Tuna Fishing Boat In Mystery Sinking ff

Source: Stuff NZ

Three men were lucky to escape with their lives yesterday when the 18 meter-long surface longliner they were on began to “take on water very, very fast” before sinking 90km off the Coromandel coast.

It’s not yet clear what caused the sinking of Whitianga’s Rebecca May but an impact with submerged debris from the stricken Rena could not be ruled out.

Details were sketchy last night but the question was playing on the mind of Dugal MacFarlane. He directs the Tuna Fishing Company that owns three commercial fishing boats, one of which was the Rebecca May.

Mr. MacFarlane’s son Wayne was skipper when the longliner, which was worth up to $600,000, sunk about noon yesterday.

It was heading toward tuna fishing grounds in clear, calm weather at the time. He spoke briefly with his son shortly after the boat went down.

“He just took on water very, very fast,” Mr. MacFarlane said. “He’s not sure whether he hit something or not, from what I can gather. But it was taking water through the hull something quick.”

He thought the only other explanation was some kind of mechanical failure.

“Wayne thought for start that a couple of pumps on board would have kept up with it but all of a sudden they found it wasn’t, and by then I think there was too much water on board.”

Wayne MacFarlane and the two crew on board were forced to abandon ship into the liferaft. The emergency beacon was also set off and picked up in Wellington.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand issued broadcasts to vessels in the area. The Whitianga-based Westpac Rescue Helicopter also flew to the scene and crewman saw flotsam and about 50 bouys strewn across the surface where Rebecca May sank. But the three on board, including Wayne MacFarlane, had already been picked up by the Lady Columbo at 1.30pm.

Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman Sophie Hazelhurst said at this stage there was no indication of a collision with debris from the Rena “so we won’t speculate as to what the cause might be”.

“We have got nothing to indicate that that was the case.”

She said MNZ was making preliminary enquiries. “I don’t know if we will launch an investigation. It all depends on those initial inquiries with the crew as to whether we progress with a full-blown investigation or not. That should be decided in a few days.”

Rena salvor Braemar Howells’ spokesman Grant Dyson wasn’t aware of any debris in the Rebecca May’s vicinity but said it was impossible to rule it out.

The latest from the Rena salvage operation showed Braemar has processed about 2,325 tons of waste including about 177 tons from Waihi Beach and 77 tons from Matakana Island. Fridges have also been appearing.

Braemar confirmed that at least four fridges have washed up on shore – one on Slipper Island off the Coromandel, one on Matakana and two on the East Cape.

Dugal MacFarlane couldn’t make sense of the Rebecca May sinking. The steel-hulled boat was built in Australia and driven across the Tasman in 2002. Since then it’s “seen some real rough stuff”.

“Anyone in the tuna industry will tell you that it’s got a good name, so has my son who’s skippered it most of the time. It’s done its rough times, don’t worry about that, that’s why I couldn’t believe that in these conditions it disappeared so quick.”