Sinking yacht threatened Cook Strait power cables
Marlborough harbourmaster Luke Grogan said their yacht had become a ‘‘floating hazard’’ and a ‘‘highly dangerous’’ threat to other vessels. ‘‘It had submerged, but part of the structure was poking out of the water,’’ Grogan said yesterday.
Authorities lost track of the drifting wreck until a commercial fishing boat struck it about 16 kilometres away at 10pm, near Cape Jackson, tearing a hole in its hull. Police search and rescue coordinator and Blenheim senior sergeant Peter Payne said Coastguard
Marlborough delivered a pump to the fishing boat so it could remove the water it had taken on. ‘‘They [the fishing boat] made it back to Picton on their own steam. They weren’t in any distress,’’ Payne said yesterday.
The shipwreck then drifted towards Transpower’s underwater electricity and telecommunications cables in Cook Strait, which provided electricity between the North and South Islands. Grogan said seamen hired to protect the cables from damage spotted the vessel on Sunday and towed it over to Wellington.
Police said the yacht started sinking because it had sprung a sudden leak, but they weren’t sure what had caused the leak.
Alert messages were sent out on New Zealand’s marine distress radio channel when the yacht started sinking, with another round broadcast to Marlborough’s marine channels once authorities confirmed it had moved into To¯ taranui/queen Charlotte
Sound.
An alert published on the Marlborough District Council website described the ‘‘submerged, unlit wreck’’ as a ‘‘significant hazard’’.
A Kiwirail spokesman said the company was aware of the warnings, but that the To¯ taranui/ Queen Charlotte Sound entrance was not the usual entrance for the Interislander ferries.
A statement from Transpower showed another vessel threatened the nation’s inter-island power cables last month after it sank 12 kilometres from the Strait’s Cable Protection Zone. The former fishing vessel Antonia, from Australia, was being towed from Wellington to Picton when it began taking on water.