YOUNG MAN DROWNED.
DUNEDIN, February 4. Gordon Keenan, aged 20, of 140 Main South Road, Caversham, a clerk in the office of the Union Steam Ship Company, was drowned off Port Chalmers this morning after the capsize of a canoe in which he and a 14-year-old boy, James Elder, were cruising. The boys left the mainland and had paddled nearly to Goat Island, about half a mile away, when the canoe overturned in the heavy sea that was running. Both boys clung to the craft for a time, but Keenan was caught by an exceptionally large wave and washed off. He sank immediately and although a launch was soon on the scene and took Elder off, a careful search failed to reveal any trace of his companion. -Ashburton Guardian, 5/2/1940.
CANOE TRAGEDY
ANOTHER FATALITY IN HARBOUR
YOUNG MAN DROWNED
BODY NOT YET RECOVERED
The spirit of adventure which induced Gordon David Keenan, a young man, 20 years of age, to attempt a canoe trip on a dangerous part of the harbour yesterday cost him his life. Late in the morning, he and another lad named James Elder attempted to reach Goat Island from the mainland, when a southwesterly gale was driving heavy seas across the passage. Only half a mile separates Goat Island (near Port Chalmers) from the main shore, but the intervening strip of water, known as the rip, is particularly dangerous, especially under conditions such as prevailed yesterday.
Here the tragedy occurred, Keenan, a clerk, employed by the Union Steam Ship Company Ltd., in Dunedin, and residing at 120 Main. South road, Caversham, was spending the week-end at Port Chalmers. Just prior to lunch the two young men, set off in the canoe.
It was soon obvious to those on shore that the canoe would have a perilous passage, heavy cross seas making the trip a dangerous one for any manually propelled craft.
Realising the possibility of the canoe getting into difficuties, a young man named Peter Ward, a well-known yachtsman, and of whose crew Keenan was a member, attempted to reach it in a small dinghy, but wind and heavy seas made progress difficult and slow. He had got within 50 yards of the canoe when it upset, but Ward was unable, single handed, to reach it, and returned to shore for assistance. With another rower he again set off for the canoe, which by this time had drifted a considerable distance, with the two occupants clinging to it.
However, when the dinghy approached closer, only one of its former occupants was visible. Keenan had been washed from his hold by the heavy seas. A launch, belonging to Mr J. Potter, was soon on the scene and picked up the survivor of the tragedy, but despite a search no trace could be fouud of Keenan.
The search was continued by the police yesterday afternoon and evening and again this morning, but their efforts to locate the body have proved fruitless. It is pointed out that with the swift current which flows at thie particular point, the body of the unfortunate young man may have been swept a considerable distance from the actual scene of the fatality. -Evening Star, 5/3/1940.
ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES
BODY RECOVERED
GOAT ISLAND FATALITY
A body, which has been identified as that of Gordon David Keenan, aged 20, the young man who was carried away by heavy seas when his canoe capsized near Goat Island on February 4, was recovered on Saturday morning at Maia. Shortly after 8 a.m. the fireman on a Port ChalmersDunedin train noticed what appeared to be a human body lying on the foreshore of the harbour about a quarter of a mile north of Maia siding. On arrival at Dunedin he notified the police, who investigated and recovered the body, which was removed to the Morgue. An inquest will be held at a date to be fixed later. -Otago Daily Times, 19/2/1940.
YOUNG MAN DROWNED
FATEFUL TRAMPING TRIP
(P.A.) GREYMOUTH, This Day. Swept from the grip of his four companions as they were attempting to cross the flooded Taramakau River, in the mountains near Otira yesterday, John Keenan, aged 20, single, a Ministry of Works draughtsman at Christchurch, was drowned. The body has not yet been recovered.
The fatality occurred about noon, when the party of five Canterbury mountaineers attempted to cross the Taramakau River about one and a half miles above its junction with the Otira River at Aickens.
After heavy rains during the weekend the river was greatly swollen, and the party attempted the crossing with arms and ice-axes linked. The river was about three feet deep, and when part of the way across, Keenan was swept off his feet and carried down about 100 yards, where he was held by a snag in the river. His companions attempted to reach him with a rope, and got within 10 feet when Keenan disappeared and was not seen again. After an unsuccessful searen, other members of the party made their way out of the mountains and reached Otira last evening.
Keenan’s companions were Martin Barribald, of Spreydon; Donald Hayward, Stanley Johnstone and Malcolm Stewart, all of Sumner. Under the direction of Constable P. Larmer, of Otira, a party of experienced mountaineers who were camped in the Arthur’s Pass region are searching for the body to-day. The weather has improved, but the rivers are still swollen. -Ashburton Guardian, 28/12/1949.
BODY RECOVERED
ACCIDENT IN TEREMAKAU RIVER
(P.A.) GREYMOUTH, Dec. 28. The body of John Keenan, who was drowned wliile attempting to cross the Teremakau river with' a party of members of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, was found by a search party this afternoon, near the scene of the accident.
Mr Keenan, a single man, aged 20, a draughtsman employed by the Ministry of Works at Christchurch, was drowned shortly before noon yesterday when he and four companions, all of Christchurch, were attempting to ford the flooded river about one and a half miles above the junction of the Teremakau and Otira rivers at Aiekens seven miles from the Otira township. It was not until last evening that the members of the party reached Otira with the news of the accident. -Ashburton Guardian, 29/12/1949.
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