TRIP BY CANOE FROM PUYSEGUR POINT

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27074, 24 June 1953, Page 5

TRIP BY CANOE FROM PUYSEGUR POINT

——♦- , NO NEWS OF MAN SINCE APRIL 29

(New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL June 23.

Mr Francis Biddle, aged 34,' left Puysegur Point, Preservation Inlet, on April 29 in a collapsible canoe intending to travel by sea and overland through some of New Zealand’s wildest country to Milford Sound. He has not been heard of since, and the Invercargill police are making inquiries. Mr Biddle, who is married with two children, belongs to Matohe, on the Kaipara Harbour, North Auckland. Senior-Sergeant G. A. Howes said today that Mr Biddle was not officially listed as missing. He was overdue on his own calculation. If he is not found within a day or two a search by sea will probably be made. The only information about Mr Biddle has come from fishermen operating in the area. They say that Mr Biddle, an experienced deerstalker, was advised by them not to undertake the trip, which in summer would take an experienced party about three months to complete. He set out in his 501 b canoe carrying provisions that would last him about a week. Invercargill mountaineers who know the country through which he would have to pass say that much of it is impenetrable, and that he would have to make long sea voyages. It is estimated that he would have to cover one sea stretch of about 100 miles. Accounts about Mr Biddle’s intentions vary. One story is that he intended to explore Dusky Sound, and then sail up Wetjacket Arm and carry his canoe overland to Lake Manapoun.