MARLIN ATTACK!
Drama in Real Life
Quentin Peck had kept a keen eye on the weather forecast in the days leading up to his fishing trip, wary the unpredictable late autumn weather had every chance of turning bad. But as the time drew closer, and the conditions promised to be perfect, he knew the short break with his brother, Nathan, and their friend Andy Sprott was going to be a good one.
On Tuesday morning, May 21, 2019, 46-year-old Quentin packed his car with a wetsuit, fins, mask, spearguns and everything else he needed for the trip to the north coast of New South Wales, pulling out of the driveway of his home on Sydney’ s northern beaches mid-morning. After picking up Andy, 46, and all his gear, the pair drove north for three-anda-half hours to Nathan’s home at Old Bar, on the mid-north coast. When they arrived, the three experienced recreational spearfishermen prepared Nathan’s boat with child-like enthusiasm. The sooner they could get on the water the better – so they wanted the boat ready for an early start in the morning.
The next day was glorious. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the trio piled into Nathan’s Ford Ranger ute. Towing his five-metre inflatable powerboat behind, it was another three-anda-half hours’ drive north to Wooli, a town 100 kilometres north of Coffs Coast on the Pacific Ocean. They drove straight to the Wooli boat ramp, arriving around 10am.
BY THIS TIME the autumn sun was high in the clear blue sky, gently warming the trio as they pulled on their wetsuits and launched the boat into the calm, sparkling ocean waters. They couldn’t have asked for better diving conditions.
With excitement mounting, 48-year-old Nathan started the boat’s engine and, standing shoulder to shoulder at the helm, the three raced out to sea, enjoying the wind and water spray as it brushed against their faces.
The first stop that morning was about 40 minutes north of the boat ramp, in the Solitary Islands Marine Reserve, an area where the East Australian Current flows south from far north Queensland, bringing a mix of tropical and subtropical waters, that
overlaps with a cold current flowing north from Tasmania. The result is a mix of warm-water and cold-water marine species. The marine reserve is home to 90 species of corals, more than 280 species of fish, as well as marine reptiles and mammals, and sea and shore birds. Threatened species include the humpback and southern right whales, marine turtles, grey nurse sharks, great white sharks, little tern and wandering albatross.
As well as reef fish, the Solitary Islands is home to larger predator species such as kingfish, Spanish mackerel and tunas, which the men were hoping to catch. Quentin and Andy went in the water first, leaving Nathan as the spotter. His job was to watch out for any vessels that might get too close to the divers and to collect any fish they speared before sharks could take them. Quentin maintains that the sharks are more interested in what the fishermen catch than in causing them any harm.
The water was warm and the sun penetrated the ocean’s surface lighting up the depths below. But there was one problem. Although there were plenty of small reef fish, the large predators were nowhere to be seen. So, after a short time, Quentin and Andy hauled themselves back on board the boat and the trio headed further out to sea, about 20 kilometres off shore.
Again, Nathan was at the helm and they were standing shoulder to shoulder at the front of the boat, looking ahead at the big, blue expan se of the Pacific Ocean. The mood on board the boat was upbeat as they travel led at a steady 40 kilometres per hour. The waters around them were calm.
Then, without warning, a huge marlin jumped out of the water directly in front of the small boat. At any other time, this would have been a sight to behold, but the men didn’t have time to be awestruck as the massive 100-kilogram fish flew straight at them.
THE MOOD ON BOARD THE BOAT WAS UPBEAT AS THEY TRAVELLED AT A STEADY 40KM/H
BOTH BLACK AND STRIPED marlin frequent these waters. Juvenile blacks are known for ‘free jumping’ when chasing smaller fish that are swimming near the surface, although fully grown fish weighing 500 kilograms or more are less likely to free jump. Neither species is known to be aggressive. According to Scott Thomas, editor of Fishing World,
there are a lot of fish around Wooli in May because the water is so warm. “It’s a bit like a fish highway,” he says.
IN A SPLIT SECOND, the trio’s jocular mood had turned to terror.
