HARBOUR ORDEAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21504, 30 May 1933, Page 8

HARBOUR ORDEAL

CAPSIZE OF SMALL BOAT ONE OCCUPANT MISSING FRIEND'S SWIM FOR HELP UNCONSCIOUS ON HULK STRUGGLE IN ICY SEA As a result of the overturning of a small boat between Northcoto and Bayswater shortly before noon yesterday, Mr. Edward Hawkins, aged about 20, of Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead, was left adrift iu the harbour clinging to the capsized craft while a companion, Mr. Jack Anderson, aged 25, of Rosebery Avenue, Birkenhead, managed to swim ashore at Bayswater. in a desperate effort to secure help for his friend. He reached land in an exhausted condition at about 3.30 o'clock. The accident was reported to the police shortly afterward, but in spite of a search of the foreshore, no trace of either Mr. Hawkins or the overturned boat was found last evening. After the overturning of the boat Mr. Anderson swam round in the vicinity for some time, hoping that they might be picked up. His companion could not swim. Finally, Mr. Anderson struck out for the shore, but exhaustion and cramp, brought about by the intense cold of the water, forced him to clamber on board a hulk off Bayswater. There he collapsed and did not regain consciousness for nearly three hours. Just before reaching the hulk he saw the overturned boat, with Mr. Hawkins still clinging to it, drifting about 20 yards off the end of Baj'swater wharf. When he regained consciousness at about three o'clock, Mr. Anderson reentered the water and swam to Bayswater. In an exhausted condition he staggered into the shop of Miss L. Craig at the entrance to Bayswater wharf. Here he managed to give an account of the accident and Miss Craig immediately informed the police. Overturning of Boat

Clad in some dry clothes which Miss Craig had found for him and seated in front of a stove, Mr. Anderson made a quick recovery and was able to give a full account of the accident. "We started off from Northcote Beach at about 11 o'clock," he said. "We were in a seven-foot, fiat-bottomed punt which, we had borrowed and we were going round into Northcote Basin to bring a 28ft. mullet boat off the beach. The harbour was fairly calm when we set out, but later it became choppy. "I rowed for about half an hour and then Ted took the oars. Suddenly he stood up in the boat, half-erect, as if to get more leverage on tho oars. I was rolling a cigarette at the time and shouted to him to sit down. Hardly had I spoken when he fell overboard.

"I immediately dived in after him, as I knew he could not swim, and managed to drag him to the side of the boat. I told him to hang on to the side while I got in and balanced the boat, but as soon as I let go, Ted tried to hoist himself over the side. The boat immediately capsized. Swim for Assistance "The point where we capsized was about three-quarters of a mile from Bayswater wharf. I brought Ted back again and put him forward on the punt so that the stern would be kept up to the wind. I swam round for about 20 minutes, hoping that we would be sighted from a ferry boat or some passing craft, but there was no luck. The punt would have gone under altogether under the weight of both of us, so I decided to swim for help. "The water was bitterly cold and I was already beginning \o feel numb. I had been wearing an overcoat, coat and boots, but when we overturned I got rid of them. Wind and tide had taken us down toward Bayswater and I decided to strike out for the wharf there. " I have never had such a hard swim in my life. Pains were shooting through my body and my limbs felt like lumps of lead. Just as I was nearing a hulk I remember hearing tho twelve o'clock whistle go, and I wondered whether it was the last time I would hear it. I knew I could not make tho shore, so I turned off and swam for the hulk. It was an old fishing trawler. I can remember grabbing hold of tho anchor chain and resting for about ten minutes, then climbing up the anchor chain on to the deck. How I managed it I do not know, but when I reached the deck I must have collapsed.

Exhausted on Rocks " When I regained consciousness it must have been nearly three o'clock. My hands looked blue, and after trying to get the circulation back into them I got over the side and struck out again for the shore. Everything seems a bit vague, but I can remember coming to rest at last on the rocks near tho western side of Bayswater wharf. 1 must have stayed there, more or less exhausted, for about a quarter of an hour. Then I climbed up the rocks and went into Miss Craig's shop. More than onco I thought I was finished. It was good to speak to Someone and to feel the warmth of a fire." Mr. Anderson said he last saw Mr. Hawkins just as he was nearing the hulk. Tho overturned punt, with Mr. Hawkins still clinging to the bow, was then drifting about 20 yards off the end of Bayswater Wharf, although the distanco might have been greater. Mr. Anderson thought wind and tide would sweep tho punt into Shoal Bay, near Stanley Point. The wind, he said, was strong from the west and there was a strong ebb tide. If the punt had not been swept ashore near Stanley Point it was hardly conceivable that it could bo carried further down without being sighted by harbour traffic. He added that he had been at sea for seven years, but that Mr. Hawkins had very little knowledge of boats. Police As soon as Mr. Anderson had recounted his experiences after staggering into her shop, Miss Craig telephoned to tho police and Mr. Anderson's home. Constables from the Queen's Wharf station arrived at Bayswater by launch shortly after 5.30 o'clock, but it was too dark for a search by launch to be carried out. Two constables from the Dovonport station made a search of the Devonport, Stanley Bay and Bayswater foreshore, but returned to Devonport at about ten o'clock without having found any trace of Mr. Hawkins or the boat. Mr. Hawkins is a son of Mr. H. J. Hawkins. He has been out of permanent employment and with Mr. Anderson has been planning to go into partnership in a fishing venture. His father is a traveller for a city firm..