A TRAGIC CRUISE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 5 April 1907, Page 2

A TRAGIC CRUISE

PATIICI BIOWN TO «BA. I'OIUI OF THE CRKW MOWXiiD. KI'HVJVOIt RrXfTKD BY A SCOW.' < U-'TICJ! FOUTY lIOIMIS' MUI'KKRINTi. A CKAI'IUC XAfiUATIVK Per Press Association. Auckland, April 4. 'l'ne missing pu.iki was picked up mitsidc Tiriliri by the scow Fra, .having been driven to sen by the gale. ' Only one of the live aboard (.1. Pilkinglon) was in the. boat, the other four bavin..perished. .Mr Pilkinglon. who had been forty hours in the boat when priced up, staled j in an interview .hat the crew of ihe paliki included himself, 4:! years of age, his sons, Fred I'ilkington, aged 17. and Hurry Pilkinglon, aged 15, Lionel Skinner, aged 111, and \Y. McAiicnov. si"cil IS years.

They left Auckland at 10.30 on .Monday morning for a cruise round Moiutapu and back. Mr Pilkinglon, senior, was at the tiller till they had passed Motntapu. Between thai island anil Kakino. being tired, he gave the tiller to bionel Skinner about noon, and he himself proceeded to get lunch ready. About live minutes later, a pull - of wind struck the small craft, and he let the sheet go. The patiki rocked a few tiines and then went gunwale under. AlcAneney, who was a good swimmer, struck out for the shore 2f>o yards away. Mr Pilkinglon says ho heard )i:m shout, but saw nothing more of him. He was undoubtedly drowned, as the water waa infested with sharks, and news of his reaching shore must have been received before this.

Mr Pilkington, Skinner, Fred Pilkington and Harry Pilkington stuck to the lmat, which was full of water. Harry Pilkington, being a weak lad. his father had to to assist him to retain Jiis hold of the gunwale. Jfow ami again the boat would turn right over and tlic unfortunate four had to get a fresh hold. During the afternoon, Lionel fikimicr said it was no use hanging on any longer, and the next time the boat, turned, over, lie disappeared. During the same afternoon, Fred Pilkington disappeared, his body being found next morning under the deck of the boat.

Air Pilkington, senr., held on to his son, Harry, until 5 p.m., when the buffeting -of the sea rendered the boy unconscious, and he died.

Tile survivor kept the bodies in the boat until Tue-day night, and then ■threw them overboard. He managed to get the mast unshipped, and the boat floated half a yard out of water on one side, and he was able to top a seat in her. He drifted past Mo'tuihi on Wednesday, and at davftreak was ten miles | outside Tiritiri. He was then seen from the scow Km, which took him aboard and brought him to town. He is sulfering a good deal from exposure.

THE KESCUERS' .STORY. JUST IN TIME. Per Press Association. Auckland, April 4. Charles Hanson, a member of the scow lira's company, was seen by a representative of the "Star' shortly after the scow put into harbor. The ill-fated patiki, tho subject of much interest and observation, was towing astern. She. is of the ordinary type so common about Waitemata, about 10 or 18 feet in length, about 7 feet beam, and painted green.

The masts ami sails had been cut away by the only survivor to prevent the boat turning turtle after she capsized.

Hanson's story was that the Era was coming from Tairua laden with tinnier for Auckland, and when six or eight nuies outside of Tiri, .just at daybreak on Wednesday morning, the look-out heard a, cry of distress, and peering out, descried a human figure clinging t.o a submerged boat, with a tattered 3hirt waving from the gall' as a signal of distress. A welcome answering hail was given and a boat was lowered from the Era and all speed made towards the patiki, which was all awash with its solitary hunian burden, dressed in a ragged pair of trousers and coat, clinging to the comings and leaning exhausted and scarcely able to speak, against the centre board ease.

As Pilkington was being rowed aboard the scow, he managed to convey to the rescuers that ho had just given up hope when the welcome sight of the Era gladdened his eyes. He could speak with the utmost difficulty, for having been 47 hours without food or water, he had succumbed to .a maddening craving for a drink, and had rinsed his mouth with sea water, and it was in consequence raw and blistered.

SHADOWED BY SHARKS. Per Press Association. Auckland, April 4. Speaking to a "Herald" reporter, Mr l'ilkington said: "There were four sharks constantly round the boat after Lionel Skinner's'(liudy was gone. They seemed to know that 1 was hanging on for life'. I don't- know whether they were attracted by the dead bodies in the boat or not. A small one came i|ilite close up to the boat, but the three Very large ones kept about twenty feet away. I could see them quite plainly Swimming around the boat, and sometimes their big black (ins would be showing. I. kept the bodies of my sous Harry ami Fred on board until Tuesday night, and then put them overboard."

Mrs Skinner, mother of Lionel Skinner, state that her married son Herbert intended to go out in the Marion on -.Monday, but at the last moment decided to go l,i the races instead. Lionel is the second sou she has lost by drowning, the lirst having lost, his life iin the Waikuto river, [she states that l'ilkington, senr., Was a very careful man with a boat.