John Gribble, (?-25/6/1870). "stepped into the paddock"

A man named John Gribble was drowned in an old paddock at the Big Beach, Shotover, at one o'clock on the morning of the 25th ult. The river was flooded at the time, and it appears that he and Lorenzo Home, a mate of his, were going to secure a boat belonging to their party, and on their way they stepped into the paddock, which was about 20 feet deep, and full of water. Gribble disappeared but Home, after some time, was rescued by some Chinese, who, by means of a long pole, drew him to the bank. Though the flood has fallen considerably, the water is not yet low enough to permit of a search being made for the body.  -Otago Daily Times, 1/7/1870.

A paddock, in gold-digging terms, was a claim which was worked by digging from one end and and progressively shifting the spoil from above the gold-bearing level to the area from which the gold had been won.

DUNEDIN, April 4. The skull and bones of a man were found near the Sew Hoy Big Beach Company’s Dredge. The place whore they were found was an old claim, which has not been worked for over twenty years, and which had been filled up by the great flood in 1865, at which time several diggers were drowned in the Shotover river. It is surmised that the remains may be those of an old digger named John Gribble, a native of Hackney Wick, London, who was drowned twenty years ago.  -Lyttelton Times, 5/4/1893.

Last week the Morning Star dredge of the Sew Hoy Big Beach Co. unearthed something more than golden washdirt — namely the skull and thigh and arm bones of a human being. The surmise is that they are part of the remains of either one John Gribble, who was missed near the spot and never seen again, or of another man named Jacobs who was washed down the Shotover at Maori Point. As the dredge was working ground to a depth of over 20 feet, and those men were drowned less than 20 years ago, it is more than likely that the bones referred to belonged to some unfortunate at the time of the big floods of July 1863, when besides some 30 or 40 others, more than one unknown was swept down the merciless torrent.  -Lake Wakatip Mail, 7/4/1893.

The Morning Star dredge, Shotover, brought up a ghastly prospect the other day. In one of the buckets was discovered the skull and other portions of the anatomy of a man. Though such a find was entirely unlooked for, no great surprise need be excited thereby, for it must be remembered that during the Old Man floods in 1863, which were three in number, about 60 men lost their lives in the Shotover and only a very few of the bodies were recovered, so that the finding of the bones is after all nothing wonderful, however gruesome it may be. In this instance, however, there are good reasons to believe that the bones are the remains of one John Gribble, who lost his life near the spot whore they were found.  -Southland Times, 14/4/1893.

I have found no record of the burial of the remains of John Gribble.