THE DROWING AT RAGLAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6591, 2 January 1883, Page 6

THE DROWING AT RAGLAN.

We have already briefly recorded the drown' ing of Miss Minnie Laver and Miss Edith Wallis while returning from church in a boat on an arm of the Raglan harbour on the 24th December. Tlie fuller particulars which have come to hand show that the whole of the party had a very narrow escape from meeting with a watery grave. Mr. Thos. J. Wallis, writing to his relatives in Auckland about the sad event, says :—" We started off yesterday morning to church—the whole of us children and .Minnie Laver. Father and mother rode round. We left with the first of the ebb, and there was a gentle breeze from the west. We got down all right, and after ser'.'iee started te> sail home. The wind had increased a little, but still it was nothing to speak of. The tide was still ebbing, so that though there was little wind there was a considerable sea. Father and all the Whites watched us fairly away from the township, and then returned to their home thinking nothing more of us probably. We thought there was no danger whatever, except that running with the wind the sail was very much inclined to jibe. Arthur stood out towards the other side, intending then to jibe the sail, and make straight for the point. He had got out far enough. We were just opposite Mrs. Gil- ' mour's dwelling-house, and when intending to jibe Arthur asked us to lean cowards the other side, so as to balance the boat when the sail came round. We leaned towards that side, and a gust of wind caught the sail and almost capsized the boat. In an instant most of the passengers rushed to the other side again, and at the same moment the sail jibed, and over she went. Here was a terrible state of affairs—nine of us all pitched into rough water, and four out of the nine could not swim a stroke. W r e were almost a hundred yards from the Raglan shore. It can easily be imagined what confusion there was, and half of them lost all presence of mind. Minnie Laver and 1 were the first to scramble on to the boat's keel, but before we got firmly on, she just rolled over like a barrel, ami pitched us both headlong into the water again. When I came to the surface I was a dozen yards from the boat down the harbour, having been carried down by the strong ebb tide. Minnie was close at hand, and she caught hold ot me. I at ouce struck out against the tide for the boat. It was of course hard work swimming against the tide in a rough sea with a person hanging on to ine, but I was still fresh, and would no doubt have reached the boat, but when I was perhaps half-way to it some one (most likely Edie) caught me by the let; from underneath, and the increased weight drew me down, and when under the water we managed somehow to get separated. I was now almost exhausted, and when I came again to the surface I could see no one around me, but a lot were clinging to the keel of the boat some fifty yards up the harbour. I saw no more of poor Minnie, and I think it very likely that she never came again to the surface after we sank together. I now gave myself up for lost. My .-strength was gone, and even if I had seen anyone by my side I question if 1 could have assisted them in any way. I could not swim any longer, so had to content myself with floating, and every wave sweft over me. It seemed to me like an hour or more that I was struggling there, and then I saw a boat coming full sail towards me. 11l a very little time I was hauled in more dead than alive, and carried to Mr, Gilmour's, where brandy, bottles of hot water, and continual rubbing brought me round in about an hour. It was as near a shave as ever man had. I was completely done. After I had been picked up I the boat made for and reached all who were clinging to the keel of the boat. Arthur had a hard time of it, swimming about .after one and another. Gertie was only saved by a hairbreadth. None seem to have thought of little Edie, she having been thought to be saved until about half an hour after. Her hat was picked up. Minnie, Edie, and I were heavily handicapped in the first place, in getting adrift from the boat, and of us two were drowned, and the other was an near as possible to a similar fate. ... It has cast a gloom over us all, and the holidays (if such they may be called), will pass like years of pain. Our prospects were so bright, too. Wo hud arranged a programme for to-day, and everyone was so happy in expectation of a week of enjoyment. And now all is blasted by this fearful blow. But these prospects blighted are as nothing as compared to the bereavement. Miss Layer's 1 body was picked up half way between the I township and the Kopua early on the morning of the 20 th, and wa3 buried at eleven o'clock on the 27fch. The inquest was held \ on the 26th. The body of Edith has not yet been found, and lam afraid it never will. She was always a quiet, unobtrusive child, and as she lived she died. No one seeni3 to have i seen her after the boat capsized." In a letter by Miss Gertrude she states that Arthur, Tom, Ernie, Jabez, Edie, Willie, Winnie, and Minnie Laver were on board the boat beside herself. After describing the upsetting of the boat, she says: "We all clung to the boat, which was now upside down, and got too much at one end. This lifted the boat up at the other end, and pushed us all into the water. , Minnie Laver got a little way from the boat, ; and, not being able to swim, could not get i back. Tom swam after her, and was bringing her baek to the boat when somebody i caught hold of him. and pulled them both ; under the water. They got separated then, and I suppose poor Minnie was drowned at | once. . . . While all this was going on,

Arthur, Ernie, Jabez, and I had reached the boat again, and just as we got there Ernie 3a\r poor little Willie sinking. He caught hold of him, and held him with one Laud and the boat with the other. We now commenced to cry out, ' V\ here is Winnie?' until, after a time, we saw her little head rise above the wate'r some distance from the boat. Arthur at once swam after her, and with the greatest trouble, as it was against a strong tide, brought her to the boat, and held her the same way as Ernie was holding Willie. The boat kept rolling, and .Jabez and I were employed in trying to keep it balanced in order to save Arthur and Ernie as much trouble as possible, as it was hard work holding the children and keeping themselves up. We did not see anything of Edie after the boat turned over, but we suppose it was she who caught hold of Tom, as all the others were at the boat."

The occurrence is a melancholy one, and shows the desirability of all learning to swim. A short time ago we drew attention to the plan adopted by Judge Munro to save life in the event of accident on the water, Hid had that plan been acted upon ill this case, it is reasonable to suppose that 110 life would have been lost. Judge Munro's plan is to have a number of nail cans or oil drums closed up, painted, and good strong line so attached to "them that it is impossible to <jet off. An ordinary oil drum so prepared, with sullieient loose lashings about of which people might readily get hold, is capable of holding up seven or eight persons until help is obtained. Oil drums or nail cans can be had at a trifling cost, and any man handy about a boat could easily do the painting and put on the lashings, and with two or three of these in a boat, stowed away under the seat;;, would give great confidence, and be of the utmost service in the event of an accident 011 the water. We hope that Judge Munro will lind many imitators in guarding against -the loss of life during boating excursions.