HEROIC SWIMMER

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 52, 30 August 1945, Page 7

HEROIC SWIMMER

DEATH IN AUCKLAND

The death of Mr. Charles Augustus Chapman in Auckland at the age of 60 years recalls a conspicuous act of bravery performed during the floods in Paparoa, Northland, in March, 1920. Mr. Chapman, who was born in Sydney, came to New Zealand about 1905. At the time of the floods he was living two miles from Paparoa, and when he received news that the township was inundated he set out for it dressed in a bathing suit. He found two men clinging to timber in the middle of the flooded river, while a crowd of terror-stricken people looked on helplessly from the bank. He swam out twice with a ladder and brought both men to safety. Then he rescued a woman and her child, who were clinging to the branches of a submerged tree. For these rescues Mr. Chapman received the Albert Medal and the Royal Humane Society's gold life-saying medal. As a swimmer he won championships in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Chapman was prominent in Rotorua and Wellington as a member of the Druids' Lodge. In Wellington also he took a leading part in boating, horticultural, and welfare clubs. He is survived by his Avife, two daughters, Mrs. Hull and Mrs. Coleman, and a son, Able-Seaman V. Chapman, of the Royal New Zealand Navy.