TRAWLER WRECKED UNDER HIGH CLIFF

Chronicle (Levin), 22 December 1949, Page 6

TRAWLER WRECKED UNDER HIGH CLIFF

Man Drowned In Desperate Swim To Shore

CHRISTCHURCH, Dec. 21. When swimming on a fish crate fc>ehind his mate from the trawler Konene which foundered after striking the clifT and a rock at Scenery Nook in Squally Bay, l£ miles west of Akaroa Heads atoout 5 p.m. today, Desmond Cliiiord Hammond, a married man with a family, of 'Corsair Bay, disappeared in a heavy swell. The master of the trawler, George Smart, of Simeon Quay, Lyttelton, reached the foot of the cliff exhausted and took nearly five hours to reach a homestead over rugged country. When the search for Mr Hammond 's fiody was suspended this afternoon, the trawler was lying on a rock 100 yards from shore with the tip of one of its masts ahove the water of the rising tide. The search will be continued tomorrow and salvage efforts made on the trawler. The Konene, valued at £5000, was not insured. The Konene left Akaroa wharf at 3.30 a.m. for the fishing grounds. Mr Smart and Mr Hammond had .been mates on the trawler for the' past three years, fishing out of Lyttelton and Akaroa. Following custom, one went below to sleep during the trip out ot Akaroa Harbour. Mr Hammond was at. the wheel and Mr Smart was below. A crash v\;akened Mr Smart in the forard cabin and he rushed on deck to find the Konene right under the precipitous clifT of Scenery Nook, a small im let iinmediately east of Squally Bay anu west of Timutimu llead, the west head at the entrance to Akaroa Harbour, The engine was reversed to back the trawler clear of the cliff. Mr Smart then

notieed the damage. One of the masts had broken olf against the cliff and sea was pouring into the trawler from under-water holing on the rock. Four minutes after striking, the Konene sank about 100 yards off the cliff base. Mr Smart and Mr Hammond dived into the sea, grabbed a fish crate apiece and swam towards the cliff. The sea was rough after several days of boisterous weather and the kelp was thick. Mr Smart apparently was a better swimmer and was soon ahead of Mr Hammond. He did not see his mate but they were talking. They were about 35 yards off the rocks when Mr Smart iooked round and saw that only the fishing case to which Mr Hammond haa been clinging, was visible. On Teaching the foot of the 300 feet cliff, Mr Smart was exhausted. He Iooked again for Mr Hammond but saw no sign of him. boundary of Land 's End sheep station, owned by Mr R. A. Moujd, Mr Srnari had to make a series of short swixns through the swell and kelp from oue rocky beach to another. The only outlet from the foot of the sheer cliff was by a very rugged ravine. Already exhausted and shocked, Mr Smart made his way uphill to open country and then walked a ruile and a lialf to the home of Mr A. R. Priest, manager of Land's End. ' ' He was almost knoeked out when he reached the house, " said Mr Priest. "1 was away at the time and Mrs Priest helped him inside. He could not speak and she had to bring him round to find out who he was'and wliat had happened. When he told her she telephoned the police at Akaroa." It was not till after 2 o'clock that Mr Smart reached Akaroa in a doctor's car. He was suffering from shoek and *T" — II M I I III I I

exhaustion and was put to bed at the: Bruce Hotel. He recovered suificientiy to be taken to his home at Lyttelton in the evening. Search Organised On receiving- the telephone message from Mrs Priest, . (Jonstabie M. Egan organised a search. Fishing boats in Akaroa put out. to Scenery Nook and trawlers on the fishing grounds off Akaroa Heads were called in to give assistance by the radio telephone station at Lyttelton, the operator - being Mrs ft. Cormack whose husband was at Akaroa with his trawler on the slipway. From a trawler owned by Mr R. Davis, of Akaroa, Constable Egan supervised the search for Mr Hammond 's body. A dmghy was used to get close in shore. It was risky work with the heayy swell and operations were suspended when the swell became dangerous as the tide was nearing its peak about 4.30 p.m. The Konene was then lying on a rock with only six inches of one of her 30 feet masts above water. The trawler was built to the order of Mr F. J. Le Quesne, of Mount Pleasant, in 1932, by MiJler and Tunnage Ltd,, of Port Chalmers. She is 48ft 6in in length and is one of the4 best equipped of the Lyttelton fishing fleet. She is built of kauri and is powered with a 85 h.p. Gardner diesel engine. The sea was moderating this evening when the trawler, according to reports to Mr Le Quesne, was still firm on the rock. The owner has arranged for a diver to be taken to the wreck tomorrow morning to ascertain whether salvage is possible.