A CAPSIZED BOAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14224, 22 November 1909, Page 5

A CAPSIZED BOAT.

1 MAORI'S SWIM FOR LIFE. .THE TE- ARAROA FATALITY. [it TELEGRAPH.—own correspondent.] Gisborne, , Sunday. (Axthotoh a>-diligeni search has been kept top along the-beach, no sign of the bodies iOf the two natives who were drowned at le Araroa, nor of the boat, has been seen. [It ; is, feared the bodies "will not be re-. ■covered, as that portion of the coast is .'vary rocky and infested by sharks, i Sergeant Hutton has received the fol-

lowing report from Constable Wales,. of the occurrence :—"The survivor, Tuhaka Korehere, states that about seven a.m.

tor the 13th inst. Wirepu Tatimana,. Tiopera Hani, and himself left Te Araroa in t a -16ft keel boat, and proceeded ? to'.' a fish-

. iog ground known as Tahai, about a mile off Marahau Point. They caught about three sacks' of fish, and . the boat was about two and a-half planks out of the •»*rar.' They lifted the anchor about one >2., and set sail with a north-west wind flowing. The rope on the sail was a little short and they had to fasten another psece on to it in order to make the sail • l&ii to the stem. ''The boat was running broadside on naif 'up to the wind, and shortly after starting a heavy sea struck the craft, caus---5 it to capsise. The men tried to right | (the boat but could not do so on account ■ *-'■ 'he sail. Tatimana and Hani got on | top of the boat,and the former held to ■tie side. Tuhaka noticed Hani, who was I, a cripple, collapse. Shortly afterwards

» sea broke over the boat, and washed Hani off. Tatimana, who was on the end °{ the boat, shifted to the centre, and

the craft; righted itself, but again over-

turned with' Tatimana underneath. Tuhaka saw 'Tatimana get out and catch told of the boat, but Tatimana was al,:;most immediately washed away. "Tahaka clung to the boat, which was drifting shorewards in a south-east direcjtion, and -he saw the bodies of his mates .'(floating dose by. The "boat again righted ■ ;it»elf and commenced to drift seawards. 'Tuhaka then took off his clothes, clara|;bered; into the boat and took out the . Intern board and ' tried unsuccessfully' to " [float on it. He then got three of the lining boards, and placing them under his i'diest made for the shore. When he left ."he boat the bodies of th» drowned men

*«e still floating close by. After a great higgle he reached the land, but he was *>. numbed with cold that he was unable to walk. He lay down for a time, and with' great difficulty reached a house *Jout 300 yds away from where he landed. No one was in the house and he entered. £ 8 remembers no more until he found s*msel£ surrounded by a number of T*ple."