LAUNCH ADVENTURE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 81, 30 December 1929, Page 8

LAUNCH ADVENTURE

EXPLOSION CAUSES FIRE HEAVY SEAS ADD TO CREW’S DIFFICULTIES Dominion Special Service. Nelson, December 28. Messrs. J. and E. Coote and Cyril Watson had an unenviable experience in the bay yesterday. They left Nelson at 3.30 a.m. in the racing launch Slim Jim, towing an outboard motor-boat for the Picton Regatta. When some distance beyond Cable Bay the sea became very rough and it was decided to return to Nelson. The engine was not going too well owing, it is thought, to water getting into the benzine. Launch Takes Fire. When off Mackay’s Bluff the engine back-fired and the launch was soon enveloped in flames. This happened while Mr. E. Coote was getting into the outboard motor-boat, which he intended to use to try and keep the larger launch from drifting near the rocks. Fortunately the outboard engine started on the first turn of the handle, and the other two occupants of the launch were taken on board. Four cases of benzine were on the burning launch, but fortunately the party was able to witness their ignition from a safe distance so far as fire was concerned. But their troubles were not at an end, for the little 12-foot craft could hardly live in the sea. The engine was swamped out several times, but always started again. Eventually Nelson harbour was reached without further incident at 11 a.m.