Fisherman’s boat sinks beneath him

Press, 25 October 1985, Page 5

Fisherman’s boat sinks beneath him

A Lyttelton fisherman, Mr Alan Brasell, considers himself lucky to be alive after his boat Keri-Lee sank in Pegasus Bay yesterday afternoon. Mr Brasell, who was alone in the boat, said he had between 40 and 50 cases of fish on board when the boat dropped into a trough “and kept going.” “The boat lay over on her side and was very unstable. I couldn’t get into the wheelhouse to radio for help. “I ended up on the keel. I

still had my knife in my hand so I cut the liferaft loose and sat on the keel for a while holding on to the liferaft, and jumped into it at the last minute,” he said.

Mr Brasell was rescued by his son, Mr Alan Brasell, jun., who was in another boat working nearby.

“In different circumstances I could have been up there by myself. We don’t usually work in pairs,” said Mr Brasell, sen.

“I was pretty lucky because the water is very

cold. The weather was quite good yesterday with a four to five-knot north-east wind and a one-metre swell, 1 but I work in pretty rugged weather sometimes,” he said.

Mr Brasell said he had handled up to 70 cases in the Keri-Lee, which he had owned for about a year. He had been fishing for about 28 years. The 10-metre boat was insured. A decision on whether to salvage it would be made by the insurance company, he said.