DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1064, 25 July 1883, Page 2

DISTRESSING OCCURRENCE.

TWO MEN DROWNED OFF PATEABAR. , A few days ago we announced the establishment of the fishing industry in Palea, and expressed a hope that it would grow and become one of profit and of service to the place. To-day we have to record a melancholy termination to the. enterprise. Our readers will remember that the Harbour Board’s surf boat had been purchased by Messrs Henwood and Petersen who intended to make certain alterations necessary to convert her into a fishing smack. Previous to doing anything however two or three trips had been made outside, and emboldened with success, another venture was made on Monday. The occupants of the boat were John Clarke and Richard Peterson. All appears to have gone well so far as

getting out was concerned, as tbe sea was smooth, The s.s. Napier was lying outside waiting for the tide, which would reach top flood at 11.40 a.m. The Captain of the steamer spoke to the men in the boat and asked them how they were getting along. They replied that they were not getting any fieh, and Captain Fisk then advised them to come on board and he would tow the boat in. They declined, and said they would wait for the tide at night In due course the steamer made for the bar and went up the river, and so far as we know, nothing more appears to have been seen or heard of the men until 8 o’clock at night. Then the pilot’s attention appears to have been attracted by a cry, and he supposing that it was a call for the lights from the fishermen, put them up, and wailed expecting the boat to come over the bar. The h®at did not come however, and, after waiting till 10 o’clock the pilot appears to have come to the conclusion that the men intended to wait for daylight before making an attempt to cross the bar. Accordingly Captain Flowerday returned to house, and, upon reaching high ground, where the roar of the surf was not so deafening, he heard the cry again. He at once concluded that something was wrong, and went up to the s.s, Napier for assistance, where he found the police. The attention of the police appears first to have been drawn to the cries at 10.30 o’clock when Sergeant Donovan and Constable Crozier were coming up Bedford street in company with Mr T. Kells. A “ Coo-ey ’’ was heard, and Constable Crozier remarked that that had been going on all the evening, and that he thought it must bo from some Maoris. Mr Kells replied that it was not a Maori cry, and, on a repetition, it was decided to go down to the beach whence the sound appeared to come. When they reached the beach the cry was heard to come from the direction of the breakers, and Constable Crozier was dispatched to the Napier for a boat. The hands were asleep, and it was some time before one could be got under way, and by the time the breakwater was reached the tide had turned and made a nasty sea on the bar. We may here give the statements made by the pilot 1 and the mate of the Napier

THE PILOT’S STATEMENT, About 8 o’clock T heard a “ cooejy and I went down to the beach and lit the lamps. 1 supposed it was the fishermen calling for the signal to take the bar. When I got down to the breakwater 1 found one of the railway labourers there. He had a light in a bottle. I asked him where the voice seemed to come from, and he said “ Away down to the eastward.” It was dark at this time, and we could discern nothing. We walked down the beach to the bluff, but while on the beach we could hear nothing owing to the roar of the surf. After waiting an hour I took down one of the lights, and then I heard the voice again and I put it up. I was expecting the boat to come in, and at this time I had no idea that anything was the matter. The man -who was with me then went away home, as he could not understand why they did not come in. 1 walked down the beach again as far as the cliff, but could hear nothing. At ten o’clock I went up to my house, and then I could bear a call. I went down again and looked at the lights to see if they were right. I then thought something might be wrong, and determined to go to town. I then went to the steamer Napier, and when I got on board I found the police there trying to get a boat to go down. We did go down in the steamer’s boat, but when alongside the breakwater we went ashore to look at the sea, which appeared rough. It was about 12 o’clock, and the tide commenced to ebb. We went up to the high land to try if we could hear the man cry ,out, but we did not hear anything more. I told the men that it would be a risk to go out, and as we could hear no sound it was decided that it would be better not to attempt it. I searched the beach till 2.30, but without seeing or hearing anything. My firm belief is that the accident arose through the boat being too near iu. I think they were coming along looking for the entrance, it being dark, and a roller struck the boat and knocked the steers man overboard. The boat must have capsized and held by the anchor, and the man must have held on to the boat, I had previously cautioned the men not to come in at night as it was highly dangerous.

STATEMENT BY THE MATE OF THE NAPIER.

About a quarter past 11 o’clock a policeman came and woke me up, saying that they heard cries at the Heads. 1 said we would launch our boat if I could get the men, who were all asleep. I roused them up and they said they would go down and see what they coujd do. We got the boat out, and Captain Flowerday, the pilot, went down with us to the breakwater. When we got there the pilot said that the tide was ebbing. The sea looked very ugly, and the pilot advised ns to'go up to the high land where the beacons were to have a look at the sea from there. We all went up and we saw that the sea was rough. We did not hear any cries, and we came to the conclusion that it was unwise to go out, because we could hear no response to our calls and did not know where to steer for: It would have been risking, our lives for no purpose, as we could not see or hear the man. This would be a little'after 12 o’clock, about half-past. We searched the beach down towards the Whenuakura, but without result. The pilot accompanied us the whole time. At half-past one we returned to the steamer. We were all willing to go out over the bar, but had we done so we should have been simply risking five men’s lives for the chance of recovering a dead body. Our boat is a small one, and not suitable for work in the surf.

Both these statements agree in one thing, and that is that the voice had ceased to call by the time the boat had reached the breakwater. This is important, because we see it slated in another paper that the cries were heard till after one o’clock. The police are also - under that belief, but tbe mate of the Napier informed us positively that no cries were, heard when they came down, and that those heard by the police were made by the men from, the steamer, who searched down Jthe beach, “ coeying” at intervals. We think this opinion to be correct, because it seems impossible that a man could have maintained a hold upon the bottom of a boat lying in the surf for over five hours on a perishingly cold night. Captain Fisk, who was up in town and heard nothing of the accident until next morning, upon being informed of the circumstances also gave it as his opinion that the man or men were drowned long before the boat reached the Heads.

But little more remains 16 be told. A fire was lighted upon the beach, and upon this being done, it is said that a cry louder than the others was heard, as though hope inspired the breast of the unfortunate man. Captain Flowerday tried with the aid of his glasses to discover the boat, but it was impossible to discern it, and one by one people left the melancholy spot as no assistance could be given. At daylight a search was instituted, and the boat was found lying on the south spit. She was capsized, and had apparently been held by her anchor at a distance of about 100 yards from high water mark. A coat and jacket belonging to Petersen were also fonnd. The boat has not been much damaged, only part of her stem having been broken. How the accident happened will never be known.' The whole affair appears to have been one of those unfortunate cases where raen’s rashness leads them into dangers which often result fatally to themselves. The victims in this instance were qniet decent men, and both were unmarried. Clarke ipras ag_ English sailor,' who came to the district about four years agp. He worked with Messrs Mace and Bassett upon .their contract, and had also been employed upon other works. He had been ' residing in Patea recently at Odgers’ Hotel. Petersen was well known and respected in Patea.: He was a Norwegian, and came over from Nelson in February, 1882. He was a sailor also, and had been working about the district, almost his latest job being in connection with the kerbing in Bedford-street. Formerly he was a digger upon the West Coast of the other Island. It is needless to say that this distressing occurrence threw quite a gloom' over the town yesterday, and that all sorts of tales were flying about as to the conduct of the boat’s crew. We have made careful enquiry, and have come to the conclusion that nothing could have been done by the steamer’s boat at the time she ■ reached the Heads. Something might have been done earlier in the evening; but, unfortunately, the idea that anything was wrong does not appear to have occurred to anybody nntil too late. Search for the bodies is being made, but tip to. the present without success.