LOST AT SEA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 7

LOST AT SEA.

ENGINEER'S FATE. TRAGIC FISHING TRIP. INCIDENT ON SEINE BOAT. When the fishing boat Maud E. was working off Cape Colville on Thursday afternoon, Mr. George Wallace Barker, aged 45, engineer of the vessel, one of the largest seine boats in the gulf, disappeared. It is surmised that he fell overboard when he was walking along the deck. As soon as his absence was noted the Maud E. put back and carried out a thorough search, but he was not seen again,'cither by the crew of the fishing boat or by other fishermen working in the vicinity. According to statements made by the crew of the vessel when she returned to port, Mr. Barker was seen to leave the' cabin aft and make his war to the engine-room, for'ard. He had to pass a pile of rope and seine nets on the deck, and it is thought that he cither tripped or overbalanced and fell into the sea. Xo one saw or heard him fall, the crew being in the cahin below and the captain at the wheel. The sea at the time was quite calm. The Maud E, was on her way from Auckland to the seine net fishing "grounds in the Bay of Plenty. So far the police have been unable to trace Mr. Barker's wife. It is believed that he has either six or seven children. Mr. Barker lived on the boat. Captain W. Wilcox, Superintendent of Mercantile Marine, held an inquiry in camera into the circumstances of the tragedy, when the boat returned to Auckland yesterday afternoon. The evidence will be sent to the Minister of Marine, the Hon. P. Frascr, at Wellington. If the body is not recovered, it is for the Minister to decide whether an inquest shall be held.