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Former steel erector George McCafferty is grateful to a high tide in Waitemata Harbour for his survival after falling 41m off the harbour bridge.
Two others who fell at low tide - including one found pinned to the harbour floor by his tool belt - were among three workers who died building the bridge.
Mr McCafferty, now 71 and living in Brisbane, fell off the navigation span in 1962.
He is similarly grateful for the bravery of workmate Emil Gundry, who paused only to remove his boots before jumping after him from the top of the bridge's northernmost pier, 24m above the water.
Although a bruised and bleeding Mr McCafferty had managed to float to the surface before Mr Gundry's heroic plunge - and had to grab hold of his would-be rescuer to stop him being dragged away by a rip, he spoke yesterday of being "eternally grateful to the guy".
"The intention was there and that's what matters. There was a powerful rip and I ended up clinging to the breakwater at the Westhaven yacht club and the next thing I know, there's Emil drifting by - he sort of stunned himself jumping in and I grabbed hold of him, so here's the two of us like a pair of jubes hanging on to the bloody breakwater."
When Mr McCafferty fell, on December 4, 1962, he had no time to think about his slim chances of survival.
"I was just thought, 'oh bugger it' - the sensation I had was that the structure was revolving around me - that it wasn't me tumbling through the air.
"I was too late getting my legs together so hit the water with my right leg, and the other one wrapped around my neck somehow - it was quite a whoomph.
"I went down [under the water] that it was totally black and you just couldn't see a thing - I sort of relaxed and gradually it all became light and I thought I'm on the surface."
He said that although he returned to the bridge after a spell in hospital, he was relieved to accept a sailing position soon afterward on an ocean-going yacht, before returning to his normal trade as a mechanical draughtsman.
Labour MP Darien Fenton, whose brother the late Kit Frost worked as a scaffolder on the bridge for 20 years, will host a tribute to past and present workers at Stokes Pt Reserve beneath its Northcote end at 11am tomorrow.
* Auckland Harbour Bridge: 50 Years of a City Icon The New Zealand Herald covered the bridge story from the beginning. Today its rich photographic store of the bridge's moods, its construction, and its striking presence is celebrated in a new book, Auckland Harbour Bridge: 50 Years of a City Icon. Author Renee Lang delved into the treasure trove and brings to life a fascinating history with more than 100 images. The book is available at most bookstores, $24.99 (Random House) or you can contact the New Zealand Herald photosales department to order a copy: email, photosales@nzherald.co.nz or phone 09 373 6093.