With the fish’s long, spiny bill pointing directly at him, Quentin tried to duck out of its way as best he could. All Nathan had time to do was quickly lift his arm to protect his head. It wasn’t enough. The marlin’s razor-sharp bill rammed into Nathan’s exposed armpit, tearing through his upper body before exiting out at the back of his shoulder, the impact slamming him heavily to the floor of the boat.
Quentin fared even worse. Despite twisting as he ducked to try and avoid being in the enormous fish’s direct path, the powerful marlin sheared Quentin’s right arm with its open lower jaw, tearing open the flesh and ripping apart the tendons. The force of its scaly wet body flying over the boat sent Quentin hurtling to the back of the boat “like a bowling ball”. He landed in front of the speargun rack, which stopped him catapulting out of the boat. And with that, the fish returned back to the water – never once landing in the boat.
Winded and lying in a foetal position between the motor well and the gun rack, Quentin was in shock and gasping for breath. He lay there stunned, everything hurting, and not able to breathe for what felt like an eternity. By ducking when he did, Quentin had avoided the fish hitting him in the head, but the rest of him had felt the full force of its flank and body. Three of his ribs were broken.
Nathan, who had also been knocked to the floor of the boat, was dazed, and it took him a few minutes to get his senses back. When he did, he saw his brother lying at the back of the boat , his face ghost white and blood splattered everywhere. He also realised that his brother’s right arm was broken and had a large gash.
Andy took control of the boat and headed straight for shore. Nathan saw Quentin was struggling to breathe so grabbed his mobile phone and rang emergency services to relay the bizarre events to an initially sceptical paramedic. The paramedic calmly told Nathan to apply steady pressure to Quentin’s arm with a towel if the bleeding became worse. An ambulance would be waiting at the boat ramp at Wooli to take over when they arrived.
THE MARLIN’S RAZOR-SHARP BILL RAMMED INTO NATHAN’S ARMPIT, TEARING HIS UPPER BODY
It was not quite midday. Since hopping in the boat only a couple of hours earlier, the wind had picked up. Andy tried to drive the boat as fast as he could through the chop, but the waves pounded the boat and Nathan cried out in pain from being banged around. To make the trip smoother, Andy drove across the swell, rather than into it, zigzagging all the way back to shore in what was an excruciating 30-minute trip.
WHEN THE MEN reached Wooli boat ramp, they were relieved to see two State Emergency Services officers waiting for them, which was soon followed by an ambulance and Careflight helicopter crew. Quentin was put on a stretcher and medicated for his pain while his brother’s shoulder was stitched up. Then, Quentin said goodbye to his fishing buddies and was airlifted to the nearby Coffs Harbour Base Hospital.
Doctors at the regional hospital realised pretty quickly that they were not equipped to deal with the extent of Quentin’s injuries. The decision was made to transport him to Sydney for specialist microsurgery to reconnect the severed tendons in his arm. So, less than 36 hours after packing up his car in Sydney for his north coast fishing adventure, Quentin was heading back, this time in a medivac ambulance plane. Equipped like an emergency department treatment room, the plane carried, besides himself and the pilot, two nurses, and all the medical gear they might need during the one-and-a-half hour flight.
Quentin would undergo two operations: one immediately, and another
six months later. The first operation was to deconstruct his arm and pressure wash the wound for infection. The tendons and muscles had been severely lacerated from the elbow to the wrist, and surgeons had to cut the tendons from the elbow to prevent infection. They then repaired the broken radius bone in his arm with a plate and stitched him up. Just before Christmas, when the bone had healed, he would have the second operation to reattach the tendons.
THE ONE-IN-A-MILLION encounter with a marlin took only a few seconds, but for Quentin the accident was life changing. He lost 60 per cent of the movement in his wrist, half the right arm’s muscle mass, and much of its strength. But neither his damaged arm nor the freak accident has stopped him, Nathan or Andy from spearf ishing. “It hasn’t put us off,” he laughs.
Quent in always hoped to see marlin jumping out of the water while fishing. Now, he hopes never to see one that close again. Fortunately, according to Scott Thomas, the probability of that happening is akin to being struck by lightning twice.
QUENTIN ALWAYS HOPED TO SEE MARLIN JUMPING OUT OF THE WATER WHILE FISHING