Sea tears boots off grounded fishermen

Press, 22 July 1976, Page 1

Sea tears boots off grounded fishermen

After drifting for an hour in heavy sea off the Mid-Canterbury coastline, a trawler ran aground about 10 miles north of the Ashburton River mouth at 12.30 yesterday morning.

The two men aboard, William Harold Clarence Lowe, of Nelson, the skipper, and Mervyn Arthur Wixon, of Bluff, a part owner of the vessel, both reached shore safely. Wind gusts to 50 knots and waves averaging 15 to 20 feet had driver, the boat toward shore when it began drifting about 11.30 p.m. after an engine breakdown. Mr Lowe said the cooling system on the trawler, the Pegasus, had failed and both men had been in the engine-room trying to fix it before running aground. They had succeeded in getting the engine restarted just as the boat foundered. Mr Lowe and Mr Wixon said they had no idea they were so close to shore; the boat did not have radar and in the pitch darkness they could not see where they were headed. A Mayday call was sent out as soon as they beached, but they received no answer.

After first hitting the beach, a wave lifted the boat, sending her further up the shore. Mr Lowe, who did not have a lifejacket on, was thrown into the surf.

“I dug my feet and

elbows into the gravel and hoped the undertow wouldn’t pull me back into the sea,” he said. Between waves he managed to get ashore. Mr Wixon, in the meantime, had left the trawler, between waves, and had got to safety, after finding time to don a life-jacket. The boat ran aground just a few yards from a gully in the steep cliff which is continuous from the Ashburton River mouth to the Rakaia River mouth, about 10 miles further north along the shore.

Heavy rain and sleet were falling, and after climbing the gully, the men made for a light in the distance, which was turned out shortly afterwards. “We followed fence-lines and tracks after that,” Mr Lowe said, “and eventually we came across a farmhouse.” Both men had only socks on their feet; they lost their boots in the sea.

They were showing signs of exposure when they awakened Mr and Mrs R. J. Banks after knocking on the door and the bedroom window about 2.30 a.m. “We didn’t know what was going on when we heard the knocking,” Mrs Banks said. “The men were soaked through and very cold.”

Mr Lowe telephoned the police and reported the incident. After changing clothes and eating, the men returned to the boat and secured it to the shore.

Tire boat had been on her way from Bluff to Nelson for scallop fishing, and was to call at Lyttelton for refuelling. The cooling system broke down earlier in the day but the men repaired it and continued on their way. "If she had not broken down we would have been ahead of the storm when we got to Lyttelton,” Mr Lowe said.

They suspect little damage has been done to the Pegasus, but until she is refloated they will not be sure.

Mr Lowe and Mr Wixon were hoping another southerly storm forecast for last night would not cause more damage to the vessel, or make salvage attempts harder. The boat was insured for $30,000 and was carrying about $5OOO worth of fishing gear, Mr Wixon said. Mr Lowe and Mr Wixon spent yesterday afternoon removing ballast, fishing gear, chains, and ropes from the vessel to make her easier to move.

An attempt will be made to refloat her at high tide this afternoon, about 1 o’clock, with the help of two fishing boats, or the Timaru Harbour Board tug, and a bulldozer. “We are lucky to be alive, but you don’t think about those things,” Mr Lowe said. “All fishermen have these problems: engine break-downs and the like. Unfortunately, they often occur in rough sea.”