NO SIGN OF LAUNCH

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30945, 29 December 1965, Page 1

NO SIGN OF LAUNCH

Motunau Search To Continue

Air, sea, and coast searches yesterday failed to find the 22ft. cabin cruiser Helen, with two men and a boy on board, which has been missing from Motunau since 6.30 a.m. on Monday.

Devon aircraft from the Royal New Zealand Air Force station, Wigram, yesterday searched an area of 5000 square miles, launches from Motunau and Kaikoura searched the coast and out to sea, and police and search-and-rescue parties searched the coast from Motunau to the Hurunui river.

Today the search by sea and air will continue, and six search-and-rescue parties will complete the search of the coastline between Motunau and Kaikoura.

Those on board the launch are

Donald Salisbury Lamberton, aged 49, married, with a family, a frock manufacturer, of 316 Blenheim road: Peter David Talbot, aged 25, who was married three weeks ago, of 25A Hills road: and Ross Frederick Wheeler, aged Hi, a nephew of Mr Lamberton, of 22 Field terrace.

Two launches were seen yesterday north of the Conway river. The first, brown and white, the same colours as the Helen, was seen off the Hauimuru bluff, but an air sweep showed it to be a fishing vessel. The second was seen at 6 p.m. on the horizon north of the Conway, but the vessel passed the Kaikoura lighthouse at 8.15 p.m., and was not the Helen.

The missing launch is registered as a commercial fishing vessel, with LN 192 painted on port and starboard bows. The Helen is painted white, ■with a brown canopy.

“Stout Craft”

The fibreglass launch was built in Christchurch. The shipwright told the police that it was a “stout craft and' would take quite a bit of sinking.” The Helen is powered with a 150 h.p. Volvo engine, with

inboard-outboard drive. There were two floating cushions and a lifebuoy on board.

The launch set out from Motonau Beach, 61 miles by road north-east of Christchurch, at 6.30 a.m. on Monday. The two men were going to set crayfish pots. The launch did not return on the morning tide, and when it did not return to rivermouth jetty on the afternoon tide, two local residents began a search. The lona (Mr A. P. Williams) and Vixen (Mr B. Pawsey) went 30 miles up the coast and searched for five to six hours before returning to the harbour, in a rocky, shoalstrewn bay, about 10 p.m. Air Sorties R.N.Z.A.F. Devon aircraft began searching at daybreak yesterday. The aircraft made five sorties, searching from the Clarence river in the north to Banks Peninsula in the south, and from the coast to 70 miles out to sea. The director of the search-and-rescue operation (Mr F. A. Cox) said that the sea was fairly rough off the coast, but not rough enough to prevent a launch being seen from aircraft. Yesterday afternoon, six policemen from Christchurch, in two parties of three, searched the coast from Motunau to the Hurunui river. Today, six search parties of three men, from the search-and-rescue members in Kaikoura, Cheviot and Motunau, will search the coast from Hurunui to Kaikoura.