Five Whakatane Men Aboard Wrecked Launch Off Mayor Island
When the 35ft launch Renuhau, owned by Mr J. Barney of Tauranga, struck a submerged rock off Mayor Island and sank last week, five Whakatane ' men, on a deep-sea fishing excursion, were aboard.' They were Messrs. Stewart Spence, W. Lord, Alec Thompson, R. Robins and Roy Butler. They had an exciting 20 minutes before they were picked up by Mr E. Chatban’s vessel Dauntless, which was about a mile away when Renuhau went down. Mr Butler said yesterday that the thing was not without its humour. Mr Barney was asleep when the launch struck, but he quickly distributed lifebelts. The launch sank in six minutes.
A lot happened in. those six minutes, according to Mr Butler. One of the party was leaning over the rail when mb vessel struck. He fell over, but grabbed the lsiunch' and was just clambering aboard when she struck a second time and jolted him off. His companions got him aboard just in time to don a life jacket. Somebody told, them all; ,to take off their‘.trousers,* which they did before abandoning shipi One Landed; his to a companion, who. clutched them as though: : they were-his-^drily; hope of salvation; He was the ' only man who arrived aboard the rescue launch with any pants.- But foiir had their hats on and one still wore his spectacles. Launch Not Badly Holed Renuhou was salvaged in the week-end from 20 feet of -water. A float - of drums was employed for the first stage of the salvage, which began at low water ‘ when ropes were lashed as tightly as possible from the raft, under the fore and after part of the submerged vessel. \ \ With the aid of the Fisheries Inspector’s launch Clematis, a tow was commenced to South East Bay, Mayor Island, which was reached four hours and a-half after salvage work was commenced.' A quick inspection revealed that the launch had not been badly holed, and she showed evidence of having been stove in near the bow. '
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 25, 27 February 1948, Page 4
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338Five Whakatane Men Aboard Wrecked Launch Off Mayor Island Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 25, 27 February 1948, Page 4
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