Malcolm Shepheard Teller, 19, salesman, attempted to save Frederick H. Zelz, 22, salesman, from drowning, Pinole Point, California, October 17, 1937. Zelz fell from an anchored launch into San Pablo Bay at a point two miles from shore and drifted in a current of two miles an hour and in water 36 feet deep. Waves were three feet high and choppy. Teller dived from the launch, leaving no person on board able to operate the engine, and then swam 125 feet to Zelz. Zelz threw his arms around Teller’s neck, and they were submerged. Teller broke Zelz’s hold, and they rose. Taking hold of Zelz, who then was semiconscious, Teller tried to swim toward the launch but made no headway. Then treading water, he supported Zelz; and they drifted farther from the launch. After Teller had supported Zelz for 20 minutes and they had drifted 150 feet, they were taken aboard another boat that had arrived. Zelz could not be revived.
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