DROWNING FATALITY,

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 70, 28 July 1913, Page 5

DROWNING FATALITY,

CAPSIZE OF A LAUNCH.

DEATH OF THE REV. C. C. SAGE

Brief cable advice recently received announced the death by drowni:g of the Rev. "Charles C. Sage, engaged on the Melanesian Mission field, and stationed at Wagari, and fuller details no* to hand show how the unfortunate accident happened.

It appears that while the Southern | Cross was anchored at Wagari, a trial j was given to one of the new launches allotted to the Rev. Walter Sage, J and then moored to the steamer, j About midnight a squall struck Ihe ship on her unprotected quarter, and the anchor began to drag. The captai. put out to sea, the lauucii. The difficult work o» getting ih<» launch aft, r.:ade greater through the head of the mast clearing the boat oil the davits, was successfully accomplished. Aboard were the Rev. . uarles Sage, Captain Svenson, of the Selwyn, and two of the native ere .v. .j use, oefore dawn the engines on the Southern Cross were stopped, the >ntentiori being to let the ship cueiiiy drift, as all danger was past, iiowever, the way on the launch was cot checked soon enough, with the .e----sult that she became entangled in rer lowing rope. .There was a fairly heavy sea running, and the rain was descending in torrents. In endeavoring to get clear, the launch turned on her painter, and capsized. Svenson and the two native boys clung to the launch, which was lying on her side. fho weight of the water-logged launch had caused the towing rope to break. The Rev. Charles Sage was last seen as he fell out from the launch. He was wealing his waterproof oat. Whether he became entangled in the rigging, or whether his waterproof kept him from rising, will never be known. Meanwhile one of the ihip s boats was lowered, and Svenson and the two native boys were picked up. At the time it was too dark to ?re After searching for some time, the rescue party got back to the ?hip. Immediately a fresh crew was dpw'n in the boart, and the search again began. By this time it was light. The Southern Cross' 'searched in a circle outside the boat, but there was no sign of Sage, and eventually his brother, who had accompanied the Bishop, the mate, and Long in the first search and was still at the steer oar -hen the second crew was searching, reluctantly decided that no .more 'could lie done. • , ~ ■> .

After three attempts td'tow the launch, which had recovered her equilibrium, she was'abandoned, as the weight was too great, and there >v: t s nothing to fasten her on to.