BOATING TRAGEDY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11934, 28 January 1936, Page 3

BOATING TRAGEDY

FIVE LIVES LOST

FLAT-BOTTOM BOAT CAPSIZES

TWO CHILDREN SAVED BY GIRL Auckland, Jan. 2S Five people were drowned in a boating tragedy at Weymouth, on the upper reaches of the Manukau Harbour, three miles from Maiuirewa, yesterday afternoon. Two children, who were clinging to a flat-bottom boat in which the party of seven had been crossing a channel, were saved by a 16-year-old girl, Mary Reece, who heard their screams for hejp and rowed out alone against the wind and tide, reaching them just in time. The victims were: —Mr Edwin Studd, aged 54, farmer, of Sykes’ Avenue, Weymouth. Mrs Vera Studd, his wife, aged 3S years, i.lr Martin Day, aged 41, single, a labourer, of Brown’s Rond, Homai, Mrs Studd's brother. Mr William George Stewart, aged 26, married, labourer, of Russell Road, Manurewa, brother-in-law of Mrs Studd. He is survived by his widow and two young children. Allan Turner, aged seven a son of Mr and Mrs E. Turner, 3 5 Rama Road, Point Chevalier. The children who were saved were Ronald Turner, aged nine, a brother of Allan Turner, and Keith Pollock, aged 12, a son of Mr and Mrs H. Pollock, of Hunua.

The bodies of Mr and Mrs Studd and Mr Stewart were recovered later. Parties failed to find either Mr IJay or Allan Turner, and further searches will be made this morning. News of the tragedy spread rapidly through the settlement. A large number of people gathered on the beach and a search of the foreshore was made. Soon the body of Mr Studd was found. It was floating in shallow water below the Weymouth Wharf, about a mile frdm where the boat had capsized. The body was partly unclothed, indicating that Mr Studd had made a desperate effort to reach the shore.

The body was found by Mr C. J. Bailey, of 71 Buckland Road, Epsom, who is staying at Weymouth. With the assistance of another man, he brought it ashore, and applied artificial respiration for three-quarters of an hour. There was no response, and a doctor who had been summoned pronounced life extinct. The boat came ashore not far from where Mr Studd’s body was found. Search parties were formed under the direction of Constable Holland, of Papakura, and Constable Wilkes, of Manurewa, who were assisted by Mr W. Miller, of AVeymouth. About two hours after the accident, they located the bodies of Mrs Studd and Mr Stewart, 200 yards apart, and a quarter of a mile from where the boat capsized. Mrs Studd was wearing gum-boots. Volunteers formed several parties and searched the foreshore for a considerable distance until dark, but no trace was found of the bodies of Mr Day or Allan Turner. The search will be continued this morning. The seven occupants of the boat were all related. The two Turner boys were spending a holiday with Mr and Mrs Studd, and were to have returned to Auckland on Friday. Keith Pollock was staying with his uncle, Mr Stewart, at Manurewa, and had been taken to Weymouth for the day.