PLUCKY ACTION SAVES THREE GIRLS CAUGHT BY STRONG TIDAL RIP

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 February 1949, Page 4

PLUCKY ACTION SAVES THREE GIRLS CAUGHT BY STRONG TIDAL RIP

Caught by a strong tidal rip at Castlecliff, near the North Mole, on Tuesday evening, three girls, two of them twins, aged 16, and the third aged 14, were rescued as a result of prompt and plucky action taken by Mr. John P. Carde, of 11 Godwin Crescent. The girls were standing on a patch of shoaling, where the depth was about three feet, and the tide was slowly making. Between them and the shore, however, was a channel through which a strong rip was running.

When Mr. Carde went to their assistance they were in danger of being swept away. He swam out to them, inquired their condition, and returned for the life-belt which the Wanganui Harbour Board had placed on the shore end of the mole. The line attached to the belt was too short, but Mr. Carde again made a trip to the girls and they held on to the belt while he returned for more rope. In the meantime, Mr. D. Moriarty, of 28 Churton Street, had also gone out to the girls, remaining with them while further rescue attempts were being made. Though alarmed at their plight the girls remained cairn and this assisted the rescuers.

Mr. Carde attempted to swim to Ihe mole with one end of the line but the length was still too short. He was assisted at this stage by Mr. A. A. Sutcliffe, 19 Smithfield Road, who secured another length of rope from a car and threw one end to him. Mr. Carde subsequently joined the two ropes and the three girls were pulled to safety

Mr. Carde, who is a married man, is a former leading Wanganui freestyle swimmer of the 1936-39 period. He was also a water-polo player. Witnesses of the incident said that only a strong swimmer could have gone into the rip and came out of it. Some swimmers on the beach admitted that they would have feared going out to the girls at that stage. . On Sunday Mr. Carde was responsible also for assisting a young woman to the shore at the same point. When the three girls were brought ashore they were almost exhausted. The Wanganui Harbour Board advised yesterday that the line was being doubled in length, giving a total of 60 feet.