THE LATE BOATING DISASTER

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3828, 23 October 1883, Page 3

THE LATE BOATING DISASTER

An inquest was held at the Crown Hotel, Spit, last afternoon, into the circumstances attending the late fatal boat accident in the inner harbor, by which William Edward Meek, William De la Have, and George Eoarden lost their lives. Dr. Hitdiings, coroner, conducted the enquiry, _ and Mr John Orr acted as foreman of the jury. The jurors, having viewed the bodies of Meek and De la Hayc (that of Rcarden not having been recovered), proceeded to take tho cvidenoo of the survivors, Alexander and James Stewart.

Tho only particulars of the melancholy affair additional to those published in tho Daily Teleujiaph last evening that were adduced at the enquiry wore as follows: — That after the boat upset Meek dived beneath her and after several attempts succeeded in yetting tho ballast, consisting of bags of Bhinglo, out of her, which caused the enift to partially right. .Subsequently a sea struck her (the one that curried oft' young Rearden), and she righted completely with the gunwale level with the water. Meek, Do la Have, and A. Stewart then got aboard. No attempt was made to bale, as tho sea was washing clean over the boat. Efforts were put forth to push the boat shoreward, A. Stewart using the boom for that purpose, and Meek .swimming with a tow lino from tho bows, but these , proved futile. There were no refreshment.-; on board, and tho boat was not overloaded. None of the sheets were made fast. When found by tho search party Stewart was sitting up to his middle in water in tho boat, Do la Hayc was lying quite in the water, at the bottom of the boat, and Mcok was leaning on to the sido of it. Tho jury returned a verdict that the iwo deceased, W. E. Mcok and W. Do la Haye, died from exposure .i7id exhaustion consequent upon tho upsetting of a boat, and added a rider recommending that all boats carrying largo racing sails should be provided with life-belts.