DRIFTING LAUNCH

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24869, 8 May 1946, Page 6

DRIFTING LAUNCH

SUPPLIES DROPPED FROM AIRCRAFT SEARCHING VESSELS FAIL TO MAKE CONTACT (P.A.) AUCKLAND, May 7. Emergency supplies and rations carried in the bomb bay of an aircraft of the R.N.Z.A.F. * were dropped successfully this afternoon to the two men aboard the launch Annie, which IS now drifting some 50 miles southwest of Raglan. The men. L. K. Kjeldsen. aged 52. married, and D. J. McGlashan, aged 19. single, were seen hauling the floating packs aboard the launch, and both waved to the aircraft. Neither the searching launch from New Plymouth nor the motor-vessel Clansman, on her way from Onehunga to New Plymouth, had sighted the Annie, which proved difficult to locate again to-day. During the night she drifted some 15 miles from the position in which aircraft last observed her late on Monday afternoon, and the first aircraft sent from Ohakea to-day failed to make contact. It was not until 3.15 o.m. that a Ventura aircraft, also from Ohakea, reported locating the launch. which was pitching in a choppy sea. and drifting before a wind of 25 to 30 knots. There was low cloud down to about 800 ft. but visibility was fair.