Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 643, 5 January 1859, Page 4

Local Intelligence.

A fatal boat accident occurred, in the harbour on Sunday. Jonathan Redmayne, clerk to Mr. Wormald, Solicitor, went out with four other men for a sail in a very good boat, They were over near the South Shore, when it appears they were running before the wind with the mainsail made fast aft. The sail jibed, and the wind blowing fresh, the boat at once capsized. Redmayne, it seems, and two of the others could not swim, but two could ; and the latter did their best to keep their companions holding on to the keel of the boat. Redmayne did not use any exertion to save himself, but gave himself up to his fate, and, though brought back several times, let go, and perished rapidly. Some men. went off from this side in the Canterbury's dingy, as soon as the accident was observed, and succeeded in saving the other unfortunate men, who had been by that time in the Water nearly an hour, and could not have held otfmuch longer; however they got better speedily. A search was instituted for Redmayne's body, but without success. We believe he was about 28 years of age, and leaves no relations in this couniry. During the regatta, at tho coming in of one of the winning boats, a boy, son of Mr. Compton of the Mitre Hotel, was precipitated into the water off the jetty, by the rush of persons who thronged to welcome the winner. Mr. M'Clutchie and another jumped in at once after him, and succeeded in bringing him out, without loss of time. The Ancient Order of Foresters assembled for their anniversary on Monday at Christchurch. They walkedinprocessionduringthe day anddiued together at night. At the dinner, which came off at the Royal Hotel, there were nearly 150 persons present. Mr. E. G. Wakefield?;was in the chair, and Mr. Woodford in the vice-chair. The evening was a merry one, and the company separated late. We are requested to notice the fact that a meeting of members.of the Church of England will bo held_ in the Temporary Church, Lyttelton, this evening, for the purpose of electing churchwardens for the ensuing year and other business. LYTTELTON REGATTA. Tho first of January,, 1859, has been perhaps the pleasantest holiday which Lyttelton has ever enjoyed ; at least, to those who enjoy; separately or in combination, splendid weathor, a capital boat race, and open air music, last Saturday must have furnished an unusual treat. Tho weather, not by any means an unimportant item in the programme of a holiday, was remarkably fine ;' tho sun shone, but not too fiercely, and tho wind blew with that vivacity which charms tho heart of a seaman without any of the chilliness which might make a landsman turn his back to a regatta. Tho interest of the day's sport was increased, by the unusually large number of entrances for tho principal race. Tho competitors wore fourteen in number, including, as the event fully justified, vessels dt' ten tons and vcssols of forty tons for the same prize. Among these were one or two new and newly arrived craft, whoso performances it was expected would bo interesting to moasuro with those of older favourites. The regatta committee had arranged for tho attendance of tho Christchurch band, whose services added greatly to tho gaiety of tho day; they played to the admiration of surrounding crowds on the jetty> at the hotols, at the Town Hall, and in all other places of public resort, by turns throughout the day.

