YACHTSMEN'S ESCAPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19217, 5 January 1926, Page 11

YACHTSMEN'S ESCAPE.

RESCUED BY A STEAMER. SYDNEY HEADS INCIDENT. CAPSIZE IN A CHOPPY SEA. Four yachtsmen had a thrilling experience outside the Sydney Heads on a recent afternoon, and owe their safety to the fact that a steamer happened to be near them when their craft sank. A lifeboat -was sent to their assistance. The yacht, which was sailing in a northerly direction, was only about two miles outside the Heads when a sudden gust caused it to heel right over ami finally capsize. The sea was choppy, but the yachtsmen managed to grip the sides of tho rapidly sinking craft. Fortunately their predicament was noticed by the lookout man at South Head, and the watch on tho coastal steamer Wyreema, which came out of the Heads in continuation of her voyage to Brisbane, saw the men in the waves. With their strength rapidly becoming exhausted the four men were in immediate peril of drowning, and it was with feelings of tense excitement that the men at South Head watched the progress of the lifeboat from the Wyreema through tho rough water. The crew of the lifeboat rowed desperately and arrived just in time. The four yachtsmen were taken back to the Wyreema, and the tender to the pilot steamer brought a doctor on board. A'fter they had been supplied with dry clothes they were landed at Watson's Bay and were able to go to their homes.