CANOE TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 23492, 5 February 1940, Page 6

CANOE TRAGEDY

ANOTHER FATALITY IN HARBOUR YOUNG MAN DROWNED BODY NOT YET RECOVERED The spirit of adventure which induced Gordon David Keenan, a young man, 20 years of age, to at* tempt a canoe trip on a dangerous part of the harbour yesterday cost him his life. Late in the morning, he and another lad named James Elder attempted to reach Goat Island from the mainland, when a southwesterly gale was driving heavy seas across the passage. Only half a mile separates Goat Island (near 1 Port Chalmers) from the main s'-ore, but the intervening strip of water, known as the rip, is particularly dangerous, especially under conditions such as prevailed ; yesterdays i' Here the tragedy occurred, Keenan, a clerk, employed by the Union Steam Ship Company Ltd., in, Dunedin, and residing at 120 Main. South road, Caversham, was spending the week-end at Port Chalmers. Just prior to lunch the two young men, set off in the canoe. It was soon obvious to those on shore that the canoe would have a perilous passage, heavy cross seas making the trip a dangerous one for any manually propelled craft. Realising the possibility of the canoe getting into difficuties, a yonne man named Peter Ward, a well-known yachtsman, and of whose crew Keenan was a member, attempted to reach it in a . small dinghy, but wind' and heavy seas made progress difficult and slow. He had got within 50 yards of the canoe when it upset, but Ward was unable, single handed, to reach it, and returned to shore for assistance. With another rower ho again set off foe the canoe, which by this time had; drifted a considerable, distance, with the two occupants clinging to it. However, when the dinghy approached closer, only one of its former occupants was visible. Keenan had been washed from his hold by the heavy seas. A launch, belonging to Mr J. Potter, was soon on the scene and picked up the survivor of the tragedy, but despite a search no trace could be fouud of Keenan. The search was continued by the police yesterday afternoon and evening and again this morning, but their efforts to locate the body have proved fruitless. It is pointed out that with the swift current which flows at thie particular point, the body of the unfortunate young man may have been swept a considerable distance from the actual scene of the fatality.