TERRIBLE ORDEAL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16705, 24 July 1928, Page 2

TERRIBLE ORDEAL

MISSING MAN FOUND WASHED ASHORE ON ICE CHEST BRISBANE, July 9. After seeing his mate, Michael McCarthy, drowned before his eyes when their 1 iunch was smashed to pieces on the cliffs and suffering terribly from exposure, William Corbott, one of the two fishermen who have been missing front Gladstone for 11 days, was rescued off the mainland '3o'tailes north o'f Yeppoon. Corbet* Boated ashore on the ice chest of the missing launch Eva, and had been eight days on the mainland at Pear'le Vil'le, subsisting solely on oys-tets. He was rescued by a Yeppoon fisherman. His story is on'e of tragedy. . Two days after svr.c'Carth"y and Corbett -left Gladstone, a terrific gale sprang up, the e: gine Was 'disabled., and the launch was buffeted un'tne"rcrftilly by huge seas. „ Sails were hoisted, but w'ere ripped to ribbons by the fury of the wind. For two days they drifted helplessly, and Iheii the launch was driven on the rocks on the mainland. McCarthy was washed overboard by Waves which swept over the vessel as it lay on the rocks. Cor bett did not see his mate again. He also was swept off the launch, w r hich was rapidly breaking up. He managed to swim to an ice chest, which had floated clear. Eventually he was washed ashore. He was suffering from exposure when rescued, and his memory had been somoW'hat affected bv his'terrible ordeal.