THREE MEN DROWNED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20793, 9 February 1931, Page 10

THREE MEN DROWNED.

CAPSIZE OF LAUNCH. ,

BROTHERS TRAPPED INSIDI!:.

COMMUNICATION BY TAPPING.

NEWS CARRIED TO CHURCH!.

[BY TELEGRAPH.—PEESS ASSOCIATION,,] WELLINGTON', Sunday.'

Three men lost their lives to-day as the result of a launch capsizing off a lonely part of the coast near the Karori Stream. The victims are:

Captain J. Stuart, aged 50, married, of Island Bay. „ Mr. Harry Stuart, aged 20, son of Captain Stuart. Mr. R. K. Coppock, married, of Islimd Bay, managing director of R. R. Coppock and Company.

A remarkable escape from death alter being trapped in the upturned vessel wag experienced by Alec Stuart, aged 18, another son of Captain Stuart, who accompanied the party. The four men left Island Bay at 1.30 a.m. in the launch Islander, and at about 3 a.m. the craft capsized in the Turawhiti Rip. Captain Stuart, who was afc the wheel, and Mr. Coppock, who iiilsof was on deck, were swept overboard and drowned. Vessel Caught In Rip. The two sons, Harry and Alec, viere trapped inside the vessel, one in the engineroom and the other in a bunk in the fore part of the boat. Two hours later Mr. Andrew Tait, i no* his launch Noma, sighted the upturned launch and took 4 dinghy alongside. He found by tapping that two men were alive inside.

Leaving two men in charge, Mr, Taifc hurried back in the Noma to Island Bay. The two launches Prince and Ika, with all the available fishermen, Ihea left Island Bay for the scene of the accident. Shortly after reaching the up* turned boat the craft righted itself, throwing the two trapped men out into tha choppj* sea. Brother Swept Away.

One of the rescuers managed to se:ure Alec Stuart, with a boathook, but the heavy sea swept his brother Harry oufc of reach and he sank with one arm stretched above his head, 20 yards away.

The survivor said the air in the confined space in which he was trapped had become very thick before the boat righted itself, and his head ached severely. Ha saw his brother before he sank, and 'he was smothered in oil from the engine, .Mrs. Stuart was in church when two fishermen in seagoing clothes disturbed the service with tidings of her husband and son's deaths. She immediately left the church with her three small children.

Captain Stuart was well known as a coastal skipper, his last command being the steamer Kennedy. He retired and took up fishing with his two sons. He was a prominent member of the Shetland Society. Mr. Coppock, who wis in business in Wellington, leaves a widow and one child.

The Islander was towed to Island Bay this afternoon.