TWO FISHERMEN MISSING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19808, 1 December 1927, Page 10

TWO FISHERMEN MISSING.

LAUNCH AT ANCHORAGE. NO SIGN OF THE DINGHY. FEARS OF A CAPSIZE. MEN'S FATE STILL IN DOUBT. The discovery was made yesterday that the fishing-lnunch Huana, which had been anchored oS Tiri since Monday afternoon, was without occupants and that the dinghy was missing. The launch left Auckland on, Sunday evening with two men aboard and it is feared they lost their lives in the stormy weather on Monday night. Details of the missing men are:— Owen Jones, aged about 40, fisherman, married, residing with his wife and three children at 65, Airedale Street, City. Donald Wardle, a young man, single. His address is not yet known, but it is believed he arrived recently from England.

The launch anchored off the north-east-ern end of Tiri, below the signal station, on Monday afternoon, and the two occupants were seen by several people on the island. . About seven o'clock the Harbour Board signalman at Tiri saw the two men put off in the launch dinghy to set their nets. That was the last time they were seen. It is surmised the men returned to the launch and put off again in the dinghy before daylight to take in their nets. With a strong southerly wind, a heavy sea was running, and it is thought the dinghy may have capsized. People at Tiri say that a light dinghy would have had little chance in the sea that was running on Monday night and Tuesday morning. They hold that a loss of a single oar would have placed such a frail vessel at the mercy of the waves and, once it had capsized, it would have been carried rapidly out to sea. * TLo launch remained tossing offshore all day on Tuesday and, seeing no sign of the occupants yesterday morning, the signalman telephoned to the harbourmaster's office. One of the Harbour Board's launches was immediately despatched with a constable on board and the launch was found unoccupied, with no trace of the dinghy. It was taken in tow and was brought back to the city. Mrs. Jones had not been alarmed by her husband's absence. He went away on Sunday morning and she did not expect him to return until last evening or this morning. He has frequently been away fishing for two or three days at a time. There is a chance the dinghy may have reached the mainland or the shores of some other island in the gulf, but the chance is considered to be remote. If the missing men had been picked up by some outward-bound vessel the fact should have been reported to the harbour authorities in duo course. The launch was registered in the name of Mr. Jones. There is still no trace of Messrs. W. Williams and A. Bowan, who, it is believed, lost their lives through the overturning of a mullet-boat off Rangitoto on November 20.