MAN RISKS LIFE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1939, Page 7

MAN RISKS LIFE

IN SALVAGE OF CAR WRECK SYDNEY, March 4. Cecil Muddle, proprietor of a city towing service, enuangered Ins litfa while salvaging a wrecked car at the foot of Marolibra cliffs yesterday. ne was urenched and buffeted by the surf which broke heacl-nign over nini. As the waves pounded the car, Muddle was fiequeni/iy swept off ins teet, and saved himself only by gripping ,the steel cable which he was using. Mystery surrounds the wrecking of the car. ' Jt was stolen late on Monday night from Darlinghurst, and not discovered U .au / a.in. yesterday. No one living near the scene heard the crash. Salvaged in Dark Muddle, with his son John, 24 and an employee, Stanley Byrnes, 24, eventually salvaged the car at 8 pan. fast night. •'l had rather a severe buffeting,” said Muddle last night, while the three were cnanging then souaen au...ia b . ' Several times 1 thought 1 was a gonner' when a big wave swept right /ver me and the car. ‘•But i was-lucky. TV« only injury l eceived was a squasTled toe. The ca 3 punnied it against a lociv. •"lhe trouoie was mat f had to dive nto six feet of water to tie the cable io the front axle. “Each time I’d almost succeed, a wave would come over and dash me about. Steel Cable Snapped “During a lull I managed to secure the axie." A steel cable with a breaking strain ox live tons snapped when a huge wave caught the car after it had been taken 30ft. along a ledge. The car ran back to its original position. Muddle then dived into the surf, clutching the cable, and began his tasx. of attaching it. After he had succeeded the wrecked chicle wa drawn up a series of ledges o tbe roadway jy a “mountain der.il.” Police are certain that no one was u the car when it crashed down a seres of ledges to the water’s edge.