YACHTING TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17932, 7 November 1921, Page 9

YACHTING TRAGEDY.

ACCIDENT, AT, PERTH. LOSS OF THREE LIVES, VAIN EFFORTS TO SAVE GIRXS. The yacht Fleurette capsized in » squall and sank off Perth recently, and: three lives wero lost. The victims of thatragedy are:—Dorothy Barker, aged 21 years; Nellie Barker, 19; and Leslie Maddocks, 21. The survivors are Robert Elliott and Ernest Fanner. The party had been out all day, attil left Point Walter about sundown. Thej Fleurette was being sailed for her horn* jetty, Nedlands, when a thunderstorm burst. A smart squall blew up with the rain, and tbo two girls took shelter within the yacht's small deck cabin. Half a mife or so from tho Nedlands jetty some oS tho 15cwt. of chain ballast became displaced, and tho yacht spun before tho broezo at a. dangerous angle. She refused to right herself, despite the efforts of Farmer, who had tho tiller at tho time. Hen sails got under water, and sha began to sink. The girls were dragged hastily from tho cabin, and a moment later the boat was on her way to the river bottom. The survivors, Elliott and Farmer were strong swimmers. Maddocks could swim a little, but tl» girls could not swim at all, Maddoeks sooa disappeared. In tho madness of fear the girls clung to the two other boys, who were struggling to savD them, the boys freed themselves, and mado au effort to grasp the girls from behind, but in the black darkness tho were lost to sight, and in a moment more thcro was no sign of them. The two bovs searched in vain, and then for thrcsquarters of an hour headed through the water for the Nedlands lights. They stripped themselves of all hampering clothes, and reached the shore near the Nedlands baths. A number of other capsizes occurred; during tho squall, but all the crowa km* ceeded in reaching tho shore in safety.