MARINERS PASSING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 244, 15 October 1936, Page 6

MARINERS PASSING

CAPTAIN RICHARD HART j WELL KNOWN IN WANGANUI One of the few master mariners on the New Zealand coast who received his earlier sea training in sail, Captain Richard Hart, formerly mate of the coastal motor-Ship Kapiti, died in Wellington on Saturday after a short illness. Captain Hart was a wellknown and highly respected figure in Wanganui shipping circles. For 30 years or more he served in various vessels engaged in the coastal trade, principally to the Marlborough Sounds | and Wanganui. Born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1868, Captain Hart was a son of the I late Mr Richard Hart, superintendent of the Telegarph Department at Edinburgh. He went to sea as an apprentice on July 23, 1885, in the barque Eastern, gaining his second male’s certificate, and also his foreign trade certificate in 1891, and his master a ticket in 1906. In February, 1907, he was appointed master of the Manaroa, and for a numbei of years traded regularly between Wellington and the Sounds. At various times from 1915 he was master of the following vessels, all of which made frequent calls at Wanganui: Stormbird, Putiki, Invercargill, Blenheim, Kauhinui and Kapiti. Captain Hart was twice married. He is survived by his daughter Helen, who is living in England, and by his wife. The funeral took place at the Karori Cemetery on Sunday, services being conducted at the mortuary chapel, and also at the crematorium. At the funeral, Mr L. H. G. Bennett represented the Coastal Shipping Company, owners of the Kapiti, and Mr F. T. Hill attended on behalf of Messrs A. S. Burgess and Co., the Wanganui agents. The pallbearers were Captains G. Knowles (president, Merchant Service Guild), F. A. Mclndoe (secretary of the Guild), Coldicutt (master, m.v. Rakura), Y. Johansen (master, m.v. Kapiti), and Messrs F. T. Hill and R. Young (second engineer, m.v. Kapiti). The death of Captain Hart came as a great surprise to his’friends in Wanganui. He was seen at the Town Wharf for the last time when the Kapiti arrived a week ago to-day. Always popular with his shipmates, he had a repertoire of interesting stones collected during his seafaring career. Typical of the men who go down to the sea in ships, Captain Hart could spin an amusing yarn or tell of some great struggle against hard gales, of hardships experienced only by those who served in sail, of incidents associated with earlier days on the New Zealand coast.