The' programmo arranged was not quite carriod out, there being no entrance for the five-oared pulling match. IJufc ns the first race concerned the largest number and the largest boats, its interest would in any case have overshadowed tho smaller races, ■■ „ , -■^>- ■"■-■•■■..• LYTTELTON STAKES. For all decked boats above ton tons belonginglo the harbour; entranco £1 Is,, with a purse of added. Fourteen entries., Annie, cutter, 10 tons, Clarkson 1 Emerald, kotch, 10 tons, Cohen 2 Father Thames, ketch, 18 tons, Foster ... 3 Watorlily, schooner, 12 tons, Hobbs 4 Flirt, ketch, 12 tonti, Day 5 Ocean Queen, schooner, 18 tons, Symonds 0 Uira, schooner, 26 tons, Toomey ..' .0 Emu, kotch, 34 tons, McClutchie 0 Midlothian, ketch, 15 tons, Marshall 0 City of London, ketch, 10 tons, Lyons ... 0 Eagle, ketch, 18 tons, Clarkson'". 0 Midge, cutter, 18 tons, Cameron 0 Julia Ann, cutter, 15 tons, Simmonds ... 0 Canterbury, schooner, 37 tons, Bowton ... 0 The start was made from off the public jetty at about half-past eleven, and was an exceedingly' pretty sight. The order of places was drawn by lot, - the first choice taking the outside, and the last the inside, which did not, however, make any material difference; most got cleverly away, the Midlothian being first; but the Uira and the Midge fouled one another/and the latter carried away her bowsprit, and thus being disabled brought up at once, depriving tho regatta of the Competition of a boat lately arrived, of which some expectations had been entertained." The course was round the Gratitude and the reef, and down £he harbour to a boat moored off Polhill's bay, then to the jetty, and round again.; The breeze blowing fresh from N.E. all the vessels slipped their cables and stood away with a fair wind for the commencement, the Midlothian leading, Annie second, Father Thames third, Emu and Uira fourth and fifth, with the Ocean Queen well up, and the rest close together in a ruck; the Gratitude being rounded in the order named. From some cause unexplained, the Julia Ann chose to abandon the course at the commencement, and stood away straight for tho reef, thus putting herself out of the race. It will be remembered that this was the winning boat two years ago. . The Canterbury alone did not start, preferring to sail from Peacock's wharf, take a plunge in medias carinas, and assume a fictitious lead for a few minutes by cutting across to the line. Round the reef the sight was extremely pretty, the whole fleet sticking close together, and displaying the utmost of their manauvring in the act of hauling up to meet the breeze as they rounded the rocks. The order still was—Midlothian, Annie, Father Thames, \ Emu, Uira,, Ocean Queen, Emerald, Waterlily, City of London, Eagle, Flirt. But the smart.ketch which had led thus far found her cen-tre-board of little avail when obliged to compete with the Annie in beating to ; windward, and an accident to her gaff-topsail caused her rapidly to assume a third or fourth place. The little favourite now took the lead, and kept it to the close, exhibiting a smartness in getting'to windward which it was evident from the commencement secured her .success, barring accidents. Beyond the reef, also, the Julia Ann, which had eclipsed her neighbours by cutting off the corner, and was really sailing without a further object, fell behind the Annie and Father Thames, and presently occupied a very low position. The little.Emerald/ which has for several years distinguished herself by being next to the winner, began now to creep up, and in the numerous boards between the reef and the : flag.boat, contrived to work herself into her usual second place. The view here was rather confusing to a landsman, as the variety of situations in which the. same craft had_ every-novy_«nd again to be looked for—now, apparently far in advance, then again inker losing tack failing seemingly astern of all the rest—made it a puzzling matter to follow the course, and the presence of other shipping added to the confusion. But when the fleet reached the narrower part of the, harbour where the flag-boat was moored, the evolutions became very interesting. All were present here, the last boats being able to work up to something like a proximity to the leaders, before the latter achieved the final board which carried them to windward of the boat. And then, when in turn one after the other reached- this point, it was a beautiful sight to see each turn sharply round, squaring everything away and hoisting every supernumerary rag on board, and run down through the crowd of close-hauled competitors as if laughing and dancing at her triumph. This point was reached in the following order, which of course indicates also the relative positions on terminating the first round of the course:—Annie first, then the Emerald, Father Thames, Emu, Waterlily, Uira, Ocean Queen, City, Julia Ann, Flirt. The Midlothian had given up the contest shortly previous, and returned to her moorings; so had the Eagle. The Ocean Queen might have held a slightly better position, only that on coming up to the flagboat she was allowed to come in contact with it, and fouling, of course, fell to leeward, instead of passing to windward, thus being obliged to make another board. Several of the vessels now brought up, the race" being as good as won; but tho second round was by no means inferior in real interest to-the first. Tliu Annie kept her place, improving her position all the time. She passed round 'without any accident, and came in first, amid cheering, waving, and gun-firing, about 25 minutes a-head of any other boat. The race, so. far as she was concerned, occupied a little over two7 hours and a-half. The Emerald kept hei* place to! the flag-boat the second time "* round, but the Father Thameshad been showingsymptonispreviously of closing, which was effected at the instant of rounding; the Father was slightly to windward and managed to make a somewhat shorter turn of it than the Emerald. The little one however kept gallantly on and hoisted her squaresail for greater expedition, the Father not setting tho additional canvas. Neck and neck they came down before the wind, the Emerald hugging the shoi-e to prevent the Father from passing astern and taking the wind out of her sails. As they came past the point there was not an inch between them, and when the jetty was reached it would have been hard for any eye to distinguish a shade of difference. But in consequence of tho Father Thames, which was on the port or outer side, bearing up and fouling the 'Emerald, the umpire gave his decision in favour of the latter vessel. The Waterlily was fourth, and the Flirt fifth, each with a good interval. The rest came homo without completing the round. OI'KN BOAT I!ACE. For all open sailing boats. Entranco, 10s. Gd., with a purse of £8. Second prize, £2 10s. Three entries. Sons of tho Thames, R. Butt 1 Dismal George, G. Scott 2 New Chum, P. Toomey 0 The Sons of tho Thames took the lead and-kept it, with a considerable spaco between her and tho second boat. The course was the same as for tho previous match, but only once round. PULLING MATCH. For all four oared boats with steer oar or rudder. Entrance 7s. Cd., with ten pounds added. Three entries. Flying Cloud P. Cameron 1 Prime Cut Marshall 2 Regina Maguirc 3 This was an exciting race, particularly as no five oared race came off. Cameron's and Marshall's boat fouled one another alongside one of tho ships, and though Marshall came in first in the butcher's boat,

the Captain of the Uegina, who was appealed to. m the umpire did not see the'fouling, gave iHa favour of the second boat. „ „.;.... In the dingy race with pair of paddles, P. Cancron in the Ifoung Midge won against M. Jfefcy and G. Clarkson. , The sculling match from some cause did not coma off.; -..',;. "•...:.. .■ „.:.;•<.. .. • For the skiff race there were three entries. J. Roberts,, in the f Custom House dingy, came in first and won. '; '■ ■ . •-. , , The Duck hunt was a capital onO, - Jfcflqjrh.short. A Mr.Bob Clarence, a gentleman of colour, performed the duck to admiration. He got Into the water as soon as he possibly could, and gave the bow oarsman ,of the pursuing boat (W Burns of the steamer Planet) a good. long »wim with no result. Both men are capital swimmers. , When Burns was hoisted into the boat again, the boat was backed on to the devoted duck, and Mr. Clarence was captured over the stern, according to law an improper capture. The prize is divided. > Thus ended the sports—short but sweet, wea geea of their kind, It has been usual to deirpte a portion of the funds to land sports of the early English order; but this year they hare been discontinued, with, we think, great advantage to all concerned, nowever, the entertainment to the children was not forgotten, and nearly four hundred happy youngsters congregated round the tables in the Town Hall and were regaled ad libitum with cakes, fruit, bread and butter and milk. After the eating and drinking was over, a little dancing .diversion was in-i dulged in, and the band, which'had been playing during the entertainment, remained for a short time to give zest to the exercise. The holiday did not close properly till last night, when a ball took place in the Town Hall, uniting all those who had been engaged in the sports, with their friends, male and female. The winners of prizes we understand contribute principally to the cost of the ball, by giving up their winnings for the purpose. , . The settling day for prizes &c, will be on Thursday evening at the Mitre Hotel, when all interested are expected to attend.