Wreckage came from trawler

Press, 10 September 1988, Page 5

Wreckage came from trawler

PA ’ Tauranga Wreckage washed ashore at East Cape near Ruatoria was positively identified yesterday as from the missing fishing trawler Shelley Marie. The vinyl-covered squabs and forward hatch were discovered at Port Awanui on Monday and flown today to Tauranga. The 12m trawler has not been seen since it left Napier on August 31 for the two-day trip to Tauranga. On board were its owner-skipper Goldie Hitchins, aged 65, and a retired police constable, Jim Milne, aged 58. The Shelley Marie was due in Tauranga late September 1, the same day Bay of Plenty and East

Coast were lashed by storms. The official search and rescue operation, directed from Auckland, ended on Thursday with a light aircraft and shore-line search, but a privately financed air search began yesterday from Tauranga. Four .observers in a twin-engined plane were on board for the eighthour search, which costs $3OOO a day. An organiser of the search, Mr Les Franks, said money was continuously being received to fund the search. He said the plane was searching areas local fishermen, with search officials, pinpointed as possible locations for the trawler.