MYSTERY OF THE SEA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1507, 1 August 1912, Page 5

MYSTERY OF THE SEA.

TRAGIC FATE OF MOTHER AND CHILD. LOST OVERBOARD. SUICIDE OR ACCIDENT ? (By Telegraph — Press Association.) Auckland, July 31, A sensational tragedy occurred on July 22 during the voyage of the steamer Zealandia between Honolulu and Suva. Mrs. littie' Upland, a married woman, and her son, six .years of age, who were travelling 6teerage, were lost overboard' and drowned. No one aboard the vessel appears to have actually seen the victims of (lie affair fall overboard, and it is therefore somewhat of a mystery as to whether it was a case of double suicide or an accident. On the date of tlio tragedy, about 1 p.'rn,, the cry of "Jinn overboard" Was raised, and i immediately the utmost commotion and consternation was caused aboard the vessel. The bugle hud just sounded for luncheon, and nearly all passengers were in tho dining saloons at the time of the occurrence. \ Simultaneously with the Taising of the alarm there was a hurried stamjiede to the deck. -IVr a second or two the forms of the woman and tho child were seen (struggling in tlie sea, and then the waters plosed over them, blotting out every trace pf the tragedy, with, the exception of a small cap wh ; ch floated on the waves. ' . The woman and the.boy, it would 6eem, wore last seen going up tho companion.Way leading to the boat deck. A moment or two later a splush was heard, followed immediately by another and heavier splash. • The sea was comparatively, smooth at the time, and tho .vessel was rolling only .very slightly. At once the bell was rung from tho bridge for tho ship to siring around, and there was quick response by. the engineers to the signal. As the two forms swept past the side of! the steamer a couple of lifebuoys were thrown. out, but although one of them is stated to have drifted in close proximity to tho woman, she does not appear to havo attempted to reach it. Tho officers and crew ran to man tho emergency boat. The chief officer (Mr, Ncal) clambered up the railing on. to tlie boat-deck and was quickly in his place in the boat giving orders. Tho boat quickly reached tho water, but there was no sign of cither the mother or tho boy. Only the small cap was recovered, the solo relic of the grim .'affair. Inquiries among officers and passengers frs to circumstances surrounding tho affair are somewhat conflicting. The officers generally seem to have no doubt.whatever that the case was one of suicide on the . part of the mother and the boy. railings of the deck, they, state, are so secure that it would bo impossible to get overboard without deliberately climbing over the rails. In support of this contention is the fact that the woman and the child did not go.into lunch when the other third-class passengers did, and as they had been in the habit of doing. Anothor, and perhaps niore charitable .view, is fhat the child fell overboard,, and that the mother flung herself after him. It is rumoured that the boy made a number of attempts to get through, the railings, but had been prevented from doing, so. ' , The port at which Jlrs'; Opland embarked was Honolulu. Her husband was not aboard, and his whereabouts' do jj.ot ■ appear to be known.