TRAWLER HITS ROCK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22583, 11 March 1948, Page 6

TRAWLER HITS ROCK

NO LIVES LOST CRAFT SINKS QUICKLY BEACHING ATTEMPT FAILS (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH. March IX. Tlie Lyttelton steam trawler Cowan struck Port Levy Rock about 9.30 on Tuesday night, filled rapidly and sank. The master, Captain George Mouncer, and a crew of seven were all rescued. The Cowan, of 07 tons gross, was returning to Lyttelton from the fishing grounds. Captain Mouncer said the Cowan was .nearing Port Levy Rock when the signalman at Adderley Head called him by. Morse lamp, asking for the name of the vessel which was given. About a minute later the Cowan struck. Water Extinguishes Lights Captain Mouncer at once called Adderley Head, but the water reached tlie dynamo and all lights failed. The engine was still working so he turned the vessel with the intention of beaching her in Starvation Bay. “Some of the men were clearing away the lifeboat," said Captain Mouncer, but the ship suddenly heeled aver and sank. There were three men in the boat but the rest of us were in the water with the exception of Mr. W. Willman, jun., who had jumped on to the rock when we struck.

‘T was dragged down with the ship, but got clear. 1 though i would never come up. When J reached the surface I saw the boat rowing round and men in the water were calling to each other. We were all picked up and beached the boat in Starvation Bay.”

Captain Mouncer and three men then rowed to Little Port Cooper, where Harbour Board signalmen live. Picking up Mr. Willman, jun., from the rock on the way, they arrived about midnight and telephoned to Lyttelton for a launch. Rescued By Launch

A launch left Lyttelton at 12.30 a.m., went to Little Port Cooper and picked Lip Captain Mouncer and four men and took the lifeboat in tow. The launch then went to Starvation Bay—a small inlet with towering cliffs on three sides which made the darkness still darker.

On the tiny shingle beach the three men left there had lit a big tire, Guided by this the lifeboat went in and brought the men out to the launch which then returned to Lyttelton, arriving at 3.5 a.m.

Mr. W. Willman, sen., trawling master of the Cowan, was aboard the fishing launch Dolphin which early in the war was sunk by mistake by a shot fired from a gun at Battery Point, in Lyttelton harbour.

At low tide yesterday there was no sign of the Cowan. The possibilities of salvage are being considered. A preliminary inquiry into the loss of the Cowan will be held by Captain G. P. Evans, Government marine superintendent at Lyttelton, who will report to the Marine Department in Wellington.