DROWNING OF A WATERMAN, AND NARROW ESCAPE OF A SECOND.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 441, 9 June 1871, Page 2

DROWNING OF A WATERMAN, AND NARROW ESCAPE OF A SECOND.

Last night we had a very severe N.E. gale of wind, which by its fierceness has, I ana sorry to say, caused the death of one of our watermen; :aad. also • placed in' fearful jedparfly several boat-loads of passengers, who were being:conveyed on board the: Golden CrownAbout half-past six the deceased, CbarlW Treavleu, owner of the Royal Standard, -top. her moored to tho Tararu wharf, when 3j $' engineer of tho Golden' Crown came forwe I nd ; requested lo be put on board the sfcesm4 ] which wks anchored a very short distance oi r This was accordingly done, and as the steamed was about to bear: away for Grahamstovrn, the officers said they would tow him up, but this he refused; saying-" that he would rather sail," the sea at that time being quite calm. Heat once' started; and had sbarcely'done »o when tfae wind caaie rushing in, gusfif over, the hills, V; a'nii it ,is tb^ouglit 'tha^ be.,jnustf 'fiat* capsized and cluug ta theboitotn of the boat for a considerable time, as another boiituiani Ctarles, Colemani' started about, the' w"18 time', and was battling witli,thie,)it<irin fw »?* wards of an" hour, and"then lost one 6( W*

paddles, which left him at the mercy of the waves. Just at this moment Coleman espied the deceased on the bottom of his boat, but was unable to render any assistance, and immediately a large wave came and swept Trearlen clean away, and up to this he has not been seen. His boat has been brought in this morning, showing signs that it had been struck heavily by the paddles of some passing steamer. The deceased was a bachelor, and had that day reached his forty-first year, and, rather strange to say, he had told some of his mates in the morning, who were chaffing him upon his desponding looks, that he was a doomed man; and, on enquiring why, told them that on lifting his anchdr the night before he brought up with it what appeared to be the face of a drowned man, and, making a dash for it, his hand went through a large circle of scum or surf; and being, like most seafaring men, superstitious), this had left an impression upon him that his day' had come. With regard to Coleman, after losing his paddle he at once dropped anchor, but this did not hold, and the boat i began to drift, and was carried out a considerable distance, until about 11 p.m., when the Golden Crown was steaming towards the wharf, having received a portion of her passengers, who with the watermen were on hoard, the shouts of the man were heard, and at once responded to by calling out " hold on ;" as soon as they got to the wharf, the Luck's All was manned by Cook, Crouch, and Carr, who lost no time in pulling as rapidly as possible to their comrade, and eventually they reached him, and placed Cook on board with a spare paddle, and at about 12.30 they reached shores, thankful that a second of their mates bad not perished.