HIS LAST LOOK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5207, 23 November 1927, Page 3

HIS LAST LOOK.

MVTHEB AND CHILD. DIE IN EACH OTHER’S ARMS. “Fate has <kalt' harshly with a large number of Sydney people in the disaster, but I think that I am the worst loser. I am robbed of all that I most cherish in the world, and I do not know how I am to fare in the future.” Walking aimlessly about the Sydney morgue Mr Corby, a fettler, from Mpree, was lost to pract ica.il! v his trouble. He had just identified, his wife and.child, victims of the ferry boat, tragedy. “We were just down here on a holiday,” he continued. “ I thought I would let my wife; and kiddie see as much as possible before they returned to the country. We had arranged to go to Watson’s Bay by ferry steamer, and to return to the city by tram. “ We were sitting together on the top dock of the boat, viewing the foreshores of the harbour when I saw the dark bows of the Tahiti bearing down on us. People screamed from the other end of the boat, and I knew that something was wrong. “ I then jumped up and rushed over to where the lifebelts were kept. I pulled down the supporting laths of wood, and just as I attempted to grasp three belts the boats collided. “ I was sent flying into the air, and while in mid-air I turned my head, to see where my wife and child were. “ I saw' that they had rushed panicstricken for safety down the gangway, but their progress had beep stopped by the mad rush of passengers from the lower deck, who sought safety above. The last thing I saw of them was the mother throwing her left arm in the air and holding my child tightly to her breast with the right hand. Thei boat then lurched to the side on which they were standing, and then I knew no more. “I was sent down what appeared to be fathoms into the harbour, and when I eventually reached the surface I searched amongst the struggling people with eager eyes for those that I valued most dearly, but I saw nothing of them. Not seeing them I then did not care what happened to me, and everything seemed to be a blank, when I was picked up by a launch.” The strain was too much for him and he broke down and wept.

Corby’s last view of his wife and child was verified by the police, wild said that the two were found huddled in each other’s arms under part of the debris at the bottom of the harbour.