SATURDAY'S SQUAL.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 89, 16 April 1894, Page 2

SATURDAY'S SQUAL.

SOME EXCITHNG EXPKhIEXCES. The weatberforthegr eater pur 1 of Saturday waa aimply perfeot, and the harbour so calm that a whole fleet of small boats and yachts were out over it. Shortly after 4 o'clock a bank of cloud was seen making low down on the Routherly horizon, and as it rose many . of tho boating men noting it made for the shore, which they reached in time Others, who had landed at various parts of the southern shore of the harbour, could not aeo it. AmongsL thoho ware Messrs. Scot Inglis and A. E. Greenaway, of the Howe-^pong Company, who, with a member of the Stkr Boating Club, were at Sbrlly Bay in a racing double-souller. Xhoy left the bay at 5 o'clock, and, dropping down towards the entrance, began to oioss Evans' Bay at the mouth when tho rising cloudbank was seen. It was thought, however, that they oonld cross to the sholter of Point Jerningham before the storm got down, but before the boat rpaoheii the centre the dust was seen curling far up the bay, and almost instantly the southerly btruok the boat with extraordinary fury. Fortunately the outrigirer had been headed on for the shook, and_ though the wavi-s, coming up with extraordinary rapidity, tilled the hoat almost immediately, by dint of hard rowing and baling with a straw Imt the shelter of the Point was reached after half an hour's exhausting struggle Jutt aa the squall was coming on tlien, the occupants of tbo sculling boat had teen a small- wat»r> man's boat well off the middle ol J- vans' Bay Its occupants, a lady and pcntloinan, were peacefully Sfthing,. when they apparently saw the squall strike the racing boat and hastily dropping the lines, tbo gentleman took to the outb, but made no progress, as two feet of the boats keel at the bows whs out of water. Kecognising that they could rerder no assistance in the racer, the soullera mado for tho point, with a view of pi-tUng anoth-r boat thero, if tho Mararoa, which was crossing tho bay on her way to sea, did. not pick up tho endangered boat. It took a long time to reach the point, iho sculler often baring all it oould do to hold its own, aud on arriving thero Mr. G . S. Hill, who had iusthad a bad time coming from the Patent Slip with a large crew in his big open boat, wm found, and on being told of the danger the ocoutanta of the watermen's boat (which hid not been seen since the storm t-t«.rted) woro in, "at once offered h b boat and his sfr vices, and, with Mr. K. Scott and one of the soulling boat's crew, put off in search of the mUsing boat. The ■ea and wind wero found terribly hoavy, and recognising that they could not do much without, a steamer, Mr. Hill and biß crew mode for the Waihi, which waa just coming in from Blenheim ; and on their explaining the V>bjcot Of thoir quest, Captain >orth instantly took them aboard and thoir boat in tow, and searched the harbour all the way down to Kaiwarra and Ngah^uranga, but oould see nothing in the gi the ring c'arkness aud storm. Finally, concluding that tho hmall boat couid not possibly have lived in the s>>a running, and that her occupants. raußt by th -n have succumbed to the bitter cold, Captain North reluctantly turned back and resumed his voyage to the wharf On reaching this, the matter was reported to Constablo Murphy 1 , who immediately communicated with the Police Station, where it was found that a telephone message bad just been received from ihe fort at Ngahauranga that the missing pair had been rescued there. Thoy proved to be Mr. Lloyd, of Mesßrp. Littlejohn and Son, and Miss Wilmott. Finding that they conld not faco the gale, they bad endeavoured to run before it, and were driven right across tba harbour. Thoy had a terrible experenee, tho seas breaking over them, and the bitter cold numbing them. When juat off Ngahauranga they were seen from the fchore, and a man ran down to the beach to assist them to land and endeavour to keep them off rocks. At this stage the boat capsized, and both were washed out of it, but with the assistance from the shore both were roaoiied— after what can only be considered aj a marvellous «-oape Kestorative.s wrro applied, and every kindness ishown tho sufferers at thp White Hor 80 Hotel. While all this wus occurring off Evans' Bay and within tho harbour, the boats off the wharves wore in lesser trouble. Captain Jones, of tho Duco, perceiving their distress, took his steamer out and picked up several boats. He searohed for a missing Harbour Board boat contaiiiiiigMeßßra3mith.,C'reßpin, and Maol >onald, but without sucuuhs, L^uit^ was feared that they had been drowoe'l, but ultimately th«y turn<*d np in town, hxving nueooe(ledinbeaohiii(rtlioboatin ft\iu,*' Bay. The M'Lean Four* of the Star! 'tub were being rowed iv smooth water when the storm cauie on, and the four* had considerable difficulty in getting back to the sheds, tho heat being won by a crew wliioh crowed right over Hnd got into the comparatively Mnooth water near the wharves. A Star Club whaler whioh was out watching tho races went out again to the aniptunoe of some of the Wellington Rowing Club, who wo c endeavour, ing to save a yacht crew by rowing' the boat to her moorings in the teeth of tin- gale. This waa successfully accomplished, and the crew went out in search of Mr LougliMan , editor of the New Zealand Times, who it -was aUo feared was in trouble, but it wus discovered that he had tmcceeded in bringin« hie boat to tthore in time. The majority of the yachtß were along tho southern and eastern shores of the harbour, and they had an exoiting time before they reached the shelter of Somes' Island and the bays. Yachts wore dropping in all Saturday night and Snnday morning, their crows having suffered severely in many instances from the cold, exposure, and want of food. For. tunately the gala did not oocnpy more than about two houre in passing over, and then it slackened, and though the night was dirty, tbo sea went down. Bemarkable escapes were numerous, but so far it ap* pears that no lives were lost. Mounted • Constable Norman was despatched yesterday around the northern shores of the harbour to see if any bodies had been woshi d ashore, but could learn of tiothinjf beyond narrow esoapes suoh as thoßO chronicled above.