ORDEAL IN LAUNCH

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1936, Page 2

ORDEAL IN LAUNCH

DISTRESS SIGNALS UNSEEN.

; U • SYDNEY j April 30. Perhaps the narrowest escape , from tragedy during the recent holidays was that.cif Mr 4pd Mjrs' Max Wurclier, jof Jamiali, near • Como, on the George’s ltiver estuary, south of Sydney. Th'ey . almost . lost their liyes \rf they sea nejar, ajfjteij! beiiig adrift, in a 16tf lapnoh,/for 40 lkpurs j Thfey left-Sydnfey in the launch for Cbmo, Off Marogbra the engine failed a“ti the craft begin to .drift 7, seaward. ‘A sudden westerly Whipped the sea and within halfan hour the occqpahts tyefe striving desperately to keep the boat’head-on into the waves.' ‘■'■'itThe couple were forced-to'balance the boat by leaping from side to side as each wave struck. The freeboard clearance was lOin. Frantic distress signajls were sent, /Tiut were not seen.’ During the night the boat began to leak badly, and shortly before dawn the launch was almost run down by a large liner. All the next day the boat was carried northward, but toward .midnight the wind changed' and the or aft was swept toward the Terrigal shore.

The , launch was rapidly going to pieces and Mr Wur.cher made an improvised raft , from floor boards. Large sharks were cruising about. About 100 yards from the shore the launch was picked up by a huge wave and swept toward the rocks. The occupants leaped for their, lives.

“Wey missed death by a second,” said Mr Wurcker, “as the stern turned over three times. If we had stayed on board wA would have been crushed. We each thought the other'had been drowned. I was ; finally tossed up on the beach, where I found my wife practically unconscious on the sand. Our clothing was torn to shreds. We lay exhausted for an hour or more, then crawled three miles until we reached a homestead. I have been an aeroplane pilot for ten years,’ and I have never had a thrill comparable to the dozen a minute, I obtained in that crazy old launch.”