ONE DROWNED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1937, Page 8

ONE DROWNED.

WONNE WRECK.

GULF TRAGEDY.

SEAMAN IN HOSPITAL.

KETCH FROM SUNDAY ISLAND

Captain A. T.. Stenbcok,. one of the hest-knowii skippers on the New Zealand roast, was drowned last night when the ketch Yvonne, bound to Auckland from Sunday Island, was completely wrecked at Waikawau Bay, Coromandel Peninsula. A member of the crew. J. Masters, is in thr Coromandel Hospital suffering from an injury, the seriousness of which has not yet been learned. The other members of the crew, Hugh McLennan nnd '\Slim* , Goddard, are reported to be safe. As far ns can be learned the ketch, in the normal rim, would have returned to Auckland last night from a trip to the Kermadecs begun three weeks ago. She mme round the outside of the Oreat Harrier, and apparently went ashore at the height of a fierce north-easterly storm, about 10 p.m. It is believed that Captain Stenbeck was at the wheel at the time. Details of Vessel. The Yvonne is not registered. She is , regarded as a private yacht and makes occasional trips to Sunday Island, carrying provisions to the settlers there, one ■of whom is a son of the vessel's agent in Auckland, Mr. V. Venables. She is ;i 50-foot auxiliary ketch, and was bought in Sydney about two years ago. Since then she has made a number of visits to the island. She does most of her work under sail, and on a previous trip, when she was driven off her course, "t took her two days to beat up to port. She was a familiar sight on the harbour, and between trips need to be -iioored alongside the Auckland Harbour board's slipway at Freeman's Bay. Family Tragedies. Captain Stenbeck was a man of over TO years of age, and one of the best<nown skippers on the New Zealand roast, where he had been trading for .he past 20 years or more. Prior to 15 years ago he was master of several ,)i igantines, including the Silver Cloud and the St. Kilda, in the inter-colonial trade, and also on the New Zealand roast. During the past 15 years Captain Stenbeck was mainly occupied in the island trade from Suva to Tonga and other Pacific islands. He returned to Auckland two yeare ago, when he brought here the Norwegian barquentine Isabel, which is now trading round Kaipara. Since theu )» had practically been retired, but hie small wiry form and goatee whisker was -a. familiar sight about the waterfront. He undertook the command of the Yvonne mainly as a form of hobby. Masters, the member of the crew who was injured, is also well known in Auckland. It was he who accompanied Air. Weber, the Polish artist, in sailing a 21ft yacht, some two months ago on a cruise from Palmerston Island, Raratonga, to Auckland. Goddard joined the ketch just prior to this voyage. The disaster is the second tragedy in :he Stenbeck family. On February 20 a son, C'edric Verdon Lloyd Stenbeek, iged 20, was fatally injured in a motor .Occident. Accompanied by a pillion seat companion, Mr. StenbecJi was •iding a motor cycle up Khyber Pass Road when he collided with the rear of a motor truck which was turning into a side street.