Mr Kinsella To The Rescue

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30541, 9 September 1964, Page 1

Mr Kinsella To The Rescue

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, Sept. 8. A seaman fell from a barge at the gangway of the U.S.S. Long Beach today and disappeared into the murk of Wellington harbour for so long that observers wondered if he was going to surface—but a Cabinet Minister pulled him out and got his trousers wet in doing so.

The sailor, a crewman of the barge, fell in a 50-knot gale into a heavy chop while he was trying to steady the barge

against the Long Beach for passengers to cross. The Minister of Education (Mr Kinsella) was waiting on the gangway for the barge to come to the top of the four or five-foot swell before he jumped. The sailor, clad in heavy uniform and oilskins, chose the wrong moment to steady the barge and tumbled into the water. . Mr Kinsella and a seaman waited for long moments, wondering whether they needed to dive for him. When the seaman ap-

peared, floundering, it appeared as though, he could not swim. Mr Kinsella and the seaman grabbed him, but it seemed he would be crushed between the barge and the ship. The two men were just able to get him clear as the ship surged again in the swelt The sailor disappeared into the ship, and Mr Kinsella, who is a crewman of the 36ft yacht Giselle, and well used to the vagaries of Wellington’s harbour, waited for his moment to jump to the barge.