FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT AT KAURI POINT.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 414, 30 August 1876, Page 3

FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT AT KAURI POINT.

On Sunday last., tho 27fch msb. k Alfred Potier, who has been temporarily employed by the Telegraph Department to assist the Inspector's Foreman repairing swamp tracks, &0,, along the telegraph from Tauranga to Katikati, and who left Tauranga for Katikati on Saturday, was drowned near Kauri Point. So far as oau at present be ascertained, the circumstances are as follow : When between the mangroves and Kauri Point, the boat, containing Potier and a native named Kingi, from Waihi, was struck by a sudden squall and upset. After cutting away the sails and rigging the men managed to right the boat, and Potier got into it with the intention of baling it out ; his weight, however, again upset it. The boat was again righted, and again capsized. Then the two men got on the boat's keel, and the Maori, Kingi, recom» mended that they should stick to the boat, which, from the state of tho wind and tide, would certßi'nly drift to the island separating Tauranga and Katikati Heads, but Potior determined to endeavor to swim to Kauri Point, he therefore stripped and left the boat, swimming towards shore. After Potier left, Kingi again righted the boat, and by working it from side to side managed to got some of the water out j he then tore a plank from the lining of the boat, and using it as a paddle, tried to follow Potier. He called to Potier to drop down towards the boat with the tide, as he was unable to make much headway against the wind with the boat half full of water. Potier however continued to swim towards Kauri Point ; presently Kingi saw him make a spring out of the water and immediately sink ; ho saw no more of him. The boat with Kingi in it then drifted into Oturoa on the island. Maoris who bring the news are of opinion that Potier was not bitten by a shark, aB has been generally rumoured, but that he was drowned from exhaustion. The deceased was the son of one of the oldest European residents in the Bay of Plenty, and son-in-law of Mr Fairfax Johnson, of the Wairoa. He leaves a wife and young family. His brother is lineman in the Telegraph service at Kati< kati, and the deceased was employed with his brother on the telegraph lines constructed by Mr Floyd between Tauranga and the Thames in 1871-72, and afterwards acted as guide and interpreter to Mr Floyd between Tauranga and the Thames during the erection of the third wire.