HEAVY GALE AT AKAROA—LOSS OF FOUR LIVES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 14, 29 April 1871, Page 3

HEAVY GALE AT AKAROA—LOSS OF FOUR LIVES.

[Lyttelton Times.]

A melancholy boat accident, by which four lives were lost, took place in Akaroa harbor on the night of the 17th instant, On the evening in question, some settlers and their families, residing near the head of the Bay, were returning from Akaroa. They put off in three boats shortly before 11 p.m., and when about opening German Bay, the first blast of the heavy south-west gale, which blew during that night and on the following day, struck them. The night was intensely dark, the sea rose in a moment, and a perfect deluge of rain accompanied the sudden squall. Two of the boats endeavored to keep running close to the eastern shore in order to seek shelter in German Bay. When off the south head of Lushington Bay, however, the darkness prevented the people in the foremost one from keeping clear of the outlying reef, upon which she struck heavily. All hands, five in number, were precipitated into the water then lashing furiously the rocky shore, and one person named John Wardle alone miraculously reached the.shove in safety. The other four occupants of the boat, viz., Mr Hugh Dalgleish, a settler residing at Devauchelle’s Bay, his wife, the latter’s sister, a young girl named E. Shadbolt, and a man of the name of George Byron, disappeared beneath the waves and were drowned. The survivor Wardle, after reachingtheshore, searched along it for his unfortunate friends, but

the darkness, wind, and furiously driving rain, rendered his efforts useless. He proceeded to Akaroa in the early morning and gave the alarm-.

The authorities at once instituted a search, and a party of settlers and friends of the missing people, under the direction of Constable M. Flanagan, whose exertions were indefatigable, proceeded overland to see what could be done. They found the body of Mrs. Dalgleish among the rocks, but could not discover any signs of the other unfortunates.. The gale at the time was at its highest, and a heavy sea was running into the harbor, from the effects of which a number of boats were driven ashore. The party returned to town when the flood-tide began to make, and renewed their search again on Wednesday, without any success, although assisted by two boats’ crews and extra shore hands. The two boats which started with the late Mr. Dalgleish’s had a most miraculous escape. One struck a rock near the spot where their ill-fated friends perished, but the occupants reached the shore safely, though drenched to the skin, and nearly losing their boat, which got staved. The third party managed to land further to leeward, and got ashore. All, however, spent a most miserable night on the beach, waiting anxiously until morning light should break.