MISSING LAUNCH

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 86, 8 October 1935, Page 11

MISSING LAUNCH

NO TRACE POUND

A WELL-ORGANISED SEARCH

BY LAND, SEA, AND AIR

A very well-organised search by land, sea, and air had up to this afternoon, revealed no trace of the missing launch Miss Paremata, or of her crew of three.

The launch, which belonged to Joseph Martin Gllesbi, of Miramar, and which also had on board Alfred Robert Oldham, and • Robert John Reilly, aged 14, left Paremata early on Saturday afternoon for Wprser.Bay, where she was to be fitted out as a fishing boat. She had a 5 h.p. engine, but no sail, and her freeboard was said to be only about nine inches. , The headquarters of the search are at the electricity department of the Wellington City Council, where the two men are employed. Speaking to a "Post" reporter today, Mr. V. Stempa, who is in charge of operations, gave an account of the search since its commencement. ABOUND THE COAST. Yesterday afternoon a party of eight from the electricity department went out to Makara, and there divided into, two, one party setting out to search the coast to the north, and the other going south. One of the searchers reported to headquarters from the Te Kaminaru Bay homestead at 8.15 p.m. yesterday, saying that nothing had been sighted, and that the northern party was carrying on to Titahi Bay. Early this morning a party from the department started out round the coast from Island Bay to meet the southern party from Makara. Another party left at 4 aon. for Titahi Bay with the intention of working down the coast' to the south. Later, a further band of searchers left to search the coastline north from Titahi Bay. This morning a progress report was received from the party which went north from Makara. Later, a carrier pigeon was received from the party working south from Titahi Bay, The message stated that the two parties had met,i and that neither had seen any sign of wreckage nor of the crew. All the searchers w%re well. Fishermen at Paremata are engaged in searching the vicinity from the sea, including Titahi Bay and Mana Island. Makara fishermen are also patrolling the coast in the hope of finding the launch sheltering or picking up wreckage. Mr. Tate, of Island Bay, left there by launch at 3 a.m. today for Paremata to make an inspection of the route that the missing launch would have taken. « ■' AERO CLUB'S HELP. Yesterday afternoon an aeroplane piloted by Flight-Lieutenant I. E. Rawnsley flew up the coast, but" sighted no trace of the missing launch. An aeroplane was out again this morning, but returned with nothing to report. It has been arranged with the Wellington Aero Club to make another inspection from the air of the coast between Titahi Bay and Porirua Harbour, and also round Cape Palliser. A pilot flying down to-Blenheim todayhas been requested to keep a look-out, especially in the vicinity of Cape Campbell, on the chance that the north-west gale drove the launch southward. The postmaster at Titahi Bay has been advised to report immediately 'any:smol<e slgnalsthat "might be seen.. Mr. Eric Riddiford, of the Orongorongo station, has also been communicated -with, with a view to arranging a patrol on that side of the harbour. NO LAUNCH SIGHTED. -Fishermen at Makara stated that they: kept up a watch from the beach all Saturday and Sunday in the hope of->the-weather- moderating sufficiently Northern to get their boats to sea, and" that they were positive that no boat or launch passed the bay. If it'had done so, they did not think that it could have got through. This view was- endorsed by fishermen working out of other bays on the coast, who also-said that they had seen no launch at sea on Saturday or Sunday. Hopes are still maintained that the vessel is sheltering in one of the bays along the coast. If so, the southerly change last night should.give her a chance to make port. Yachtsmen and fishermen maintain, however, that had she not taken shelter a craft with such a low freeboard would not have survived the gale of Saturday and Sunday. . ... . ■. The Wellington Aero Club's Moth ZK-AAV, piloted by Plight-Lieutenant I. E. Rawnsley, which returned from the search yesterday afternoon, left again with Mr. E. Lloyd as observer, accompanied by Mr. P. Blundell in tha Hawke's Bay and East Coast Aero Club's Moth ZK-AAB, at 10.30 thi» morning and covered the coast from Pericarrqw to the vicinity of the outlet from Lake Wairarapa without any result. They returned at 11.25 a.m. BOAT AT CAPE PALLISER. During his flight this morning' Fhght-Lieutenant Rawnsley reported seeing a boat drawn up on the beach near Cape Palliser. He could not risk coming down too low, but observed that the vessel had white sides and a red bottom, answering thus iar to the description of the launch. It lay about half a mile west of the mouth of the Little Mukamuka River. and was drawn up on the beach with the bow above high-water mark, partly buried in the sand. Flight-Lieutenant Rawnsley, did not consider that it had anything to do with the missing launch. A man on horseback is however, investigating from the Riddiford Station, and a report is expected about 5 p.m.