BURIED 60 YEARS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 26 September 1927, Page 8

BURIED 60 YEARS

WIND EXPOSES BONES. SKELETON - IDENTIFIED. Newcastle, Sept. 9. Inquiries have solved the mystery of a skeleton -found on North Head Beach yesterday. It has been identified as that of a seaman of the brig Espranzo, whose body was washed ashore and buried in the North Head sandhills nearly 60 years ago. Originally buried at the spot at which they were found, the bones were exposed by the action of the wind, which has excavated a huge gulf into the sandhills. Buried among sandhills in what is known as the “Valley of Death” are the remains of many bodies washed ashore from coastal shipping disasasters of last century, according to Mrs. Elizabeth Hargreaves, an old identity whose knowledge of the locality extends back 64 years. ONLY ONE SAVED. Her information, based on the recollection of the Espranzo wreck, agreed with the personal knowledge of Inspector Stein, and led to the identification of the skeleton. When the brig Espranzo was wrecked one man, a black, was saved, Mrs. Hargraves told Inspector Stein. The captain, his wife, and two children and the rest of the crew perished. Mrs. Hargreaves mentioned that a money belt containing £5O in notes was found on the body of the seaman whose remains these are. Mrs. Hargreaves’s account of this event tallies with a story told to Inspector Stein 36 years ago by -a policeman who patrolled that district.