LAUNCH ON ROCKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21325, 28 October 1932, Page 14

LAUNCH ON ROCKS

PICNIC PARTY IN DANGER I MIDNIGHT EXPERIENCE ' % i ■ One, hundred men, women and children iad a terrifying experience late on the v -jnight of Sunday, October 16, when the launch Regent struck the rocks on the £ /Sow and Pigs reef in Sydney Harbour. ' j The party comprised members of a ' pports club, and had spent the day j; at Killarney, Middle Harbour. > by the late arrival of the ■' ilaunch which was to take them to the "f (City, , ; they did not leave the picnic [ground until several hours after n'ght- ; jfall. The party was a happy one, and a .■ popular, chorus was in full swing when the crash of the grounding—stated to be ; -flue to a mishap to tlie rudder —threw ; into a panic. ' \ The launch gave a sickening lurch and ;tocked perilously in the heavy swell, j a good deal of water. In the ■ rain ar;.d darkness most members of the t Iparty were momentarily convinced (hat i the launch was sinking. E. Evans, a 'f youth, seized his married sister's infant ■girl, exclaiming, "Give me the baby. I ■ look after her." Quickly wrapping ! the child in a large towel he rushed to ' 'the stern and leapt overboard. With the baby held aloft, Evans, who is a po'iver- ; fill swimmer, swam to the rocks and clambered on to them. < ; By this time confusion had given place > to something like order, and several of j 'the young women, who had shown signs I of hysteria, were calmed. The master of ' :the launch had by this time discovered that the launch was not seriously dam-aged,-'and decided that, if relieved of some ' of the weight, it might be refloated. He 'accordingly ordered all the men who ] icould swim to enter the water. Ignoring the possibility of sharks, nine young men promptly obeyed the order, • lint the older members of the party dissuaded the remaining youths from following their example. Those in the launch seized seats and other wooden fittings and threw them to those in the water. t Several of the swimmers grasped these rude ,rafts, while the others swam to pre- ; carious, foot holds on the reef. i In the launch itself lifebelts were s .issued to the women and children, a {burning towel was waved aloft, and the ■ party gave concerted shouts for help. A "-"'Manly ferry steamer passing oil its way Sydney seemed to the anxious watchers to slow down as if to come to their aid, and there was a cry of disappointment when she kept to her course. Paper flares ■were also lit, apparently without avail. Ihe plight of the party, however, had by no means passed unheeded, and the pilot steamer Captain Cook soon rescued the party and took them to Watson's Bay. The infant girl was quickly taken into its mother's arms, its wet clothes removed,. and warm towels provided for its prot?-:tion. The return to Sydney was made by ferry.