THEFT OF YACHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22991, 19 March 1938, Page 21

THEFT OF YACHT

A CREW HOAXED INCIDENT IN SYDNEY TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND [from our OWN correspondent] SYDNEY, March 12 The 20-ton auxiliary schooner Windward was stolen from her moorings in Rushcutter Bay at midnight on Wednesday and a few hours later was sighted, anchored off Shark Island, a mile away, with no sails and out of petrol. It was as/far as she had travelled on a "buccaneering" voyage to New Zealand. The "captain" was missing. The three members of the crew learned that they had been duped, and were thankful that they had not reached "blue water." Two. of them, Percy Jones, 30, and Eric Templeton, 23, live in a city residential. "I overheard the 'captain,' who had come to stay there, tell the manager of the residential that he wanted a yacht's crew to sail to New Zealand," said Jones. "IJe said that jobs woyld be guaranteed the crew ort reaching New Zealand. I am out of a job, so I volunteered." Cheque for £lO Templeton then took up the story. "I asked Jones to put in a word for me," he said. "I interviewed the 'capta'in,' and he told me that I would be suitable provided I gave him a cash bond for £lO. My father wrote out a cheque for £lO and the 'captain' cashed it. He took £3 for a cablegram, and gave me £7 with instructions to buy stores. He told us that the yacht was the Ao-te-aroa, of which he was part-owner with the Union Steamship Company. The yacht, we were informed, had stored 40 gallons of petrol and food for 21 days. " He explained that wo would have to make a secret night getaway, as the yacht was not cleared by the port authorities. On Wednesday afternoon ho sent me to buy more stores including meat, bread and a five-gallon keg of beer. Jones was sent to get a hacksaw and pick up the third member of the crew. The 'captain' and I went by launch to tow the yacht from her moorings to Wooloomooloo. Imagine my astonishment when I saw the 'captain cut the awnings from the boom instead of untying them, and sever the mooring cable with a hacksaw. Police Notified -"We called at Clark Island for fresh water, but there was a launch at the wharf there, so we sheered off at the 'captain's' orders. Near Shark Island the engine stopped, and the captain said there was no petrol —someone must have bungled the arrangements. While waiting for dawn he invited us to help ourselves at tIA cocktail bar. At daybreak, he hailed a passing fishing launch and climbed on board. My suspicions had been roused and I jumped into the launch, too. On reaching the Quay, I telephoned the police. Afterward they told me that the yacht was not budt for a Tasman crossing and we would never have got to New Zealand. After nil the 'captain' got only £3, and he worked hard for it, though I wasted the remaining £7 of my father's £lO on useless stores." Detectives have since searched Sydney in vain for the missing 'captain.'