LATE CITY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 405, 13 July 1928, Page 13

LATE CITY

Missing Launch Safe in Port nine days overdue sheltering on coast experience of Mr. /£ Smith, engineer, of NottingA ' Street, Grey Lynn, who ref to Auckland at an early turP r e with Mr. H. Hansen, of hou r ; n the fishing launch ? a a u p pV» fter . being " ine days over ' JJ, fr/m this port.

" Thursday of last week approach°n conditions made Mr. Smith, su» experienced seaman, heave »’ b ° the shelter of a. bluff at Whangaw near Whangamumu, the North whaling station. There Mr. Mr. Hansen remained for foul- days, battling with the elements. ‘ T „ have ventured out from this coastal shelter would have meant ostant death. It was quite impos"bSe it was said, for a boat of the ,ir, of the Taupo to have survived, trrs. Smith was almost prostrate ion her husband unexpectedly walked their home about 9 a.m. this morn“tlessrs Hansen and Smith entered inrkland Harbour shortly after 1 a.m. Mrs Hansen, wife of the other memo£ the Taupo’s crew, lives in she knew nothing about if confessed Mrs. Smith, “and she did not have our experience!” One of Mr. Hansen’s first acts on returning to Auckland was to telegraph to his wife in Hawke's Bay. in view of the fact that the adventures of liis launch will be related to-night over the wireless. He wanted to assure Mrs. Hansen that the expedition had ended without mishap. Though Mr. Smith has had a good deal of experience on the New Zealand coast, he never remembers such raging seas as he met with while sheltering behind the Whangaruru bluff. First one anchor dragged. For a time it seemed that the second would also move in the wrath of the storm. M lt would have been madness to have ventured out under the circumstances!” This is the storm that so buffeted the Ulimaroa and other vessels out at sea. The Taupo, it is considered, did not leave Whangaruru too soon, because similar conditions to those experienced last week were manifested on the run down the coast. Both Mr. Hansen and Mr. Smith enjoyed a good sleep this morning—the srst they had known for some days.