ERROR OF JUDGMENT CAUSED TRAWLER’S LOSS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29051, 13 November 1959, Page 14

ERROR OF JUDGMENT CAUSED TRAWLER’S LOSS

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, November 12. It was apparently a “very bad error of judgment’’ to attempt to take the fishing vessel Seaforth into Preservation Inlet in the weather prevailing there on the night of June 27-28, the Coroner (Mr W. Grieve) said at an inquest held at Bluff today into the deaths of the Seaforth’s crew of two. He said he thought the vessel should have returned to Centre Island or Port Craig. The Coroner found that Alexander Ronald Peters, the Seaforth’s skipper, and Keith Ernest Scott -were drowned at Puysegur Point when the vessel was wrecked near the southern entrance to the inlet. The bodies of the two men were never found and authority for the inquest was granted by the At-torney-General. The Coroner said he had no doubt that the Seaforth had been seaworthy, but there had too often been doubts about other craft lost. He was pleased that regulations aimed at tightening up safety measures on boats were likely to be gazetted. The former head keeper at Puysegur Point lighthouse, Torris Bonnevie, told of finding the wreckage of a boat about 3.40 a.m. on June 28 while going to a landing in the inlet to see if the tug, James O’Brien, had entered to pick up mail. Awarua Radio was immediately informed, and all three keepers began the search for survivors. When the wreckage was found, the wind was gusting up to 30 knots, the sea was rough, and visibility was three miles in showers.

“The chances of finding the bodies of the two men are very slim,” said Bonnevie. “The coastline, both in the vicinity of the wreck and within the inlet, is extremely rough, the water is studded with reefs, and the shoreline a mass of boulders and rqcks —making searching difficult.” Bonnevie said it appeared likely that the Seaforth struck an outlying reef partly submerged at the southern side of the southern entrance to the inlet between midnight and 1 a.m., had its bow section smashed, the wheelhouse washed away, then was carried over the reef to sink 30 to 35ft and burst when filled with water.

“From my two years’ experience at Puysegur Point and 15 years’ association with the sea, I would like to point out that the night of June 27 was not suitable to bring a boat in through the southern entrance of Preservation Inlet,” said Bonnevie. “The northern entrance is wide and safe with deep water and is situated only three miles from the southern entrance.”

The Seaforth could have radioed Awarua for the latest Puysegur weather report which would have indicated that the southern entrance in the prevailing weather was unsafe, he said.

Skipper’s Eyesight Sergeant Walter Kevin Egan, of Invercargill, who went to Puysegur Point to lead the police search, said Peters had not had actual experience in handling the Seaforth, but had experience with other boats in the region. Peters spent some time as assistant lighthouse keeper at Puysegur Point in 1954 and would, therefore, have a good knowledge of the locality and what to expect during a storm, he said. Inquiries made it apparent that the Seaforth was wrecked as a result of weather, coupled with the difficult entrance to the inlet, he said.

“Further, the skipper wore spectacles and was known to experience some difficulty in'seeing objects at night. This may have caused him to misjudge the correct course into the inlet,’’ he said. The storm was at its height between midnight and 1 a.m., said Sergeant Egan.