Ebb Tide

Portsea, Mornington Peninsula, Australia, Sunday, December 17, 1967, 9 p.m. In the living room of a beach house above the dunes, the wind rattles the windows and, down below, searchlights from boats sweep the dark water.

At a quarter past noon, Rowland Hartigan, 59, treasurer of the state of Victoria, walked into the sea at Gannet Rock beach. At 12:22 p.m. his head vanished in the foam near the point. Boats and divers have been searching since the afternoon and have found nothing.

Tomorrow at 10 a.m. he was due to testify before the state parliament's committee on the Wattle Creek dam bribes. The village sergeant wants to close it as a drowning; the government sent you first.

Three people were near the beach at noon. One of them knows the sea did not take anyone by accident.

Living room of an Australian beach house in 1967 at night, search-boat spotlights sweeping the sea.