A HARBOUR DRAMA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22612, 2 July 1935, Page 10

A HARBOUR DRAMA

NIGHT SPENT IN SMALL LAUNCH PLIGHT OF THREE MEN AN UNCOMFORTABLE VIGIL An experience that was attended by extreme discomfort and a good deal of danger was that of three young Dunedin men, Messrs A. C. Melville, R. C. Dobson, and W. C. Shepherd, who spent the whole of Sunday night tossing on the harbour in the small launch Imp, after its engine had broken down in the afternoon. The launch was coming up the channel near Waverley when the mishap occurred, hut after a short time it was anchored, and the members of the crew . remained wet, cold and hungry on board their craft until they were rescued yesterday morning. A strong wind was blowing when the engine of the launch refused to function off Waverley, and while attempts were being made to get the engine to function the craft drifted two miles down the harbour. There the anchor was dropped when it was seen that there was no hope of reaching Dunedin, but the rising gale brought with it an increasing degree of discomfort and an attempt was made to lift the anchor about 7.30 p.m. with the object of allowing the Imp to’ drift as near to the shore as possible. Numbed hands and arms prevented the men from raising the anchor, however, and it was perhaps fortunate that this was so for their chance of reaching safety in the sea that was running must have been slight indeed. Neither was it found possible to communicate with the shore for help because the crew of the launch had no means of attracting the attention of anyone on land, and it was the ironic plight of the men to watch comfortable and well-lighted motor cars passing up and down the Lower Peninsula road only about a mile away , while they pitched and rolled, half submerged by the seas and at the mercy of the gale. Late -last night, when it was found that the Imp had not returned to her moorings, it was feared that they had been overtaken by accident, and a launch ■was despatched by the harbour master at 9.30 a.m. yesterday in search of the missi ing craft. Heavy seas were running, however, and the Imp could not be ' sighted, and it was not until the anchored crajt was seen by a young man on the Peninsula road that anyone on shore had knowledge of the plight of the three men. It was .soon ascertained that they were safe, and Mr W. Rowlands, of Macandrew Bay, put off about 10.30 in his launch, the Stella, accompanied by a number of others, in order to assist the crew of the Imp. The actual rescue was an operation that entailed a good deal of delicate seamanship, and it was not without some difficulty that a line was finally passed aboard the disabled craft, which was safely towed to Macandrew Bay. Messrs Dobson, Melville and Shepherd came through their ordeal well, and although suffering to a certain extent from hunger and exposure, they were not seriously affected by their night on the harbour.