YOUTH'S HEROIC SWIM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22045, 27 February 1935, Page 14

YOUTH'S HEROIC SWIM

SWAMPING OF A BOAT LOSS OF A MAN'S LIFE Thomas Boutland, aged 52, retired master butcher, was drowned at Manly, Queensland, recently despite the heroic feat of a youth, who had not previously swum more than 60 yards at a stretch, in swimming more than a mile through choppy seas from a swamped dinghy* to the beach. Mr. Boutland lived at East Brisbane, but had been staying with Mervyn Howard, aged 18, and his brother, Colin Howard, aged 14, at Manly. The three left Manly in a borrowed dinghy, and the boat swamped when they attempted to put about. They clung to the partially-submerged craft, but it gradually drifted toward the open sea. Mervyn Howard then decided to make a bid to reach land to obtain assistance. He reached the beach exhausted, clad only in a shirt, and staggered into a shop. A launch promptly left for the scene of the swamping. Colin Howard, on the point of collapse, was still clinging to the mast of the dinghy, but there was no sign of Mr. Boutland. The boy had caught him under' the armpits when he released his grip of the rigging, but Mr. Boutland had dragged him under, and the boy had been forced to let go.