STRUGGLE FOR LIFE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 44, 2 August 1939, Page 5

STRUGGLE FOR LIFE

BATTLE THROUGH HEAVY SURF MATATA DROWNING STORY A dramatic story of a fight for Id'e in heavy surf was told by All red hdwin Drummond Lass, of Matata, when the inquest into thJ death bv drowning of William David Parsons, was held before Mr G. A. Brabant, at the Whakatane courthouse on Monday. The coroner's finding was that death was accidental . In a statement Lass said that on Sunday at about 8.30 a.m. witn Parsons and others he went to thi beach near the laraweru cut fo< die purpose of fishing. They had a 14ft. dinghy and were using a net. There was a heavy surf running. The firs!* time they went out in the boat ohe dinghy was swamped in coming in through the breakers, but thev managed to row to shore all right. I heir fishing method was to row about or 200 yards out to sea and pay tho net out, and bring the end in again to shore. On the second trip through the breakers thev passed the surf without trouble, and paid 'the net out. They had only about five yards more net to drop before heading for the beach. Parsons was attending to the net and Lass was rowing. Suddenly ~wo waves came which broke "beyond the line of surf. Lass saw the first wave and called out to Parsons to hang on and turned the boat seawards to meet the wave bow on. As he got the boat up on the crest of the wave the weight ol the net on the stern caused the dinghy to swing broadside on, and the- next wave broke on it, and capsized the craft, "which hit him in the hack a s he was thrown into the water and forced him under. When he came to the surface he saw tlv> deceased hanging on to the overturn, ed dinghy. He swam to it hut the waves were breaking over it and 'curn ;ng it over and over. Parsons was hanging on to the and La.ss thought that if he stayed there he would got hutft, so he sang out to him to swim for the shore. He knew Parsons could swim, because lie trod water for a while to make sure the

deceased was swimming. "CARRY os." They swam as close together as they could and were about three. qnarrers of Ihe way in when La.-:s asked him: ''Are you all right? ' and Parsons answered "Yes, carry on.'' A large wave then caught them, and said he was carried under. Ho did not remember much more. He was thrown on to the b'each. He was then unconscious. Lass .said that the '.rarer was bitterly cold and there 'vas a very strong undertow. He is a good swimmer, and lias been a member '>r a surf club for many year.:;. Tt was His opinion that Parsons van si have been a good swimmer to get ss far'as he did. Had the wave which threw them under not carried Lass into sh'dlcnv water he was sure that he could not survived. Lass said he was numb with cold and knew that he was just about done when, the wave carried him Under. ■ DANGER NOT DISCUSSED. They had not discussed the dange? after being swamped the first time, but be did say to Parsons ''Arc we going out again?" and Parsons replied ''We may as well." Lass was satisfied that it was only the two ' J b, normal waves which broke further out than the others which caused the accident. Otherwise he did not think there was any great danger. Evidence was given by William Rangi Warbrick, surfaceman of Mat_ ata. He said that when the boat capsized the .shore party was under the Impression that the net would be attached to it, so they started to pull iii the net with the idea of banging the bor.t in. However it .seemed to drift further out all the time. Parsers and Lass .seemed to make good progress when, they stareed in swim shore. They decided to pull in the net so as to get some rope to throw to the swimmers, and when they looked again Lass was almost ashore but there wps no sign of Parsons. Las:; wa.s still swimming but he was n shallow water, and Warbrick shouted ' c him to stand up. He did so. and the water wa.s about up to his chest. ARTF,r[CIAL RES Pi R ATION. Constable F. M. Fuller described 'he appearance of the body. EvL Continued at foot of next column)

denee was a'so given by Cecil Nor. man Wrath-dl, one of the pa"tl- - found It later on the beach They tiied artificial respiration f»v about 1o minutes but without - e nl Mr Brabant's fir,ding ws- "T 1 -"-* William David Parsons lost his life on the sea Matata on Sunday, July *' w> " Deceased was out fish*n- ; 1 4 boa'c he was in was caught u - V. - sea and capsized and t ll '- d was drowned."