FATAL ACCIDENT AT MERCURY BAY- CORONER'S INQUEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6254, 2 December 1881, Page 5

FATAL ACCIDENT AT MERCURY BAY- CORONER'S INQUEST.

A melancholy accident occurred on Friday, the 25th November, at Mercury Bay, by which Cornelius O'Shea lost his life. An inquest was held on the 26th at Guintown, before Mr. Robert Wigmore. J.P., and a respectable jury, of which William Meikle was elected foreman.—George Lorom, hotelkeeper, said : Deceased left here on the 25th, to transact some business with Mr. Wigmore. He had been gone about an hour and a quarter, when Patrick Martin came up, stating that deceased had fallen overboard near che upper mill, and been drowned. I immediately took the boat and went down to grapple for the body, but could not get it. To the Coroner: Deceased was in perfect health, and sober. In reply to the foreman : He was pulling when he left here, and had a boom on the sail. The boat was not upset. He considered he had fallen out of the boat when she jibed. By a juror : Deceased never had fits during the two years he knew him.—Mrs. Hughes said : It was between 9 and 11 o'clock on Friday morning. 1 was sitting at my fireplace, and I heard a cry, and ou getting up to look I saw a man in the river not far away from a boat. My brother-in-law saw him at the same time, and lie said, " Oh, there is Alex. Bruce overboard." We ran down to put the oars and rowlocks in the boat (my brother-in-law and I). When we saw him first he was in the middle of the liver, not very far behind the boat. He went down, and when he came up again he was three parts across the river. I sent my brother-in-law into the house for rowlocks, and while ho was away deceased went down. It was blowing strong. He sang out twice. I sent my brother-in-law along the river to call the mill hands to come up. He had two paddles in his hands when he sank, and when the mill hands came up they dived for him, but could not find him. He was found in the same place where he went down. By the Bench: I saw no one in the boat with him. By the foreman : The sail was up when she capsized, and he had the paddles in liis hands when he went down. By a juror: I could not say how long it was before he came up after he went down. I think he had hold of the sail rope.—George Partington, engineer, i Upper Mill, Mercury Bay, gave corroborative evidence. After calling to the mill hands that I saw some object struggling, I jumped into the boat, directly alongside the wharf, John Steward after me. We pulled to the spot, about 500 yards distant. It took us about five minutes to go there. There was no appearance of any one in the water. Two or three boats followed directly afterwards. One man, Nicliollson, dived twice about the spot wfiere lie went down, but was unsuccessful. We kept three-quarters of an hour pulling about. We returned to the mill, and took charge of the boat, and what it contained. We returned all it contained to Mr. Lorom, deceased's partner in business. By the coroner : Tiie boat was not capsized ; there were three or four buckets of water in it. To the foreman : The boat was in shore, and the sail was set. I saw the person between the boat and the opposite shore, and sank. The boom was on the sail; no paddles were in the boat, which was drifting on the opposite shore.—To a juror: Have known the deceased about two years. Never knew him intoxicated ; he was always sober and steady. He thought the bontiibeil. and he lost his balance and fell overtJfrard.—Nicholas Carthy deposed a? to dragging for and finding the body near the place where he was drowned. I cauglii him near the waist in the shirt. It was the first time I dragged there. There was no one in the boat with me. I saw the arm of a body, and cried for assistance. Blood was coming from his ears. I did not like to look at it.—The following verdict was returned:—"That Cornelius O'Shea, now lying dead at the Waiwawa Hotel, came to his death on the 25th of November, 1881, by accidentally falling overboard while sailing his boat in the Waiwawa River, Mercury Bay*"—l may mention that Mr. William Meikle, manager of the Lower Mill, accompanied by two boats' crews, proceeded to the spot to drag for the body, with the intention of staying out all night, if required, but upon arrival found that the body was just recovered. O'Shea was a native of the neighbourhood of Millstreet, County of Cork, Ireland, and was greatly respected as a sober, honest, and industrious young man.—[Own Correspondent.]