Boat crew tell of daring rescue by helicopter

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 7

Boat crew tell of daring rescue by helicopter

PA Invercargill. The skipper of the Capri,! Mr William Bragg, yesterday) described how his Bluff fish-1 ing vessel was lost off So-) lander Island and he and his! two crew were rescued by helicopter. Mr Bragg, with Messrs) Owen McQuarrie and Donald) Wiig, were plucked from the) island, about 120 kilometres) west of Bluff, on Saturday) morning. They had weathered a) storm huddled under a life-! raft. “If it had not been for) that liferaft, we would have; had some problems,” Mr) Bragg said. The three Bluff men had' moored the Capri with a) group of three other boats) sheltering at Solander Island; on Friday evening as a storm approached in Foveaux Strait. About 11 p.m„ in a howl-! ing 32-knot wind, the Capri) broke a shackle and chain,; and was hurled by a heavy sea against the island’s 1 rocky shore. “We broke up when we: hit the rocks and only had time to grab a few clothes," Mr Bragg said. “A couple of

great seas” washed - over the Capri, breaking the wheelhouse windows. A rubber inflatable liferaft on the boat’s roof was wash[ed into the sea near the [men, and automatically inflated. As the raft drifted by, [each man in turn scrambled [in. They fought their way i through kelp towards the shore until the raft was swamped, leaving them to swim the remaining 50 metres to safety. The liferaft was swept on to the rocks, providing the men with shelter, food, and a distress flare. “It was an act of God. Everything happened so quickly,” Mr McQuarrie said. “Once we were going out to it, I think we all thought we were damn lucky.” Another Bluff fishing boat,! the Mary G, saw the Capri’s) lights go out as the stricken! [vessel foundered on the! rocks and alerted Awarua) Radio at 11.20 p.ra. At 6.40 a.m. on Saturday,! the Invercargill police called! [a Te Anau pilot, Mr Bill [ Black. Mr Black, flying a Bell Jet:

Ranger helicopter, belonging to Alpine Helicopters, Ltd, left for Solander Island after returning from Queenstown. Constable T. Henderson, of the Te Anau police, went with him. Unable to land, Mr Black hovered above the men and ferried them one by one to another part of the island where they were all picked up and flown back to Invercargill. “There was no place to land near the men. There were just sheer cliff faces,” said Constable Henderson. The rescued men praised Mr Black, who was forced to cope with 30 to 40-knot winds and high seas during the manoeuvre. “We would probably have still been sitting there if it hadn’t been for him,” Mr McQuarrie said. “The whole thing was a bit hair-raising in the dark," Mr Black admitted. "It was dicey, but we got away with it." The 16m vessel, which had recently had a $lO,OOO overhaul, “is now in little pieces," said Mr Bragg. “1 think I’ll go chicken farming,” he said.