CLUTCHED THE RAIL

Evening Star, Issue 22573, 15 February 1937, Page 8

CLUTCHED THE RAIL

NEARLY OVERBOARD IN HEAVY SEA [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, February 14. Thrown from the deck of a vessel as she lurched in a particularly heavy sea. in which a rescue would have been impossible, a passenger on the Matanei clutched a rail as no was swept g off the deck and -pulled himself back as the vessel rolled to the Other side. Ho was R. A. Shearer, a compositor, aged 27, of Island Bay, and he was a passenger on the Matangi, which was making a daylight crossing of Cook Strait to Nelson on Saturday, taking bandsmen to the New Zealand championships at Nelson. Shearer is a member of the Institute Band. The vessel was having a very rough trip in the strait, a heavy sea running. Shearer was on the lower deck and was walking from one side to the other, when a huge wave struck the vessel and it suddenly lurched in the direction in which Shearer -was facing. The passenger was hurled across the wet deck, on which he could gain no footing. His shin struck the seat of a raft which was battened to the deck and he hurtled over the side of the boat. Presence of mind saved him, for, as he left the-deck, he seized one of the lower iron railings and saved himself from falling into the heavy sea from which rescue under the condii tions would have been impossible.