for Auckland at 5 p.m. that day, Tuesday. Besides the captain and himself, there were on board Charlie de Faire, the cook, two deck hands, known to him only as Bill and Harold, and the boy Donald Woodroffe, who wae on holiday. "We arrived off Slipper Island about 4 a.m. on Wednesday," he said, "and drifted about until 3 a.m. on Thursday, when we were off Mercury Island. The wind and sea rose, and I was on watch at the wheel until 8 a.m. on Thursday. As we rounded Cape Colville the seas were fairly high, and Captain Petersen, with Harold, took charge of the wheel. Sail Sipped. "After passing the Cape two stays of the mainmast on the etarboard eide carried away. We lowered the mainsail and it ripped and became useless and we were compelled to carry on with the foresail and the inner jib. Thie was the only sail, we could use and when we nrrhrcd off Motnihi it was found that we could not make the Motnihi Passage f>o we altered - our course and sailed between Rakino and the Noisies. "The time would be about 4 p.m. on January 14 la*t when we paeeed Rakino and the scow was showing a big list to starboard. Wβ made for the lee shore

of Rakino Inland. The anchor was dropped with about .40 fathoms of anchor chain, and while so anchored a number of logs from the starboard eide were put into the eea. A lot of water was pumped out and the scow righted herself. We then started to heave in the anchor chain and when only about 10 fathoms remained the wow listed heavily on the port side, so much so that all control of the ecow was lost. Scow Tenia Orer. "Next an attempt was made to free the logs on the port side, but seas were entering the scow by the fore hatch, causing, the scow to heel over to port. We then made-for the scow's dinghy. We boarded the dinghy only just in time for as we cast off the ecow wax bottomup. "Captain Petersen and Harold took to the oars in the dinghy and attempted to make for the shore by Motutapu Island. This was not possible and the evening was getting dark so the dinghy was turned round and drifted, stern first, for the mainland. We drifted for a long time, and at what I should say would be about midnight on January 14 last we saw the light of the mainland. We were baling out the water from the dinghy all the time and everything was all right until we were about half a mile from the shore, when a big wave struck the dinghy and turned it over. Captain Petersen and BUI disappeared. (Proceeding.)