Fate of ‘Merganser’
Lisbon, October 5: It appears that Mr Unitt tried to enter the small port of Caminha to replenish his water supplies without a pilot, with the result that he ran on a sandbank. The sea immediately filled the Merganser, which sank. The wreck was seen by local fishermen, who were unable to approach it owing to the weather. Lifelines were flung to the yacht, and Mr Unitt and his daughter were rescued. Mr Unitt suffered minor injuries, but his daughter was not hurt. The yacht was totally wrecked.
Fishermen salvaged two chests containing clothes from the Merganser. Everything else was lost, including the wireless fittings and nautical apparatus. Efforts to raise the yacht were unavailing. Mr Unitt is awaiting a consular permit to return to England.
Diversity in university town
London, October 5: The Sketch says that nowhere else in Britain except in London and Oxford can there be so many soft, berouged youths as at Cambridge.
A wave of effeminacy has swept over the university undergraduates, who, with powdered cheeks, painted lips, and bistre-laden eyelids, cluster at the street corners, taking their cue from decadent playwrights, imagining that they will be thought clever if they ape women and eschew games and healthy pursuits.
The citizens are manifesting hatred and scorn of these girl-men. They declare that in the old days they would have been ducked in the river.
Rutherford’s childhood loss
How Sir Ernest Rutherford nearly lost his life in Pelorous Sound when a boy of about 14 was related by Mr G.A. Rutland, of Auckland. Mr Rutland recalled that Sir Ernest’s father, Mr James Rutherford took his family of 13 to Havelock, where Sir Ernest received most of his early education. One Saturday afternoon, six boys went for a row in the Sound. They were warned not to put up sail, and so rowed down the Sound for about five miles. A stiff breeze sprang up, and one of the boys was tempted to put the sail into commission. The breeze developed into a strong wind and the inexperienced youths found themselves in the water. Two of the Rutherford brothers, aged 10 and 12, who were unable to swim, were swept away and were never seen again. The rest of the little party clung to the upturned boat and were buffeted about in a veritable tempest tor nearly two hours. They were eventually rescued by a settler.
— ODT, 7.10.1925 (Compiled by Peter Dowden)
