Naked Survivor’s Terrible Trial

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 208, 22 November 1927, Page 15

Naked Survivor’s Terrible Trial

,WO YACHTSMEN LOST MULLET BOAT CAPSIZED Tortured by thirst, torn by the razor-edged rocks of Rangitoto, a naked man had been crawling round the island for nearly two days until last evening. HE is apparently the sole survivor of the crew of a mullet boat which was overturned by a squall in Raugitoto Channel off Milford on Saturday evening- Three men clung to the fceel until their last desperate chance of life was to swim to land in the darkness. The missing men are: william Williams, married, aged 28, who lived at Purchase Road, Takapuna. An ex-New Zealand League football representative, an expert yachtsman and a strong swimmer. James Bowman, married, aged 35 years, who lived at Pupuke Road, Takapuna, a Takapuna Borough Council employee. The survivor, who landed on the island, is Stanley John Easdown, married, aged 48, living at Rawhiti Avenue, Takapuna. He is at present in hospital suffering from bruises and exposure. The boat left Milford after 6 o'clock on Saturday evening. A squall struck her when she was in mid-channel, and she overturned. The three yachtsmen dung to the keel until darkness fell, and as the position seemed hopeless they decided to swim to land. desperate attempt Struggling out of their clothes Williams and Easdown struck out for Rangitoto, which was about three miles distant, and Bowman preferred to swim with the wind toward Motut&pu Island. Hours afterwards Easdown exhausted and chilled to the bone managed to reach the rocky shore of Rangitoto. Williams, who had been swimming with him until the last half-mile, evidently failed in the endurance test, though he was the strongest swimmer of the three. Slashing and bruising himself on the rocks, Easdown managed to crawl out of the water and tail helpless. TORTURE OF THIRST His privations were just beginning. Xaked and foodless on Sunday morning he began painfully to clamber round the coast line of the island. Occasionally he had to swim again to pass insurmountable rocks. Thirst became a worse torture than hunger, but he forced himself onwards until night overtook him. Yesterday he went on half-mad in desperation and reached a small deserted bach where he obtained water and clothes. He had just strength enough to get within a hundred yards of the Motu quarry, where Mr. R. Vail, the caretaker, lives. The Vails found him and gave him food and warmth, and Mr. Vail decided to row to Devonport for help. The Clansman picked up the dinghy half-way across the channel and wirelessed to the Auckland radio station, which notified the water police. The message was received at 7.5 p.m. and a launch set out at 8 p.m. for the island. Easdown was taken out to the launch in a rowboat and brought to Auckland, where he was put into a privatb hospital. His condition today was serious, but not dangerous. A private search party left in a launch at 3.30 o’clock this morning and is still looking for the other men.