AMAZING EXPERIENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22256, 2 November 1935, Page 10

AMAZING EXPERIENCE

MAN SWEPT OVERBOARD

RETURNED BY NEXT WAVE

His amaring experience of being swept overboard by one wave, during a gale and carried back to safety by the next was described at Yarmouth recently by the captain of the' Cowes yacht Oceana (90 tons). He was giving evidence describing the death of the mate, Ernest Broad, aged 40, who was washed overboard and drowned.

The tragedy occurred while the Oceana was on a-voyage from Scarborough to Yarmouth with a crew which included Miss Pamela Paulet, the 25-year-old daughter of Major Charles Standish Paulet, cousin and heir of the Marquess of Winchester. Captain Lester Newman stated the yacht's sails were blown away ai|d the steering gear was damaged, and he had to run for deep water. He was hove to for two days before he could proceed to Yarmouth under jury sails, with the aid of the auxiliary motor. At the height of the gale a "colossal" wave came On board, and he and the mate were fluiig into the sea. The next wave carried him back on to the deck, still holding the rope to which he had been clinging when the sea came over.

A lifebelt was thrown to the mate, and the starboard boat was cut. adrift, but Le could not reach either. Nothing more could bardone, as it was impossible to put the vessel about or to go astern, as she had no sails. Able-Seaman William Frank Hoskin, who was helmsman, said if an attempt had been made to bring the Oceana round she would have broached to. "and that would have been the end of all of us."

The Deputy Marine Superintendent, Mr. D. C. Parker, who held the inquiry, declared he was satisfied Broad had been drowned owing to the extremely bad weather, and it was entirely due to accident. »