FOUR DROWNED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19694, 28 July 1938, Page 5

FOUR DROWNED

CAR IN HARBOUR

MOTHER AND CHILDREN

FATHER IN HOSPITAL

BRAVE RESCUE EFFORTS

DIVE FROM SEA WALL

(Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. When a motor car plunged from

Campbell's Point, near the shore end

of .the eastern tide deflector, in tie - Auckland harbour, shortly before 9 o'clock last night four of the ccupants, a mother and three children, lost their lives.

The driver of the car, Harold James Lawson, aged 35, of Victor road, Avondale, escaped with his life after making a gallant endeavour to save the lives of the occupants, who were members of his family. Mr. Lawson was admitted to hospital in a serious condition.

Those drowned were Mr. Lawson's wife, Mrs. Vera Lawson, aged 34, Joan Lawson, aged 14; Peter Lawson, aged 10; and Gladys Lawson, aged seven. Motorists whose cars were parked near the Pan-American Airways base and the koyal Akarana Yacht Club headquarters noticed the car pass at a speed of about 20 miles an hour and it turned out of their vision round the corner of the St. George's Rowing Club shed, where a number of small craft were out of the water. At least one man heard a crash shortly after, but presumed the noise to be from trains shunting in the railway yards some hundred yards away.

Appeal For Assistance

However, a few seconds later a furious hammering on the door of the yacht club shed attracted the attention of the caretaker, Mr. P. H. Marshall. "On going down, I found Mr. Lawson wet through and highly agitated," said Mr. Marshall. He told me that his wife and kiddies were in the harbour and that the car had gone over the edge. He did not re- . member how he got out. All he knew was that one minute he was in the water and the next he was on the surface."

Mr. Marshall said he immediately phoned to the Queen's wharf police station and while he was doing so, Mr. Lawson disappeared and dived from the 10ft. seawall into the water in the endeavour to rescue his wife and children. Mr. Marshall saw that Mr.' Lawson was already exhausted and threw him a lifebuoy and hauled him to the side of the seawall. From there he was later dragged along to a skidway and taken, after resuscitation measures by the St. John Ambulance to the Auckland Hospital' in an unconscious state. Lights Under Water With the arrival of four constables ...a .dinghy was launched, . but little '.'"':, could .be done to aid the occupants .Of* the car, the position of which could •" be identified by the eerie glow of ■ the headlights 10ft. or 12ft. under the water.' v Until the Harbour Board launch Ferro and an augmented force of constables arrived, hopeless attempts were made to fix a line to the submerged car. For some time grappling irons and other methods proved unsuccessful and just before midnight the car still remained on the harbour bed.

, It was necessary shortly after midnight to send for a diver, who within 10 minutes after being lowered, removed the bodies. Mr. Lawson, who is a compositor, is employed by the Dawson Printing Company. In a statement to the rescuers Mr. Lawson said that the family had been visiting friends. It was decided to drive home along the waterfront. All that Mr. Lawson remembers is a. shout of "look out" before the car plunged into the cold water and then the impression of the car floating on the surface.