FLOATING HOME AWASH

Southland Times, Issue 22491, 28 January 1935, Page 11

FLOATING HOME AWASH

HOUSEBOAT FOUNDERS. MAN AND WIFE RESCUED. When on the point of going down with their houseboat in heavy seas off the Isle of Anglesey two London people and their Kentish crew were rescued in thrilling fashion by the Liverpool steamer Lady Leinster. The rescued were Mr John H. Hone, a young civil engineer, of London; his wife, Mrs Molly Hone; W. Jarrett, captain of the boat; and H. Rose, the mate, both of Sittingbourne, Kent. They were landed at Liverpool by the Lady Leinster, having been picked up off Point Lynas in the early hours of the morning, after very skilful manoeuvring on the part of a lifeboat lowered from the steamer. Both Mr and Mrs Hone were hatless when they stepped ashore at Liverpool, their only remaining possession being their pet tabby cat “Tiger,” which Mrs Hone, wearing a fur coat and a pair of seaman’s trousers, carried in a cardboard box under her arm. “ ‘Tiger’ was all I could gather up as I waded out of my cabin to go on deck, as we all thought to our doom,” said Mrs Hone. Then she smiled and added, as an afterthought, “Oh, no, I snatched a comb and some powder.” “We Have Lost our Home.”

“We have not only lost our possessions,” said Mr Hone, “but we have lost our home also, for we have lived in our craft and have no other address. She was a sailing barge of 44 tons, converted into a houseboat yacht. The yacht was 79ft over all, with a 16ft 6in beam and she was splendidly equipped, with main saloon, two single-berth cabins, and one double-berth cabin. We called her ‘Thursday,’ and it is rather singular that it was Thursday midnight, in one of the worst blizzards I have ever seen, that our drama began. “We had been to Dumfries, where I had been carrying out a contract, and we started on the return trip of 300 miles to London on October .8, but were driven into Whitehaven by bad weather and adverse winds, and remained there a fortnight. We set off again on Thursday, and when we were about five miles off Point Lynas, in heavy seas and driving hail and sleet, we sprung a leak - , ~ “The yacht rolled and pitched heavily, and began to fill rapidly. We decided to make a run for shelter behind the Isle of Anglesey, but a very heavy sea made this impossible. Every moment we expected her, with her heavy weight of water, to turn right over. As a last hope we began burning flares, and it was a mortifying experience for us to see one ship pass without noticing us. “Luckily the Leinster got our signals and lowered a lifeboat, which was handled with great skill, and when eventually they came alongside us we were so low in the water that we just stepped across. We are certainly lucky to be alive, as our ship had gone down three feet, and could not have lasted another ten minutes.” “Little Short of a Miracle.” Mrs Hone, describing her own experience, said: “I knew things were pretty bad, and I had turned in and was dosing when my husband came into the cabin, which was knee deep in water, with a suitcase and shoesand everything floating around, and in a jocular way said, ‘Come along, I fear our ship’s making a little water.’ We both laughed, but we knew we were in for it, so I jumped out of my bunk and put on what clothes I could, walking round knee deep in water. “Then I seized dear old Tiger, shoved hex - into a pillow case, and, slinging her ovex- my shoulder, went on deck. It was a black outlook, I can tell you, and it is little short of a miracle that we have been rescued. Curiously, Tigexwas meowing all day, and our crew told us it was a premonition of disaster. Personally I think the poor old thing was seasick.”

Mr Gallimore, the chief officer of the Lady Leinster, said: “The captain gave orders to me to set fire to the craft when the rescue work was completed, but she was so low in the waterthat there was nowhere to place the oil, and we had to leave her, but she could not be afloat many minutes.

“If she had taken hex - plunge when we were close to her, the 50ft mast might easily have come down on us and carried us under.”