YACHTING FATALITY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 441, 29 January 1890, Page 6

YACHTING FATALITY.

THE OWNER OF A YACHT DROWNED. Wellington, Jan. 23. The celebrations yesterday were marred by a distressing accident, which resulted in the death of Mr Kebbie, sen., a well-known Wellington resident. He is the owner of the yacht Florence, which was engaged in the principal race, and was on board steering her. He stood up, and by some means lost his balance. The ropes slipped through his hands, and he fell overboard. Means were at once taken to rescue him, and he was dragged out of the water after two or three minutes’ immersion, but all efforts to revive animation were futile. He does not appear to have been in the water any length of time, and he could swim, so that death would appear to be the result of the shock rather than of drowning. Deceased was an elderly man. To make matters worse, the news had only just been received by his son-in law, Mr Brandon, ot the deaths, by drowning also, of two of Mr Kebble’s grandchildren this morning. Mr Kebble’s death, like that of young Widdop, seems to have been one of those distressing ca«es where there was really no apparent reason why there should have been loss of life. He was was seen to strike out strongly and as suddenly collapse. A passing boat came up to him almost immediately, and though the occupants, who were boys, could not lift him in they held him up out of the water. Doctor Fell was on board the Florence, so that medical aid was immediately available. Yet in the face of all this, the victim appears to have been gone past recovery within a minute or, two. Deceased landed in Wellington in 1841. At the inquest on Kebbie to-day a verdict of “ Accidentally,drowned ” was returned.