DANGEROUS PRACTICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26619, 15 November 1947, Page 8

DANGEROUS PRACTICE

RISKS NOT APPRECIATED SAILING IN ILL-EQUIPPED BOATS P.A. WELLINGTON, Nov. 14. “On more than one occasion the court had condemned the practice of some people in going out in small boats manned by people with no proper appreciation of the risks they ran,” said tne coroner, Mr W. G. Mellish, to-day. He conducted an inquest into the death of Cecil Payne, who he found died on Setember 13 from exposure when the yacht Blue Peter overturned in, Wellington harbour. Some boats, and some craft not even worthy to be called boats, went out without proper equipment for emergencies, said the coroner. Sudden changes of weather caused risks to others who properly felt impelled to go to the rescue. The accident to the yacht Blue Peter was described by two others in the boat, William Bruce Wardell and Owen Findlay Smith. Wardell said that they sailed from Petone, Payne having taken delivery of the Blue Peter there. They were passing Somes Island when the wind increased. Wardell was sitting forward and put on the only life iacket to keep himself dry. A strong wind caught the yacht and overturned it. Smith said that the boat carried only one life jacket and only a tin for bailing. Police Sergeant J. S. Callaghan said that civilians who had watched the boat break up on the rocks after drifting ashore had helped the three, men from the water. The coroner paid a tribute to Mr D. M. McMahon who, he said, had courageously entered the sea, rescued the members of the distressed party, and was himself injured in the process, his injuries being responsible even for his being unable to attend the inquest. His conduct called for special commendation from the court.