PASSENGER MISSING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 441, 24 August 1928, Page 1

PASSENGER MISSING

MYSTERY ON STEAMER CLAYMORE DISAPPEARED DURING NIGHT (From Our Own Correspondent) WHANGAREI, To-day. An elderly passenger named R. Clayton disappeared from the Claymore last night, during the journey from Auckland to Whangarei. The missing man is said to be about 60 years of age. He put his luggage aboard the boat yesterday afternoon in Auckland. He had joined the ship and was asleep last night when the Claymore left at 10.30 p.m. The steward, Mr. V. Gore, saw him apparently asleep in his bunk just after midnight, but the bunk was empty when he took tea round at 6.30 this morning. Mr. Cadman, a passenger, who also saw Clayton in his bunk last night, noticed that he was not in it this morning at 5 o’clock. There is nothing m his luggage or personal belongings to offer any clue to his mysterious disappearance or his business, but it is stated by one of the ship’s officers that he believed the missing man to be a florist from Tauranga.

Yesterday a man called at the office of the Northern Steamship Company and purchased a single ticket. He gave the name of “R. Clayton.” News of the disappearance was received at the Auckland office of the company this morning. A sister of Mr. Reginald Clayton, of Tauranga, told The Sun this afternoon that hpr brother had no business which should take him to Tauranga; nor was it known that he was in Auckland yesterday.