BOAT ACCIDENTS AT DUNEDIN.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1169, 8 December 1868, Page 2

BOAT ACCIDENTS AT DUNEDIN.

(From the Ifeib Zealand Sun; December 1.)

Shortly after 8 o'clock yesterday, two young men, one named Taylor, in the employ of Mr; Brown, draper, Princess-street, and the other named M'lntosh, shopman to Mr. Johnston, ironmonger, George-street, went out for a pull in a small boat. They had not been out long before they found .that it would be dangerous to proceed 'further, and they headed the boat for Pelicliet Bay. Sea after sea broke over the boat, and there were no means afc hand to enable "them to bale her out. When opposite the jetty a heavy sea broke over tlie boat—which was then three parts full of water—and sank'her. Taylor, who is said to be a good swimmer," at once struck out for the shore, and swam to" within!, ten yards of the jetty, when he called but to M'lntosh/'l'm exhausted." A sea just then caught the poor fellow, struck him, knocking him powerless, and, throwiug up his hands, he sank to rise no more. M'lntosh managed to keep above water until rescued. •

The public had hardly been put in possession of the particulars of Taylor's death, when the alarm which wa3 caused by it was increased by the report that two other young men had been drowned a little lower down the bay. It is... almost needless to. say that the report was but too true. A little before noon, a party of six, consisting of Messrs.-J.-W. Kempthorne, paying teller in the1 Bank o New South1 Wales; Corrigan; A.. J. Buisson; C. M'Donnell; Cotterill; and J. L. Pittwell (the last-mentioned gentleman, who only arrived in Dune^in a short time ago, started from the jetty in a new four-oared, boat, called " The Stranger," belonging to Mr. Kempthorne, for a pull down the bay. Kempthorne, Buisson, M'Donnell, and Corrigan, took each an oar, and Mr. Pittwell steered. The party proceeded safely until opposite Black Jack's Point, when a heavy sea struck the boat, and neirly filled her, so that she began to sink, and, swinging broadside to the sea, she capsized. Mr. Pittwell went under with the boat, he having got entangled with the tiller ropes, which he had wound round one of his ; feet so as to keep a strain on the rudder. Mr. Kempthorne—who is stated by those who knew him to have been a most expert swimmer—immediately made for the shore, and it is supposed that lie sank before he reached it. None of the survivors arc able to say in what direction he swam, but there can be no doubt that the boat was such a distance from the shore as to render it nothing short of a miracle for any person who left it to have reached the land. The boat soon righted herself, and the other four men who had stuck to the oai'3 managed to keep hold of her until they were rescued by a fisherman, who wa3 a short distance behind in his boat when the accident happened. Mr. PittweH's body, which had been in the water nearly three quarters of an hour, wa3 recovered, and ha 3 since been conveyed to his late re3,idence, ■where it awaits a Coroner's inquest. The survivors were lauded at Mr. Wintan's, at Black Jack's Point, where they were supplied with dry clothing, and rec 'ived every attention.

"Wreck of the Cotter- Ventube. —Boisterous weather lias been very prevalent on the const for some time, and we learn by telegrams received from Havelnck that the cutter Venture, Windover, master, has been wrecked not fur from that township. The master and crew were saved, although, at first, it was radorted in town that all lmnds had been drowned. ' The cargo also was saved, and brought to Havelock by the Midge, but it is reported to have suffered considerable damage. A private..telegram to Mr..Iloiinsell states that the Venture may yet be got off without serious damage. ;. ■ The s s. Airedale, which arrived at Pieton on Sunday evening, and left that port for Welln^fon at six o'clock yesterday morning, was not telegraphed «s having airived at. Wellington up to the hour of closing. The omission to note her ar-ival is probably an oversight on the part of the telegraph department. Canoe Accident. —As Mr. Samuel Hawke, his son, and a Mr. Fry, w.ere a few days ago, crossing the • Waikato river in a canoe, from some cause unknown, the canoe was upset, and its' occupants drowned. Tiia: brigantine Hannah Newton arrived at Auckland, a few ago, from Napier. On Nov. 14, as her steward (William Murisbn) was iv the act of drawing _ water, he fell overboard. Eucbavore were made to save the unfortunate man, but they were in vain, and thoy were seen to sink.