SAVED FROM DROWNING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21457, 3 April 1933, Page 10

SAVED FROM DROWNING

UNKNOWN MAN'S PLUCK GOOD WORK BY RESCUERS INCIDENT ON WATERFRONT Tho strenuous and plucky efforts of several rescuers were responsible for saving the fife of Mr. Edward McDonald, aged 20, of 12 Harding Street, City, who got into difficulties while bathing off tho western reclamation yesterday morning. Tributes are paid by spectators to the bravery of an unknown man who, although unable to swim, unhesitatingly walked out until the water reached his chin and attempted to rescue Mr. McDonald. Tho incident occurred at a point where tho reclamation embankment slopes very sharply into deep water. Mr. McDonald, who cannot swim, suddenly found himself out of depth and unable to regain the bank. Immediately an elderly man, who was taller than Mr. McDonald, walked, fully clothed, into tho water and was able to take hold of Mr. McDonald and start to pull him to safety. In his desperate struggles, howover, Mr. McDonald pulled his would-be rescuer beneath tho surface. A second man started to wade out toward the two struggling men, but in the meantime the occupants of a passing launch had heard the cries and two young men, partly clothed, dived in. The distance to tho bank was short and, being good swimmers, they had little difficulty in pulling both men ashore. Mr. McDonald was unconscious. Fortunately the cries had been heard on tho tanker Paua, berthed some distance away, and two officers, Mr. F. Evans, third engineer, and Mr. J. Regnaud, third officer, ran to the scene and applied artificial respiration to Mr. McDonald. Thanking the young men who had carried out the rescue, tho elderly man who had first tried to save Mr. McDonald, ran to the Paua to send a telephone call to the St. John Ambulance and then, soaking wet, walked away. "Ho was one of the gamest men I have over met," an officer of tho ship said yesterday. The St. John ambulance was quickly on tho scene, but found that good work had been carried out by Mr. Evans and Mr. Regnaud and that Mr. McDonald was out of immediate danger. Mr. McDonald was taken to tho Auckland Hospital. "Respiratory action was taken just in time," an official at the hospital said last evening, "Mr. McDonald is still weak and suffering from shock, but his condition is no longer serious."