NEAR TRAGEDY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 18

NEAR TRAGEDY

In Foundered Houseboat

When ou the point of going down with their houseboat in heavy seas off the Isle of Anglesey ou November’ 2,

two London people and their Kentish crew were rescued in thrilling fashion by the Liverpool steamer Lady Leinster.

The rescued were Mr. John H. Hone, a young civil engineer, of London; his wife, Mrs. Molly Hone; W. Jarrett, captain of the boat; and H. Rose, the mate, both of Sittingbourne, Kent. They were landed at Liverpool by

the Lady Leinster, having been picked up off Point Lynas in the early hours of the morning, after very skilful manoeuvring on the part of a lifeboat lowered from tlie steamer.

Both Mr. and Mill. Hone were hatless when they stepp’d ashore at Liverpool, their only remaining possession being their pet tabby cat “Tiger,” which Mrs. Hone, wearing a fur coat and a pair of seamen’s trousers, carried in a cardboard box under her arm. “ ‘Tiger’ was all I could gather up as I waded ofit of my cabin to go on deck, as we all thought to our doom,’’ said Mrs. Hone. Then she smiled ami added, as an afterthought, “Oh, no, I snatched a comb and some powder.” “We have not only lost our possessions,” said Mr, Hone, “but we have lost our home also, for we have lived in our craft and have no other address. I She was a sailing barque .of 44 tons, converted into a househoatf.vacht: The yacht was 79ft. overall, with a ICft. Gin. beam, and she was splendidly equipped, with main saloon, two singleberth cabins ana one double-berth cabin. We called her ‘Thursday.’ and it is rather singular th nt it was Thursday midnight, in one of the worst blizzards I have ever seen, that our drama began. < “We had been io Dumfries, where I had been carrying out a contract, and we started on the return trip of 300 miles to London on October 8, but were driven into Whitehaven by bad weather and adverse winds, and remained there a fortnight. < We set off again on Thursday, and when we were about five miles off Point Lynas, in a

heavy sea aud driving hail and sleet, we sprang a leak: “The yacht rolled and pitched heavily, and began to fill rapidly. We decided to make a run for shelter behind the Isle of Anglesey, but a very

heavy sea made this impossible. Every moment we expected her, with her heavy weight of water, to turn right ever. As a last hope we began burning flares, and it was a mortifying experience for us to see one ship pass without noticing us. “Luckily the Leinster got our signals and lowered a lifeboat, which was handled with great skill, and when eventually they came alongside us we were so low in the water that we just stepped across. We are certainly lucky to be alive, as our ship bad gone down three feet, and could not have lasted another ten minutes.”’ Mrs. Hone, describing her own experience, said: “I knew things were pretty bad, and I had turned in and was dosing when my husband came into the cabin, which was knee deep in water, with a suitcase and shoes and everything floating aiound, and in a jocular way said, ‘Come along, I fear our ship’s making a little water.’ We both laughed, but we knew we were for it, so I jumped out of my bunk and put on what clothes I could, walking round knee deep in water. "Then I seized dear old Tiger, shoved her into a pillow ease, and, slinging her over my shoulder, went on deck. It was a black outlook, I can tell you, and it is little short of a miracle that we have been rescued. Curiously, Tiger was meowing all day, and our crew told us it was a premonition of disaster. Personally I think the poor old thing was seasick.” Mr. Gallimore, the chief officer of the Lady Leinster, said: “The captain gave orders to me to set fire to the craft when the rescue work was completed, but She was so low in the water that there was nowhere to place the oil, and we had to leave her, but she could not be afloat -many minutes.

“If she had taken her plunge when we were close to her, the 50ft. mast might easily have come down bn us and carried us under.”