MEN RESCUED IN GALE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25996, 27 December 1949, Page 4

MEN RESCUED IN GALE

SKIFF SWAMPED BY HEAVY SEAS PICKED UP BY SHIP’S LIFEBOAT (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 26. A dramatic rescue of two men in a half-sunken skiff in Wellington harbour was made during a gale on Christmas Day. When taken from the water ihey were exhausted. The two men are Messrs William Edward Anderson and lan Cameron, members of the Wellington Rowing Club. They had been drifting helplessly in wild seas about half a mile from the boat harbour. The rescue was made about 10 a.m. by a motor lifeboat’s crew from the New Zealand Shipping Company’s vessel, the Haparangi, in the teeth of a northerly gale, which reached 78 miles an hour. The rescuers drove the lifeboat through high seas with the wind sendr ing sheets of spray 10 feet in the air. The lifeboat was manned by eight men with the ship’s second officer, Mr James Beattie, in charge. The two men had ventured out m a rowing skiff into a gale which was so bad that it had forced the postponement of the Wellington to Picton ocean yacht race. They intended to keep in the comparative shelter of the city wharves, but were helpless before the north-west gale. They were blown out to mid-harbour and the unseaworthy skiff soon filled with water. Members of the Haparangi’s crew had been watching the skiff and realised the danger it was in. The men were rescued after only 15 minutes in the water, but they had been buffeted heavily by the seas. They were taken to the Haparangi, given hot baths and wrapped in blankets. Both revived shortly afterwards.