TRAWLER SINKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24221, 13 February 1940, Page 10

TRAWLER SINKS

DASH TO REACH PORT CREW’S NARROW ESCAPE STRUGGLE TO SHORE (Per United Press Association) WESTPORT, Feb. 12. When the fishing trawler Waitohi, which left Westport for Port Chalmers last evening, commenced to leak badly when well out at sea. the crew of three, Alan Scandrett, William Hart, and T. Sheehan, decided to turn back and make a dash for safety, but it was only after strenuous efforts that they escaped with their lives after leaving the vessel at anchor outside the mouth of the Orowaiti River, two miles from Westport. At the water started to rise rapidly in the hold of the Waitohi, it seemed at one stage that the vessel would have to be abandoned well off shore this afternoon, but it was not until a mile from the Orowaiti beach, when the engines flooded, that the men decided to drop anchor and attempt to land in a small dinghy A big surf was running and the dinghy overturned. Scandrett, a good swimmer, struck out for shore for assistance while Hart and Sheehan held on to the upturned boat, but when Sheehan was washed away Scandrett turned back and helped him ashore. Hart was washed ashore with the dinghy. All three men were exhausted by their efforts, first in getting the Waitohi> almost to port and then in the battle through the surf. The trawler sank soon after the crew reached the beach. The Waitohi, 65 feet long and of 30 tons gross, was owned by Messrs P. Veale (Hokitika) and A. Thompson (Westport) before being taken over by Messrs Scandrett Bros. (Greymouth).