THE FATAL ACCIDENTS AT NELSON

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 865, 23 September 1871, Page 2

THE FATAL ACCIDENTS AT NELSON

The " Examiner" of the 16tb, gives the following account of the accidents referred to in previous telegrams:— There ia every reason to fear that the men, Harming and Moat, spoken of in our last as having borrowed a small boat from Mr Crawford, of Bridge-st., last week for the purpose of proceeding to Astrolabe-road, aDd not having since been head of, were drowned when returning in an attempt to make the west entrance of Waimea River. Intelligence has been received that the men left Astrolabe yesterday week, and on the evening of that day, Mr Westrop, on his way from Motueka, saw a boat of the class the two men were in, the wind blowing at the time a strong gale, with a heavy sea. Mr Crawford, being alarmed, on Wednesday last proceeded to make a search for the boat, and on the Babbit Island he found portions of the wreck, together with three oilskin-coats, which had belonged to the men, and the hat worn by Moat. The fate of the two poor fellows cannot now, therefore, be in doubt.

On Thursday evening, a little after seven o'clock, a boat belonging to Mr Arthur Elmslie, who resides neai> the French Pass, arrived off the lighthouse in charge of a man named Webber, assisted by another named Hamilton, laden with produce of various kinds, and having as passengers Mr and Mrs S. Leaver, and infant, Mr Watson, and Miss Reynolds, a ueice of Mr Elmslie, who had been at her uncle's on a visit, ) n order to shorten the passage to the wharf by about twenty minutes, Webber determined to take the boat through the channel on the Boulder-bank, a little below the lighthouse, but it was too early on the tide, and the boat grounded in going over the bank. The four men jumped out of the boat to haul her through the channel, but there being a heavy roll on the bank, she broached to, and struck by a sea, capsized, sending the whole party into the channel, through which the sea rushes like a mill sluice. Carried rapidly into deep water, the whole of the party must have been drowned, but that Mr Hamilton, Mr Watson, and Mrs Leaver succeeded in seizing the keel of the boat —the two men assisting the latter to retain her hold of it. While in this position, Mr Leaver was carried by holding on to an oar, and the child was swept so close to the boat that its mother was able to secure it. The cries for assistance brought the keeper of the Lighthouse, Mr Kidson, to their rescue, who, after saving those who were clinging to the boat, and securing Mr Leaver, who was greatly exhausted, conveyed them with all possible haste to the shore, where at the Ship Inn they received every attention, Drs. Vickerman and Farrelle, with Dr Haynes, of H.M. Basilisk, giving their services. The child was found to be dead, and one of the men severely bruised. Search was made all day yesterday for the bodies of Webber and Miss Reynolds, the Basilisk sending two or three boats to assist, but nothing was discovered of them up to last evening. The inquest o» the body of the child was postponed until to-day, in hopes that the missing bodies might be found.