Fishing mates die on Kaipara Harbour
"It was obvious the super structure of the boat had completely broken up. There was nothing bigger than maybe two metres long and half a metre wide just floating on the water." Muriwai Beach surf lifesaving patrol captain Brett William Hardie
All the fishermen on the doomed fishing boat The Francie were from the Pacific Island community, police say.
Seven people died and one is missing presumed dead after the boat capsized as it tried to enter Kaipara Harbour on Saturday after a fishing charter.
Police yesterday confirmed the boat’s owner, Bill Mcnatty, was among the dead, while all the others aboard were Pacific Islander men aged between 31 and 59. They included four people from Tonga, one from Samoa and one from the Cook Islands.
Of the three survivors, one managed to swim to shore while two were winched to safety by helicopter. They are of Samoan and Cook Island descent.
Rodney area commander Inspector Mark Fergus said the fishermen were a group of friends who often went fishing together. With one person, believed to be a Cook Islander, still missing it was believed they were likely deceased.
A number of investigations were under way and while there were lifejackets on board it was unknown if they had been used.
‘‘I can confirm as part of the inquiries we will be assessing if there is any culpability on the part of anyone involved.’’
There was no sign of The Francie at this stage, he said.
Inspector Willi Fanene said an officer had been assigned to each of the victim’s families to support them.
‘‘Not only is this a terrible tragedy for the New Zealand fishing community in general it’s especially hard for the Pacific community.
‘‘I know that the grief will be shared not only through the Pacific community in New Zealand and overseas but by all New Zealanders.’’
The boat chanced the Kaipara Harbour bar’s mountainous seas two days in a row - the only vessel to notify Coast Guard it was doing so.
On its fourth crossing, disaster struck when it capsized.
Coast Guard spokesman Ray Burge said radio logs show The Francie was the only vessel crossing the treacherous bar on Friday and Saturday.
At just after 2pm on Saturday, The Francie contacted Coast Guard to say it was heading into the harbour across the bar with 11 people on board.
The Francie requested a 60-minute watch, meaning the Coastguard would contact them again after 60 minutes to make sure they were safe, Burge said.
The average safety window time boats crossing the bar give is 30 minutes, but sea conditions sometimes mean boats request longer windows, he said.
By 3.02pm, when The Francie still hadn’t been heard from, the alert was raised.
Volunteers rushing out onto the harbour described to Burge just how dangerous conditions were.
‘‘What I can tell you is that our volunteers reported four-metre swells [in the harbour]’’.
But over the bar seas were even higher, with waves breaking on top of the swell likely raising seas close to the height of a two-storey house.
Coastguard Rescue Vessel skipper Iain Guilford described the sea conditions as trying with ‘‘huge standing waves’’ in excess of four metres.
‘‘It’s never easy being part of an incident where you can’t bring people home to their families. Our thoughts are with everyone involved.’’
Debris from the steel hulled The Francie speaks to the force of the sea conditions.
Steve Mcgregor, president of Kaipara Cruising and Sportsfishing Club, said Mcnatty had made a mistake in going beyond the bar on such a rough day.
‘‘Bill knew what he was doing, don’t get me wrong but he shouldn’t have gone out past the bar.’’
Another friend of Mcnatty’s, Gus Tupou, said he was marooned in grief.
Tupou worked as a deck hand on The Francie, and said he was finding the loss of his boss ‘‘very difficult to deal with’’.
‘‘He was like a brother to me,’’ Tupou said.
Tupou, 52, got a job with Mcnatty’s charter fishing operation about five years ago,and he would have been on board on Saturday if not for choosing to spend time with a visiting friend.
Muriwai Beach surf lifesaving patrol captain Brett William Hardie said during a search for survivors, wreckage spotted 100m off the surf break showed the Francie had ‘‘completely broken up’’.
‘‘It was obvious the super structure of the boat had completely broken up. There was nothing bigger than maybe two metres long and half a metre wide just floating on the water.’’
Earlier Muriwai lifeguard Tim Jago said surf conditions were ‘‘just about as bad as you’ll ever see here’’.
‘‘It’s just huge surf right out to the horizon.’’
He said conditions on Saturday had been equally as bad. ’’Experience would tell us that if we’re going to find them (the last missing person) that we will find them today otherwise they generally sort of disappear for several more days.’’
By the time helicopter rescuers plucked three survivors from the waters it was too late for others aboard the Francie. By 2am, yesterday, the bodies of seven people where found.
Five bodies where found on Saturday. Police recovered the body of one man around 1am on the shoreline north of Muriwai Beach, by 2am another man’s body was discovered on the shoreline closer to South Head/woodhill Forest.
Three survivors were taken to North Shore Hospital. Two were discharged overnight while the third was in a stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday morning.
Police said the process of formally identifying the victims and advising next of kin was under way. - Fairfax NZ