SICK MAN SAILS 16ft LAUNCH

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28447, 29 November 1957, Page 10

SICK MAN SAILS 16ft LAUNCH

Trip From Great Barrier Island "The Press" Special Service AUCKLAND, November 28. 11l for a week at his home at Sho Shoal Ray, Great Barrier Island. Mr William Gibbs, aged 32, managed last week to get down to his 16-foot launch and sail her 12 miles through choppy wind-swept seas to Port Charles. Found in a state of collapse bv the Port Charles radio operator, Mr J. Smith, he was sent to Coromandel Hospital, where he is recuperating from a back complaint. The news came to light when a skindiver, Mr L. W. Subritzky, returned to Auckland after a week-end working off the Barrier on the sunken wreck of the Wiltshire. The week before, said Mr Subritzky, he had run out of petrol for his compressor and Mr Gibbs had provided him with a gallon. In return he took some fresh meat, bread and butter for the Gibbs family who. like all Barrier Islanders, have been virtually isolated since the Coromel went off the run. ' Last Saturday when he saw Mrs Gibbs, who is the mother of four children, all under six, she told him her husband had struggled into his boat three days before to go to Coromandel Hospital. Fishermen had told her that Port Charles radio had reported his arrival. There is no doctor on Great Barrier Island. A district nurse lives at Port Fitzroy. but that is 50 miles from Tryphena. and there are 28 gates to open and shut on the rugged journey between the ports. “Mr Gibbs has evoked a lot of admiration on this island.” said Mr Subritzky. “The 12 miles of open sea between Tryphena and Port Charles can be very rough indeed.” Sneaking from Coromandel Hos-> pital Mr Gibbs said he hoped to go home next Monday. He was verv nonchalant about his trip. “It was a bit breezy,” he said, “but it was more wet than rough, although there was a fair chop.” The vovage took him an hour and a half. His launch is powered bv a 10-horsepower motor. “I like it here.’’ he added. “It’s a nice change to see a few shops.” The American Can Company reported that the coat of tin on some tin cans is now only one-twelve-millionth of an inch thick.