BELIEVED DROWNED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 February 1939, Page 6

BELIEVED DROWNED

THREE MEN & BOV MISSING

INVERCARGILL FISHING PARTY. BOAT WASHED-UP ON BEACH. (By Telegraph—Press Associaiion.) INVERCARGILL. February 12. Three men and a boy are believed to have been drowned in the New River estuary on Friday) night when a sudden gale of considerable force struck the dinghy in which they were apparently rowing ashore. The dinghy was found upside-down on the beach on Saturday morning. Their launch was anchored a few chains off the beach. The members of the party, all of Invercargill, were:— Thomas Victor Haggerty, married aged, 38, labourer, Hilary Haggerty, aged 11. son of Thomas Haggerty. James Popenhagen, married, aged 34, truck driver. Frank Herbert Rask, married, aged 28. The party left. Invercargill at 9 o'clock on Friday night in the launch with the dinghy in tow. with the intention of going 1,0 Sandy Point to net flounders. A, strong gale sprang up about midnight and yesterday morning the dinghy was found washed up on the beach. With it was a flounder net. Late this afternoon Mr Popenhagen’s hat was found on the beach. A pail of oars was found three miles along the beach, but these have-not yet been identified. The cabin of the launch was locked, and it is apparent that the men left in the dinghy with the intention of netting close inshore. Despite a search along the beach and from aeroplane and launches thioughout yesterday and today, none of the bodies has been found. I . .