MEN MAKE HARD FIGHT FOR LIFE IN MOTOR-LAUNCH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17835, 1 May 1926, Page 9

MEN MAKE HARD FIGHT FOR LIFE IN MOTOR-LAUNCH.

* WHEN ELECTRIC POWER FAILED AT TAURANGA. Per Press Association. TAURANGA. May 1. Temporary- failure of the electric light last night, shortly before eight o’clock, caused householders some inconvenience. but those patiently waiting the light to reappear little dreamt of the desperate plight of three men in a motor-launch caught in a howling ■westerly gale. The craft was jammed on a lee shore in the harbour against a live electric wire. A thirty-foot mullet boat, it was coming up the harbour and was making for town when it was found that no headway could be made against the heavy westerly gale then raging, and the occupants. Messrs L. Jury and R. Hayes, the owners, and Mr T. Black, found that the boat was being gradually blown on to the shore in the vicinity of Whareora. Two anchors were dropped and the engine was kept going, but without avail, and finally the launch went aground on the eastern shore near Whareora. Then came disaster swift and alarming. The mast struck the electric wires, carrying the current along the beach to Mount Maunganui. Immediately the vessel was a mass of sparks and appeared to be afire from stem to stern.

Jury, who was forward at the time, was stunned and knocked overboard. Black, who was astern, was stunned, being thrown across the iron fittings of the launch. He was burned through his clothing, and the wires came into contact with his body. Hayes, who was in the cockpit, was also rendered unconscious. The launch then sheered off temporarily from the wires, and Black managed sufficiently to recover and scramble into a flat-bottomed dinghy. He dragged Hayes from the launch and then picked up Jury, who was still in the water. All three were still in a dazed condition and were blown on to the beach in the boat. Several Maoris were on the beach waiting for the men, the natives having noticed the commotion when the launch touched the wires. They helped the men ashore, and provided them with dry clothing. The men came to town this morning. The launch finally having got clear of the wires, drifted down the harbour and burnt until about 11.30 p.m. She was practically gutted, the owners estimating their loss at about £SOO.