SEA CAPTAIN'S BRAVERY
How a British sea captain saved 110 lives has been revealed by the award, recently announced, of the Royal Humane Society's silver medal to Captain Clarence G. Webster, master and part-owner of the motor-schooner Laura, which was wrecked off Utilla Island in the Caribbean Sea last year. When the Laura was driven by a storm on to the rocks off the island, which is in the Bay of Honduras, the vessel's lifeboat was smashed and the 110 passengers and crew were left to the inercy of the waves. Captain Webster for a time remained aft at the wheel of his ship and pacified the frenzied passengers, most of whom were women and children. He then swam through 75 yards of raging surf to the shore, where he fixed a lifeline. After he had swum back to the ship all the passengers and crew were saved by this lifeline, which was secured round each person in turn. The Laura was destroyed.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)
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163SEA CAPTAIN'S BRAVERY New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)
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