LOSS OF THE YACHT COQUETTE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 270, 3 April 1873, Page 5

LOSS OF THE YACHT COQUETTE.

The total loss of the yacht Coquette, together with Captain R. de JB. Hawtrey, Mr Jas. Kirwan, and Mr Joseph Samuel Bates, jun., of whose unfortunate and untimely fate there can be no doubt, has cast a gloom over Akaroa, where each and all were favorably known, respected, and esteemed. On the 26th, Mr Wright's whaleboat and Mr Latter's four-oared boat, both fully manned, left Akaroa about four o'clock in the morning in search of the missing yacht, and with a vague hope of finding its crew. The boats reached Akaroa South Head soon after day-light, and commenced their search — one boat keeping in shore, the other more out to sea. Aiter some hours' search, part of the vessel's wooden pump was found by one of the boats, the other part of the pump being picked up later in the day, miles to the southward of where the first was picked up. A paddle was also picked up which was known to have been on board the yacht, and which Mr M'Phail identified ; and on one of the boats going into Peraki they found the yacht's dingy, with every appearance about her to show that she had been some days under water. The presence of barnacles and sea-lice on the bows and stem proved that she must have been dragged down under water stem first, and there held until her painter chafed through, there being barely six inches of that warp fastened to the ringbolt in the bows, and showing it had been chafed through as well as being water sodden. The finding of these waifs proved to the searchers that the yacht and its occupants were hopelessly lost and they returned towards Akaroa, reaching the Heads about half -past five in the evening, where both boats were taken in tow by the steam launch Pioneer, and brought up to Akaroa. The search parties who had volunteered, and who deserve the thanks of their fellow-colonists for the promptitude and energy displayed, were accompanied by Sergeant Ramsay, of the police, and Mr R. Townsend ; and the same remark is applicable to Mr Latter, for sending and accompanying the Pioneer to pick up the boats, the crews of which were much exhausted after their many hours' labour at the oar. The general supposition of the searchers and others is that, shortly after Mr M'Phail last saw the yacht, she much have been struck by a sudden squall, filled, and gone down bows first, and that so suddenly, that although all three on board were known to be good swimmers, yet they could have had no opportunity of getting clear, and, even if so, the searchers believed that, with the gusty wind there was blowing off the shore, it was an impossibility for even the best of swimmers to reach it. Capt. Hawtrey was married, and leaves a widew_ with two young children ; he had only been in the Province some three years or thereabouts, and. was

in the prime of life. Mr James Kirwan was single, would be from 25 to 30 years of age, had served during the Maori war in the Waikato, but we are unaware how long he had been in the Colony. Mr Joseph Samuel Bates, junr, was about two or three-and-twenty years of age, and came to the Colony with his parents, who reside in French Farm Bay, Akaroa. Mr M'Phail states that both Messrs Kirwan and Bates had strong objections to going in the yacht, and seemed to have a presentiment that all would not end well. During the 27th the flags at Akaroa were kept at half-mast, and the inhabitants in other ways testified their sympathy with the bereaved. — Lyttelton Times.