FALL IN HARBOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 8

FALL IN HARBOUR

escape from drowning ELDERLY MAN'S PLIGHT RESCUE BY GRAND-DAUGHTER INCIDENT AT NORTHCOTE An escapo from drowning was experienced by Mr. Henry Pyke, aged /6, when lie slipped into the harbour from a rocky ledge at Northcote as he was about to enter a dinghy on Saturday morning. Ho struck his head heavily on tho rocks and fractured one arm, and had it not been for the efforts of his grand-daughter, aged 13, who held his head above water, he would not have been able to reach tho shore. Mr. Pyke, who lives with his daughter, Mrs. G. S. Edlin, in Sylvan Avenue, Northcote, was about to go for a row in a dinghy with his grand-daughter, Patricia Edlin, about 11.30 a.m. Mr. Pyke was clambering into the dinghy, which tho girl had brought to tho beach at the foot of the Waimana Estate, when he slipped on a ledgo of rocks. Ho fell heavily, striking his head and receiving a deep cut on tho forehead and a fracture of the arm. He was unable to get out of the water, but the girl, who only recently came out of hospital, jumped from the dinghy and held his head above water, which was almost to her shoulders. She was not able to lift her grandfather, and after several efforts to move him back on to the rocks she called for help. The locality is isolated, and her calls for assistance were not heard for some time. She continued to cry for aid, and eventually attracted the attention of a passing motorist, Mr. C. Headland, of Birkenhead, who hurried to the spot and was able to bring Mr. Pyke ashore A St. John ambulance was summoned and Mr. Pyke was taken to the Auckland Hospital, where he was admitted. His condition was stated last evening to bo not serious.