Seaman Killed.

Manawatu Herald, 12 March 1904, Page 3

Seaman Killed.

While the inquest was proceeding on Thursday morning on the boatswain of the Waiwera, the boatswain’s mate, Alfred John Searle (agedbetween 30 and 35, unmarried) was found in a dying condition at the bottom of No. 2 hold. His face was smashed, his thigh broken, and he was internally injured evidently by a fall from the ’tween deck, a drop of 25ft. He was last seen at 12.30 p.ra, the day before on the ’tween deck of No. 2 hold. To get to the No. 2 hold, which was not in use, he would have to scramble over a heap of rough dunnage in pitch darkness. The deck hatches of this hold were on, and the lower hatches off. He had been fretting over the boatswain’s death’and it is surmised he crept away to grieve in solitude and fell through the lower hatchway. He was conscious when found at 10.15 a.m., but he died at noon. He gave no explanation as to how or why he got to No. 2 hold. Dr Hogg said Searle died from heart failure, probably due to internal injury. The jury found that death was due to injuries but the evidence was insufficient to show how he came by them.