YACHTSMAN LOST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22628, 16 January 1937, Page 10

YACHTSMAN LOST

DISOWNED IN STOEM WHAN GAR 1:1 FATALITY CRAFT CAPSIZED BY WIND COMPANION SWIMS FOR HELP [by telegraph—own correspondent] V'HAXGAREI, Friday A terrifying experience befel two young yachtsmen in the gale on the Whangarei Harbour yesterday and resulted in the drowning of one of them, Mr. Douglas George Wright, aged 21. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Wright, of Portland Road, Whangarei.

Mr. Wright an J Lawrence William Mcßeath, aged 19, a clerk on the stalf of the Whangarei Borough Council, had left earlier in the week in Mr. Wright's 14ft. sailing boat Ocean Waif for a holiday crui:>e on the Whangarei Harbour. They had reached Parua Bay, about 18 miles from Whangarei, when the gale and consequent heavy seas made it impossible for them to take the boat to the shore. They anchored throughout yesterday, bufi'etted by wind and seas Plucky Swim to Shore Mcßeath, who iis a strong swimmer, undertook last evening to swim to the shore for assistance, as the prospecr. of spending the night in such a predicament was fraught with too much danger. He pluckilv dived into the ratling water and successfully swam to the shore, a distance of several chains, and got in touch with Mr. It. B. Hogwood, a settler.

Mr. Hogwood ard Mcßeath returned to the beach and, as they did so, they saw the Ocean Waif, with AV right on board, blown over by the wind. Ihey saw Wright swimming strongly for about a chain. Tliien he appeared to stop and disappeared from sight. Mr. Hogwood ran for his own launch, which lie and Mcßeath boarded, and they ploughed through the heavy seas in an effort to find the swimmer, but were unable to do so. The current wa/» very strong, and it is believed that Wright was washed to the open sea. The two men, however, continued tho search throughout the night in the hope that he had been washed ashore elsewhere. Search for Body The police at Whangarei were notified this morning and Constables C. Snow and J. Norris went to the scene. With the assistance of Wright's father and uncle, Mr. C. Wright, and a number of settlers, they used a drag net in an effort to find the body, but by this evening no trace could be found. Further efforts will be made to-morrow.

Mr. Wright was an old pupil of the Whangarei High School and had been employed by a local carrying firm. His father is in business in W hangarei, where he has resided for many years.