NEAR-TRAGEDY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1015, 4 July 1930, Page 12

NEAR-TRAGEDY

OLD MAN HALF-DROWNED IN HARBOUR ACCIDENT IN DARK After working on the coastal ship Kaimanawa until nearly 10 o'clock on Tuesday evening, Thomas Watson, more than 71 years of age, fell into the harbour and was almost drowned. He went down three times before his companions rescued him, Mr. Watson started work at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It was the first job he had had for six weeks. When he knocked oft' —at 9.4 o—he walked clown the gangway to go ashore. It was so dark that he missed his footing at the end of the gangway and stepped, not on to the wharf, but into space. There was no net spread, he says, and, striking his left elbow and left leg while falling, he plunged into the water after a drop of 10 or 12 feet. For his age he is still a good swimmer, but being fully clothed, he tired after some minutes, and went down twice. SAW A ROPE “Just as I was going under the third lime,'* he told a Sun representative today, “I saw a rope dangling some distance away, and managed to reach it. “Getting hold of the rope, I passed it round my legs, and was pulled up io the wharf.” He lay on the wharf for two or three minutes while the water was pumped out of him. Then one of the chip's officers took him up to the galley. where it was warm. The officer secured a taxi and sent Mr. Watson home in it, paying the fare out of his own pocket. The old man is making good progress, but he will not be able to work for a fortnight.