Coroner Finds That Five Men Were Lost At Sea

Wanganui Chronicle, 29 June 1948, Page 6

Coroner Finds That Five Men Were Lost At Sea

(P a ) Auckland. June 25. •'I am satisfied these men were lost on or about May 29, 1947, said the coroner (Mr. A. Addison), at an inquest into the deaths of the master and four members of the crew of the auxiliary scow Haere, which disappeared off the northern coast. Leave to swear that the deaths of the five men took place on or about that date was granted by Mr Justice Callan in the Supreme Court in October. 1947. Evidence given at a marine inquiry in August, 1947 tof ether with the finding was prouced. The finding was that the evidence lent irresistibly to the inference that the auxiliary scow Haere was lost at :ea with all hands during the early hours of the morning of May 29. 1947. Mr. Ivor Owen Parry director of Parry Bros., Ltd., owners of the scow, said the Haere was engaged in carrying sand and cement into Auckland from coastal ports. She was powered with two Diesel engines. The Haere left Auckland for Parengarenga Harbour on May 27. 1947, and she was to load sand there. The master (Captain Victor Joseph Sayer) and four members of . the crew —Messrs. David Moses Maimie (engineer), John Mclnnes Sharpe and Raymond Brunton (able seamen) and Harold Mataira (ordinary seaman) —were on board. All had been at sea most ot their lives. Witness said the Haere left Parenfarenga on the afternoon of May 8, after she had completed loading. When she was overdue he became alarmed and arranged for a search to be made by planes of the R.N.Z.A.F. A Catalina and a Hudson aircraft carried out a search over a wide arc ‘ for three days, but no trace of the missing vessel was found. The Marine Department was informed and messages were broadcast from radio stations. The coroner’s finding was tha- the five men died on or about Mav 29, 1947, at sea. off the coast of North Auckland while they were members of the crew of the Haere, which sailed from Parengarenga for Auckland on May 28, and bad not since been traced. There was insufficient evidence to show *he actual cause of death.