A crowd gathers on the Curio Bay beach yesterday to watch
the stranded fishing boat Silver Fern pulled to safety by
another Bluff boat, Argosy. Photo by Rachel Taylor.
A four-hour rescue dash early yesterday from Stewart
Island to Curio Bay "worked out perfectly", according to the
skipper of the boat which towed a fellow Bluff fishing vessel
to safety.
Willie Calder, skipper of Argosy, responded to a Mayday call
from Silver Fern, which had run aground in Curio Bay.
"We dropped everything and came straight away," Mr Calder
said.
Steaming at 11 knots, it took Argosy almost four hours to
reach the stricken vessel.
"We were very lucky. It worked out perfectly. We got there
right on high tide," Mr Calder said.
Using a nylon rope about half a kilometre long, Argosy
"tugged" at Silver Fern for about an hour before prising it
loose.
"The suction was keeping him stuck to the sand. We watched
the waves and when a good roll went past, we gave him a good
pull," he said.
Silver Fern was refloated at 11.20am.
Constable Richard Lindsay, of Wyndham, said the boat had
moored in the bay overnight, and skipper Owen Beaton had
woken up to find it stuck on sand.
"We don't know if the anchor rope snapped, or what
[happened]."
Maritime New Zealand senior media adviser Sophie Hazelhurst
said the Rescue Co-ordination Centre received a Mayday call
at 5.47am.
The crews of two rescue helicopters dispatched by the centre
found Mr Beaton and deck hand Luke Ryan uninjured, but
stranded in their 12.1m trawler.
"The pilots advised they were high and dry, and were safe,"
Ms Hazelhurst said.
Maritime NZ is now waiting for an accident report to be filed
by the company which owns the vessel.
The Otago Daily Times could not contact Mr Beaton for comment
yesterday.
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