CAPSIZED IN THE HARBOUR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 113, 15 May 1911, Page 3

CAPSIZED IN THE HARBOUR.

NARROW ESCAPE OF THREE LADS. CECIL ELLISON'S PLUCKY RESOLUTION. Much excitement was caused on the wharves yeeterday evening, shortly after 6 o'clock, when cries for help wero heard coming from the harbour. It appears that three lads who were returning from Day's Bay in tho 12ft ecow Kita. in attempting to make th© boat harbour were capsized in the strong southerly when about half a mile from shore. Ihe lads— Cecil Ellison (15 years), William Curlew (14 years), and Alfred Hart (14 years) — were in parlous plight, and their rescue just came in time. Ellison, who was steering, stated, when rescued, that the tiller jambed when he was putting th© boat about, and he and his companions were thrown into the water. Haft managed to climb on to the bow of the ' boat, and Ellison helped Curlew there also. Finding the boat would not float the three of them, Ellison, who was the only one able to swim, decided to make for the shore. The plucky lad v/aa hampered by his clothing, and mado a good effort 'until oVeircome by cramp. The boys on the capsized boat kept up loud cries for help, which w«re heard by people on the Queen's Wharf, and the alarm was given at the Harbour Board's tolls office. Messrs W. Meredith and W. Angel, nightwatchmen on the Queen's Wharf, at once put off with Constable Gregor in a boat from the hulk Oreti. . ' H.M.S. Cambrian was also communicated with by Signalman Gilford by means of the Morse lamp, and the searchlights of the vessel swept tho 1 harbour in an endeavour to locate the boye. Meantime the Oreti's boat pursued a zig-zag course in the direction of the boat harbour, and the erica of the two lads enabled the constable,, who was on tho look-out, to find them. They wero quickly pulled on board, and then the rescuers learned, of Ellison, 4*4 * attempt to swim ashore. Owing to the darkness several minutes elapsed before they came up to him, and they wure none too soon, for the unselfish lad had been seized with "cramp in the legs, but- he kept his head and managed to float. No time was lost -in returning to the wharf, where the boys were taken to the tolls office and • quickly dried and warmed. The boys' parents were at once communicated with, dry clothing obtained, and they, were. then able to leave for their homes.' Meantime a launch from the. warship had picked up the Rita and towed it to, land. It is understood that the unselfish action of young Ellison is to be represented to the Humane Society. The Harbour Board men and the constable are also deserving of commendation for the alacrity they showed in going to the rescue of the lads.