DASH INTO HARBOUR

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

DASH INTO HARBOUR

MOTOR-CAR OUT OF CONTROL

SHELTER-SHED DAMAGED.

OCCUPANTS’ LUCKY ESCAPE.

A sensational finish to a hurried endeavour to catch a ferry steamer leaving the Bayswater wharf, Auckland, occurred at 7.25 on Tuesday evening, when a two-seater car became out of control on the approach to the wharf and crashed through the shelter-shed into the water 12ft below the stone embankment. The two occupants of the car had a fortunate escape from being trapped in the car under the water. Both succeeded in freeing themselves and coming to the surface again after having been immersed for only a short time. A number of bystanders narrowly missed being struck by the car as it swept on its headlong course through the shed. The driver of the car, Mr. W. H. Turner, of 14 Cameron Street, Takapuna, gave a graphic description of the accident not long after it had occurred. He was clad in pyjamas, having returned home in a taxi, and together with Mrs. Turner was appreciating his lucky escape. “I had promised to deliver some luggage to the ferry steamer for a friend of Mrs. Turner,” he said. “There was rather a rush to get to the boat, but I got Mr. P. E. Bowden, who lives not far away, to give me a hand with the luggage, and we set off in the car together. "‘- ;

DECEPTIVE APPROACH.

“I kept wondering if I was going to ‘make it’ as we got near to the boat,” continued Mr. Turner. “The end of the approach to the wharf is very deceptive, and with the buses parked to one side one cannot tell exactly when it has been reached. I suddenly found that the car was almost up to the sheltershed, and applied the foot-brake and the hand-brake, but they did not pull it up very “well. We just went straight through the shed and into the water. It was not difficult to get out, as the car was not a closed one,” he added. The passenger in the car, Mr. P. E. Bowden, of Lake Road, Takapuna, said that he realised a short time before the accident occurred that it would not be possible to stop before hitting the shelter-shed. “As we neared the shed, I said to myself, ‘We can’t stop,’ and the next thing I remembered is scrambling out of the side of the car as it struck the water. I was only under for a very short time,” he added. He then helped Mr. Turner to carry the luggage up the embankment, and it was afterwards put on the steamer.

STATEMENT BY CAPTAIN.

In describing the accident as he saw it from the ferry steamer Takapuna, the master of the boat said that he was standing in the wheel-house when he heard a crash in the direction of the shelter-shed. Looking through the window, he saw a car’s headlights disappear down the embankment and into the water, but by the time he had reached the scene of the accident, both men were scrambling up the stonewall. The headlights of the car remained on for about an hour after the car had dashed into the water, and small fish were attracted round the glass. A 15ft plank, which formed the top of a seat in the shelter-shed, was carried with the car into the water. The side of the shed remained suspended from the top, acting as a flap which let the car go through and then closed up behind it again.