LIVES LOST IN WRECK

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22936, 5 February 1940, Page 5

LIVES LOST IN WRECK

YACHTING TRAGEDY AT TAURANGA CORONER’S COMMENT AT INQUEST <rnaas ishociatxo* uliobui.) TAURANGA, February 3. An inquest into the deaths of Leslie Mafeking Mellars, Roy Elrick Tonkin, and John WiUcock who lost their lives, when the yacht Ngahuia was wrecked at Matakana Island on January 14, was resumed before Mr C. T. McFarlane, Coroner. Sergeant J. Edwards represented me police- , Frank Gordon Gresham, owner of the Ngahuia, said that on its return from a trip to White Island the yacht encountered bad weather, witn poor visibility. About 11.30 he called Willcock on deck in an endeavour to see an outline of the Mount or North Rock light, but he was unsuccessful. The boat was handling beautifully, with no green water coming aboard. At 2 o’clock he lowered the anchor with 30 fathoms warp as a precaution. At 3.15 a.m. the yacht was knocked down by three successive curlers. No damage . was done. The next broke the mast, the hatches were torn off, the dinghy was washed away, and a hole was made in the cabin top. The yacht evidently hit the bottom, and the crew decided to leave the boat on kapok mattresses. Men Leave Vessel Tonkin’ was first away, then Willcock. The remaining three stayed aboard until the yacht sank. They then left the yacht together. Witness loss his mattress, but managed to make the shore after about half an hour.. He noticed that all the mattresses were ashore, and thought the crew was safe. The Ngahuia was perfectly seaworthy. The trouble started' when he was unable to see North Light. Had the light been half-way up the Mount to give a landfall there would have been no trouble. All the crew could 1 swim. Arthur John Denby said that on January 21 a search party at Matakana Island discovered the bodies of Tonkin and Mellars. Witness had been a yachtsman .all his life, and knew all the northern harbours. North Rock light was the worst he had ever experienced. Gresham - said that a party on January 25 discovered the body of Willcock on Matakana Island, seven miles from the wreck. The Coroner returned a verdict that the three men met their deaths from drowning as a result of a yachting accident in a severe storm. He expressed sympathy . with the relatives and with Gresham in his ordeal, and commended the large number of searchers. He expressed regret that the remaining body, that of Philp Herbert Neilson, has not been recovered. He hoped that the question of the light at the mount would receive publicity. He would not add a rider, but would attach a note to the depositions suggesting that the Minister for Justice direct the attention of the Minister for Marine to the position of the light.