NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 56, 30 November 1926, Page 8

NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING

HOUR SPENT ON OVERTURNED DINGHY Dominion Special. Auckland, November 29. A very narrow escape from drowning was the experience oi a yachtsman, C. McMaster (aged 19 years) at Surfdale. When rescued after an hour in the water the youth was in a state of collapse, and it was nearly two hours before he recovered When the Northern Company’s steamer Waipu, returning from her week-end trips to Waiheke ports, reached Surfdale at a quarter to five, the master was informed that a young man who was clinging to an upturned dinghy was almost “all in.” A heavy sea was running, and the wind was blowing hard from the south-west, but no time was lost. The steamer's boat was launched within a few minutes, and when it reached the upturned dinghy McMaster was almost exhausted. He had been clinging to the little craft for over an hour, and it is certain that had not assistance been forthcoming he would have been washed away and drowned. As it was, he was in a bad way as a result of his long immersion, and it was nearly two hours before he recovered.

It is not definitely known how McMaster got into the water One report states that he was returning to a sailing boat moored off the beach, that the dinghy was swamped in the rough seas, and that a companion who was with him swam to the shore for assistance, but was unable to put off to his rescue. Another version is that McMaster was on a yacht and that when the dinghy broke away he dived overboard to bring it back, but was unable to do so.