TRAWLER MISHAP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20069, 16 October 1939, Page 11

TRAWLER MISHAP

POSSIBLE RICCOCHET j NEW THEORY ADVANCED FISHERMEN INDIGNANT PROTEST MEETING HELD (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. I Salvage operations were begun today in an effort to raise the sunken ! trawler Dolphin, which went to the bottom of Lyttelton harbour wnh her owner, Frederick James Brnsell, after being sunk by a harbour defence gun on Thursday. It' is hoped that the pile-driver’s poyverful hoisting gear will be capable of pulling the Dolphin to the surface. Thus supported, she will then be towed into port by a tug. One theory of the sinking which is gaining some support in Lyttelton is ' that the Dolphin was sunk by a riccochet and not by a direct hit. A workman on the dredge Canterbury is said to have been watching the Dolphin as she sailed towards the fort and saw the gun fired. He says he saw something splash in the water on the landward side of the vessel a j moment before she was hit. Expressing the opinion that the j sinking of the Dolphin was due to j wilful negligence on the part of those j in charge of the defence battery, | fishermen to-day passed a resolution of | protest which will be forwarded to the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones. Demand for Assurances The meeting was held in committee, but a statement was issued subsequently by Mr. F. P. Walsh, general secretary of the Seamen’s Federation, who paid a special visit from Wellington. Represented at the meeting were Lyttelton, Kaikoura, Akaroa and Timaru fishermen. The meeting passed a resolution pointing out to the authorities that the inspection vessel, | instead of being stationed off Little Port Cooper, in accordance with the instruction issued to fishermen by the Defence Department, actually was stationed two or three miles on the port end of the harbour near where the Dolphin was sunk. Mr. Walsh was directed by the meeting to ask the Minister of Defence to make the | fullest inquiry into the tragedy. Mr. Walsh said that those present | were confident that the Government | would do all it possibly coulcl to assist j fishermen in having the whole of the j evidence considered and published. ; Fishermen in all parts of Canterbury had sent telegrams of protest to the Minister against what they considered wilful negligence ancl demanding a full ’ enquiry into the tragedy, con- j tinued Mr. Walsh. Kaikoura fishermen discussed the sinking of the Dolphin yesteiuay, and the following telegram was received by the Lyttelton meeting this morning. “We protest in the strongest terms against the shooting tragedy at Lyttel- j ton and propose that all voluntary j help to naval and other authorities be ; withdrawn until all danger of further j shooting is removed to the satisfaction ; of fishermen.”