RESCUES IN GALE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23671, 1 December 1938, Page 2

RESCUES IN GALE

SURF MAN'S VALIANT SWIMS SHIP CAPTAIN'S SKILL (From Our Own Correspondent) SYDNEY, Nov. 25. Four men, fishing in two small launches off the coast when a southerly gale sprang up, were saved, in the cas6 of one launch, by the heroic efforts of surf men, and in the other, by the fine seamanship of a coastal steamer's master. Two of the men nearly lost their lives off Harbour Beach, just north of Manly, when their 12-foot motorboat was swamped by heavy seas whipped up by the gale. They clung to the boat for more than an hour. Valiant rescue efforts were frustrated by the waves. Eventually, after two magnificent swims through the surf, Jack Stanton, of the Freshwater Surf Club, hauled both men to safety. The men were William Williams, 71, and Thomas Shilleto, 45. Before their craft capsized, their plight was noticed from the shore, and the Freshwater surfboat was manned with a scratch crew. Twice it overturned, and then it could not get close enough to save the men. Two life lines were run out, but inexperienced though enthusiastic helpers on the beach nearly drowned the beltmen who several times swam out on one line. When the upturned boat was 300 yards out, Stanton dashed into the surf with a line. He had a tremendous fight against the breakers, but reached the men, who by then had been washed away from their boat. Shilleto told him to take Williams ashore first, and Stanton did so. Although tired after that ordeal, Stanton immediately returned and brought Shilleto ashore. " The seas were too bi for us and I can tell you we were nearly gone," said Williams afterwards. "Several times we .vere swept away from the boat. Shilleto supported me several times. Then I got the shivers. I was almost in. I was too dazed to know who rescued me. but it was brave work." An equally lucky esca j was that of James Law and Ernest Warner, who, in their 21ft launch, were rescued by the seamanship of Captain P. R. Dixon, of the 218-ton wooden coastal steamer Belbowrie off the coast near Tuggerah, about half-way between Sydney nd Newcastle. Law and Wearne were on the point of exhaustion as the result of bailing out their boat for more than two hours when Captain Dixon sighted- them and manoeuvred the Belbowrie close enough to throw them a Mne and take them in tow. An attempt was made to get them on board the steamer, but a huge sea crashed the launch against the hull, splintering the launch's rudder. It was then decided to tow the launch to the first availab - shelter. So fierce was the wind and sea that it took the steamer two and a-half hours to travel eight miles to Terrifral, with the launch in constant danger of being swamped by the seas and being kept afloat only by the furious bailing of the two men.