BOYS HAVE COLD AND WET NIGHT IN 8FT DINGHY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17836, 3 May 1926, Page 10

BOYS HAVE COLD AND WET NIGHT IN BFT DINGHY.

STRANDED UNDER CLIFFS AT QUAIL ISLAND. Two boys, aged ten and twelve, spent Friday night in a dinghy under the cliffs of Quail Island. During the afternoon they Were paddling about in the harbour when they were carried out by the tide and were unable to make the inner harbour again. They were buffeted on to a reef and ; then on to Quail Island, the i cliffs of which were too steep for them to climb to shelter for the the night. They slept and shivered in the open boat, with only an overcoat for shelter for the two. It rained heavily at intervals in the night. The boys were Frederick Dobbie, aged ten, whose parents reside in Hawkhurst Road, and James Davies, aged twelve, who lives in West Lyttelton. They met by l accident on the water front after school on Friday, and, after playing together for some time, agreed upon going for a paddle round the wharves in a dinghy which they espied at the end of one of the wharves. They had no paddles, but a search around found two pieces of four by two timber about fifteen inches long. Paddling into the middle of the inner harbour, they tried to secure a petrol tin which was floating on the water. The effort brought them near the moles, and they were unable to\ make any headway against wind and tide, and were carried to tjie outer harbour. A fair sea was running, and the boys could do little with their improvised paddles. The dinghy drifted until just after nightfall, when it was carried on to the rocks at the end of the reef. Finding it too uncomfortable there, with the waves knocking the little craft against the rocks, the boys pushed off, trusting to luck to get to the inner harbour. The boat drifted in the darkness, and then struck the ..beach at the foot of the cliffs of Quail Island. Landing, the boys tried to find a way around the cliffs for shelter, but were unsuccessful, the cliffs being too steep to let them, on to the top of the island. Returning to the boat, which they had already brought up above the water line, they decided to spend the night in it. There was one overcoat between them, the property of the younger boy, Dobbie. This they spread over themselves before settling down to asleep. This was about nine o’clock. Thly did not know the time, but could sef that the ferry steamer Maori had not yet left Lyttelton.

It rained heavily at intervals in the night, and the boys were soaked, and suffered much from the cold.

In the morning they decided to have another attempt to get back to Lyttelton, and this time, with the tide with them, they were successful. Only after much toil with their paddles a landing was made on the edgfe of the reclaimed land near the dock. Leaving their boat on the rocks, the boys set out for their homes. Their relatives, who had bfeen searching all night, met them on the way. Although they boys were famished and suffered from severe cold, they were little the worse for their experience, and by yesterday had fully recovered.