The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-22
'GR|PPEO BY
UNDERTOW
Shell Hunters Have
a Narrow
Escape.
TOSSED BY THE
HUNGRY WAVES
Young Men Sadly Scared and
Bruised While Battling for
Their Lives.

The memory of UTRECHT who met with
tragic end while shell-hunting amid
the rocks beyond Diamond Head, does
foolhardy curio hunters.
The currents along the shores of this
Island where the reef comes close to the
shore line are treacherous and strong,
and shell-seeking is best practiced away
from their vicinity.
Yesterday afternoon Manuel Pacheco,
bookbinder of the Robert Grieve Com
pany, started out with four companions,
j. Cacres, Ernest Pacheco, A. Crawford
and A. Hubeck, three men and two lads
on a fishing and shelI-hunting expedi-
ton.
Three cells, six mullet and one large
crab satisfied their piScatorial proclivi-
ties and the search for shells commence
ed.
By this time the party was within
about two miles of Koko Head not far
from the place where the unfortunate
UTRECHT met his death. Pacheco sight
ed a rare shell clinging to the side of a
partially submerged rock, and was try
ing for the prize, when heavy sea
broke with tremendous force over the
venturesome man, carrying him several
feet from the shore with lie undertow.
The following brought him back on
its crest, dashing him against the rocks,
the undertow dragging I'm out to sea
once more.
For two three minutes his terror
stricken companions waited for his reap
pearance, while it looked as if a repeti-
ton of the utrecht tragedy was about
to occur.
a
amid the foam of an incoming wave
Joseph Cacres sprang into the water and
reaching his friend, struck out for the
shore only, as it seemed, to give the sea
another victim.
Fighting for dear life, however, as
they We're thrown against the rocks the
two managed to cling to a projection,
and, despite the pull of the back current
and the keen edge of the coral reef,
they chung to, held on desperately until
assisted by their companions, they scram-
bled between waves to the beach.
Both were badly cut and bruised, Pa
checo being the more severely hurt. A
Japanese fisherman'S house being close
at hand, the party helped the rescued
couple inside, where the wounds were
dressed as well as unskilled hanus could
it. The hospitable little brown man
brought out some rice and tea, after
pdrIdklnR Oh WHICH IeCONSlSu
sufficiently to get home with assistance.
Too much risk generally is run even
when bathing and canoeing at the regu-
lar beaches. The surf of late has been
dangerously high; the undertow at the
beach on Saturday afternoon was strong
enough to carry a sturdy man off his
feet, and give practiced swimmer no
little trouble to fight his way back to
shore
During these short periods of high
surfs, revealed in by the young men Of
the community as splenuld fun" the
excitement of surfing on a high comber
causes them to overlook the risk. Wom-
en- and children are safer on the beach
at these times. Several canoe parties
have been upset of late, and while no
actual casualties have occurred, one
person, an expert swimmer, was taken
with cramps on Saturday, after an up
set, and, with the others in the party,
experienced difficulty in reaching the
shore Many narrow escapes while ca
noeing have occurred lately.