WRECKAGE FOUND

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 12

WRECKAGE FOUND

AT HAPPY VALLEY

PART OF MISS PAREMATA

IDENTITY CLEAII

A shaft-box found yesterday afternoon at Happy Valley was identified today by the former owner to ue part of the launch Miss Paremata, which has been missing since leaving Porirua Harbour on Saturday afternoon en route for Worser Bay. Aboard her were Joseph Martin Gllesbi, the.owner, and Alfred Robert Oldham, both employees of the electricity department of the Wellington City Council, and the 14-year-old boy Robert John Reilly, Oldham's brother-in-law.

About 1.30 yesterday afternoon, Mr. H. Hayward, a lorry driver, found what is known as a shaft-box washed ashore at Happy Valley. This wreckage is in the form of a shallow wooden box measuring 12£ inches by 20 inches. It l.as evidently been used to coxer the inside part of the propellershaft, and to prevent those aboard coming' in contact with the shaft. The box has slots cut in the short ends to fit the susft, and these have oil about them. Ir is in no way waterlogged, and has the appearance of having been in the water a very short time. The shaft-box was afterwards taken to the Lyt.ll Bay police station1; where it was positively identified as belonging to the Miss Paremata by. John McPherson, of 7C Cecil Road, Wadestown, from whom Gllesbi bought the launch. > FLOORBOARD PICKED UP. At the same time as the other wreckage was, picked up, men removing shingle at Happy Valley found a dressed plank, about 3 feet long, 5 inches wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick. It is unpainted, and has nothing about it" that can be ■ identified. Appearances are that it has been used for the loose flooring of a boat. The plank is now at-the Island -Bay police station. .... .\A shepherd 'at Terawh'iti reported to a member of the search party work-

ing that locality that he. saw a boat going past the station at about 3 p.m. on Sunday. She appeared to have an improvised sail up, and was making very heavy weather of it; The gale was at its height at that time.

It thus seems probable that the launch either swamped or turned over in the heavy sea running along the coast. She must have come down a long way, and could not have been far from shelter., As the wind has again changed to the north, it is unlikely that any more wreckage will be found. There is still hope for the crew, however, as nothing has been found that proves the vessel to have broken up. The articles found may have been jettisoned to lighten' the labouring launch. A FATEFUL SPOT. The spot* where the wreckage was found is only a few hundred, yards from where the coastal steamer Progress was wrecked with loss of life in 1931, and is also near where a fishing launch was lost. According to Titahi Bay fishermen', a launch putting out in such weather may have drifted out to sea, and in all probability would pass beyond Kapiti. If this is the case, Mr. Tate, of Island Bay, who is patrolling the vicinity in a launch, may come across some trace of the missing vessel. Preparations are being made to send a party over to search the eastern side of the harbour and the coastline as. far as Cape Palliser.. A patrol of the beach is also to be made around Cape Campbell, in case the Miss Paremata was driven right across the strait. On the other hand, the southerly wind may have intervened before she reached the other side, in which case she may be ashore somewhere, past Cape Palliser. . At the same time, explained Mr. S. V. Stempa, organiser of the search, a good watch is being maintained about the coast. It must not be forgotten that some time ago an empty boat was washed right across Cook Strait, and was not' noticed until it was discovered high and dry on Petone beach. NOTHING AT CAPE FAIXISER. The rider who went out from the Riddiford Station to investigate the boat reported yesterday from the air to be ashore near the Little Makamaka returned last night, and stated that though he had gone about six miles along the coast, and had searched as far as the. river, he had found no trace of boat or wreckage. It. has been established that the boat sighted is the remains of a wreck of several years ago. The Wellington Aero Club sent out an aeroolane this morning over the same ground as yesterday. Nothing was sighted except the boat that was seen yesterday, and which had shifted its position slightly. As a man was seen nearby. engaged in fencing opera tidns, it was' concluded that nothing fresh had come in on that beach.