SEAFARER'S DEATH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 206, 1 September 1941, Page 2

SEAFARER'S DEATH

CAPTAIN C. C. PLUNKET

ADVENTUROUS CAREER ENDS

Ships' surveyor at Auckland for Lloyd s for many years, following an adventurous career at sea, Captain Charles Cornelius Plunket, aged 76, died yesterday at his residence in Burwood Crescent, Remuera. Captain Plunket was a partner in the firm of Plunket and Falconer, ship's surveyors, for 11 years before ne retired five years ago. Born in Melbourne, he came to New Zealand with his parents and commenced his career at sea under sail from Lyttelton. Among the exploits for which he later became noted were commanding the New Zealand Shipping Company's sailing ship Hurunui in 1895, when she made her fastest run of 86 days from London to Lyttelton, and the avoiding of a shipwreck on the Casquets, a cluster of dangerous rocks six or seven miles west of Alderney, in the English Channel, by running the Alderney Race, the dangerous strait that separates the island from the coast of Normandy. For the latter feat of seamanship Captain Plunket received the congratulations of Lloyd's Shipping Gazette and of his crew for having saved the ship. An active member of the New Zealand Company of Master Mariners, 1 Captain Plunket was well known for his charitable work in connection with the Roman Catholic Church. He is survived by his wife. Three brothers reside in the Dominion.

MR. A. H. BLACKBURN

Formerly chief clerk of the maintenance branch of the Railways Department at Auckland, Mr. Alfred Henry Blackburn, of 125, Vauxhall Road, Devonport, died at the weekend, aged 77. Born in Christchurch, Mr. Blackburn joined the Railway Department as a cadet at Rakaia in 1880 and later served as stationmaster at Methven, Canterbury and Thornbury, Otago, before being transferred to Auckland. He was a member and past president of the Devonport Bowling Club, a life member of the Waitemata Golf Club and for many years was a member of the Maungakiekie Golf Club. He had also held offices at the Masonic Lodge, Devonport. He is survived by one son and two daughters.