Rasmussen and Morris

‘Sad Ending to a Fishing Excursion’ - Albany Advertiser, Tuesday 31 October 1899, Page 2

About 8pm on Saturday 28 October 1899, three men set off from their camp, about a mile and a half from the new King River bridge near Albany, to net fish.

The three men were:

• Henry James Ladhams, aged 17, fisherman, resident of Oyster Harbour
• Hans Rasmussen, a Dane, aged about 21, arrived in Western Australia on the Norwegian barque Magdalen on November 2 1897. He had been an able seaman on that vessel and had joined her at Cape Town.
• James Henry Morris, aged 16. Morris was the son of an old resident of Albany and his parents lived on the Perth/Albany road.

The three had been living and fishing together for a week before the accident. They set their net, which was 70 fathoms long, casting it from their flat-bottomed punt. The net was set about three miles out from their camp at Oyster Harbour, and in about four feet of water.

Only ten minutes later they felt something heavy in the net and with difficulty hauled it to the surface. They then found that they had caught a shark about six feet (two metres) long.

Morris remained in the boat, while Rasmussen and Ladhams got into the water to lift the net into the boat. After a great deal of effort they managed to get the net into the boat, and onto a board in the stern of the boat. Ladhams tried to get the shark out of the net, when it gave a lunge and fell into the boat across the stern underneath the net board.

Morris said, “let us get the net on board and pull home”. They could not get the shark out of the board, so they started rowing towards the beach and their camp.

They got within 400 yards of the camp when the boat was swamped in about three fathoms of water and sank.

All three struck out for the shore. Ladhams was a good swimmer, but both Rasmussen and Morris made slow progress. He kept with them for some time, but eventually had to strike out by himself as he was becoming exhausted. The night was dark and on reaching the shore, he shouted out for a time and then lay down exhausted.

Ladhams remained in the vicinity all night and at sunrise he returned to their camp, which was about a quarter of a mile from where he had come ashore. About 9.30am, a farmer named Collis came to the camp for his net, and Ladhams relayed to him the sad occurrence of the previous night.

Collis sent his son into Albany to report the matter to the police. Sergeant Stokes at the Albany Police Station took a statement at 7.10am on Sunday 29 October 1899, from F. Collis on what had transpired the night before, and Sergeant Stokes ordered Constable Begley to go out and investigate.

Ladhams accompanied Constable Begley to where the boat had been swamped. They made a search of the beach, but failed to find the bodies of Rasmussen and Morris. The boat was floating, full of water, near where the fatality occurred. By this time, night was drawing on and Constable Begley returned to Albany as nothing more could be done. The next morning, Tuesday 31 October, Constable Begley and W.P.C. Lehreback left Albany for Oyster Harbour, with the required grappling equipment for searching for the bodies.

After an hour’s search in the vicinity of the boat the body of Rasmussen was found floating on the surface, in about four feet of water. Shortly after the body of Morris was found under the boat, one foot entangled in the net, which was still hanging over the side of the boat. Ladhams could only assume that Morris had swum back to the boat, although they had all started to swim from the boat together.

The two bodies were taken ashore and conveyed to the mortuary in Albany, where an inquest was scheduled for the same afternoon.

The inquest was held before the Coroner, the Hon. J. A. Wright and a jury consisting of Messrs. G. Hill, P.M. Sullivan and J. Norrish.

It was uncovered that the boat belonged to a man named ‘Carrots’ and was leaking. Ladhams stated that when Morris was swimming he called out to him to tell ‘Carrots’ to look after his horse, but did not ask for any help. Sergeant Stokes gave evidence as to the identification of the deceased, as he had known Morris for the last few years.

The jury returned a verdict that the deceased met their deaths as the result of an accident, no blame being attachable to anyone. The news of the sad fatality quickly spread about the town and much sympathy was expressed for the bereaved parents.

In November of 1899, a letter was received by the Inspector of Police in Perth from a C.B. Rasmussen, who resided in Sydney, and had read about the drowning of the man Hans Rasmussen in Albany. He had not heard from his brother, Hans Christian Rasmussen, in two years and was wondering if the deceased could be his brother.

Further investigation revealed that the deceased was not the brother he was looking for.