SWEPT FROM ROCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25215, 3 May 1943, Page 2

SWEPT FROM ROCK

YOUNG MAN DROWNED FISHING TRAGEDY AT BRIGHTON A fishing tragedy occurred at Brighton Beach at 12.45 p.m. yesterday, when a young man was swept from a rock by a high wave and was last seen being carried out to sea in a heavy swell. He was Leslie Lewis, aged 21, single, of Pine Hill, a labourer employed in the Green Island district. Lewis had been fishing from a rock with a friend, Gordon McCraw, aged 10 years, of Green Island. The younger bov saw a high wave approaching and called to Lewis, who was drawing in his line from a rock below that on which McCraw was fishing. The boy said later that Lewis was swept away by' the wave, but managed to secure a hold on a lower ledge, from which he was dislodged by the following wave. Lewis, who could not swim, was quickly carried out to sea, and McCraw last saw him disappear in the trough of a wave. McCraw immediately went for assistance, and Constable W. Devine, from Green Island, instituted a patrol along the beach. Owing to the high tide and the exceptionally heavy swell, it was impossible to launch a boat or commence any form of dragging. Home Guard units and residents, in addition to Constable Devine, patrolled the beach until a late hour last night, but the body was not recovered.