YACHTING TRAGEDY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 120, 7 February 1940, Page 5

YACHTING TRAGEDY

COMMENT BY CORONER POSITION OF LIGHT The inquest into the deaths of three yachtsmen who were drowned when the yacht Ngahuia was wrecked on Matakana Island on January 14th was resumed at Tauranga before the coroner, Mr C. T. McFarlane. Sergeant J. Edwards represented the police. Frank Gordon Grcsham, owner of the Ngahuia, slated that on their return trip from White Island they encountered bad weather, with poor visibility. About 11.30 p.m. he called Willcoek on deck and they endeavoured to see the outline of the Mount or the North Rock light, but were unsuccessful. The boat, was handling splendidly, with no green water coming aboard.

At two o'clock they lowered, anchor with a 30 fathoms warp as a precaution. At 3.15 a.m. tile yacht was knocked down by three successive curlers, but no damage was done. The next broke the mast'. The hatches were torn off. the dinghy washed away and a hole made in the cabin top. The yacht evidently hit bottom. Left, on Mattresses. The crew decided to leave the boat on kapok mattresses. Tonkin was first away, then Willeock'. The remaining three stayed aboard until the yacht sank, then left th;-, yacht together. Witness lost his mattress but managed to make shore after about half an hour. He noticed that all the mattresses were ashore and thought the crew safe. The Ngahuia was a' triple-skinned yacht, perfectly seaworthy. Trouble started when they were unable to sec the North Light. Had the light been half-way up the Mount to give a landfall, thty would have been in no trouble. All the crew were yachts men and could swim. Criticism of Light. The coroner returned a verdict that the three met their deaths by drowning as a result of a yachting accident in a severe storm. He expressed sympathy with the relatives and with Gresham in his ordeal. He commended the large number uf searchers and expressed regret that the remaining body, that of Philip Herbert Neilson, was not iecovered. The coroner said he hoped the question of the light at the Mount would receive publicity. He would not add a rider, but would attach a note to the depositions suggesting that the Minister of Justice direct the attention of the Minister of Marine to the position of the light.