Foreigners sail past

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 3

Foreigners sail past

PA Tauranga If two foreign fishing vessels had bothered to stop and help the stricken trawler Celtic a lot of worry, time and money would have been saved.

This was the claim yesterday from the Auckland fishing boat’s skipper after he and his two crew members returned to Tauranga aboard the Moroccan freighter Imilchil. The crew was transferred

to the ship after the Celtic was spotted early yesterday morning by an R.N.Z.A.F. Orion about 200 kilometres east of Great Barrier Island. The Celtic’s skipper (Mr J. S. Paki) said that the boat had been drifting for seven days before they were spotted. The Celtic’s starter motor had failed when they were about 60 kilometres north of the Moko-Hinau Islands and the vessel then drifted out into the Pacific.

He said that one night while the Celtic was drifting, two foreign fishing vessels almost rammed the boat as it lay helpless. He was not sure if they were Russian or Japanese trawlers.

The Celtic’s crew sent a distress flare towards one of the boats and was flying flags showing she needed help. But both fishing vessels sailed past and one almost struck the Celtic as it did so.