BOATING DISASTER AT SYDNEY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8761, 27 February 1900, Page 3

BOATING DISASTER AT SYDNEY.

TWO LIVES LOST. One of those terrible boating accidents which from time to time occur in Sydney Harbor, happened recently, when, through the capsizing, between the Heads, of an ]Bft sailing boat, five people were thrown into the water, and two of that number drowned. Their names ire :— Mrs Leigh, aged about 40 years, lately residing at Manly, who leaves two young daughters at present at school in Woolongong ; Chas. Bell, aged 35 years, hairdresser, employed by Mr A. Culhil!, Corso. Manly, who leaves a wife and four children, the eldest eight years of age. The survivors were Air R. Leigh (whose wife was lost), conveyancer, Bridge street ; Mr Fred. Riley, of Wagga Wagga ; and his sister, Miss Riley, seamstress. The male members started from Manley shortly after 2 o'clock, and, calling at the jetty to take on board the ladies, proceeded, with a fair northeast wind behind, down the harbor to Bradley's Head. From this point a start waa made a few minutes before 4 o'clock on the return journey, and all went well to the passing of the Lightship, at South Reef. The choppy state of the sea caught the boat in a slant, the 18-footer " dived " and almost immediately capsized. The occupants were flung into the water, and at once a heart-rending battle for life commenced. After turning turtle the boat drifted with the wind a few yards, and this had the effect of further dismaying the terrified strugglers. To cap their dire misery Miss Riley, who gamely fought her way alongside Mrs Leigh to the overturned boat, cried out "a shark," and all heads were turned to witness thr spectacle of a 12ft monster idly cruising in the neighborhood of the unfortunates. When the gruesome brute disappeared from view, the horror deepened in intensity, and there is no doubt that its presence had the effect of frightening Bell and Mrs Leigh into a state of helplessness, a surmise which gains support from the fact that the two victims were both good swimmers, and should have been able to reach their goal, as the others did, in safety. However, the melancholy experience proved overcoming, and almost in silence they disappeared beneath the waves. The remaining trio, the Rileys (brother and sister) and Mr Leigh were able, with comparative ease, to reach the capsized craft, and there they clung until rescued.

In the "Life of Archbishop Benson" there is an interesting entry giving Her Majesty's opinion upon the question which has perplexed many minds — Is life worth living ? In his diary the Archbishop notes : The Queen said to-day, "As I get older I cannot understand the world. I cannot comprehend its litUeness. When I look at the frivolities and littlenesses, it seems to me as if they were all a little mad." Thp Queen added : "The wickedness of people's spite against each other is so great — so great." On another occasion Archbishop Benson records a long and interesting conversation he had with the Queen. Her sagacity in reading people and their ruling motives and weakness struck him very much. lie wa3 greatly impressed with the fearless confidence with which the Queen said out all these insights. "She left me much wiser about many men than I ever expected to be," he writes, summing up his impression of this interesting talk on men and affairs.