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Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 63, 16 March 1931, Page 5

Further details of the tragic loss of the yacht, which is almost certain to be that in which Messrs S. Sylvester, lecturer at Canterbury College, and H. C. R. Hudson, engineering student, left New Plymouth on Thursday, March 5, for Lyttelton, are given by the captain of the Opihi, which arrived at New Plymouth on Thursday. The Opihi discovered the upturned yacht some little distance away from Pipin Island, Cable Bay, Nelson. Captain F. J. Warren said a howling gale raged throughout Tuesday night. The weather conditions were terrible, and the chances of anyone at sea in a small boat would be very slender. There was no telling where the yacht had capsized. It might have drifted far miles. If it had been upset where it was discovered, less than a quarter of a mile from Pipin Island, the occupants might have been able to swin ashore in the heavy seas, but the rocks along the shore would have made a landing very difficult and dangerous. The Opihi passed within twenty yards of the boat and there was certainly no one on board. The seas were still too rough to permit of a boat being put off to make closer investigations.