The harbour master took a police escort to retrieve the 106-year-old SV Te Aroha after it ran aground. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A historic boat has been retrieved under police escort after a confrontation between two men involved in a dispute over the vessel.
Aaron Franklin accidentally ran the 106-year-old SV Te Aroha aground in the Hatea River, in the upper Whangarei Harbour, on Sunday night.
Mr Franklin, who lives aboard the vessel, says he had been headed for Whangaroa and was claiming the vessel under salvage laws.
However, he hit a sand bank about 11pm, not far from the vessel's Port Nikau mooring.
Mr Franklin has paid a $2500 deposit toward purchasing the vessel.
However, he and owner Tex McGoram - who co-owns Te Aroha with partner Yolande Oversier - are locked in a dispute over the terms of the sale agreement.
On Sunday night, Mr McGoram was alerted to the drama, and drove to the river and dived in. He swam 50m to the marooned vessel, clambered aboard and tussled with Mr Franklin.
"I came careening down the wharf, tyres screaming," Mr McGoram said.
"I was taking my clothes off as I went and dived about 4m underwater."
After the pair argued loudly, Mr McGoram swam back to shore. He contacted the harbour master yesterday morning.
Deputy harbour master Chidambaram Surendran took a police escort out to the Te Aroha. He was aware of the dispute but said it was a civil matter and safety was his main concern. The Te Aroha has sunk several times and has been damaged.
"They moved the boat without consulting with us, which was definitely not the right thing to do, to put it mildly," Mr Surendran said.
"The repairs they had carried out were very poor. They didn't think it through at all and they ran aground. She got stuck quite fast."
Mr McGoram had hoped to restore the boat but decided the job was too big after it sunk multiple times, destroying most of his possessions.
Mr Franklin had moved aboard after paying his $2500 deposit - Mr McGoram says this was so Mr Franklin could start repairs.
The pair had been at loggerheads for several months over the terms of the agreement, including rent arrears on the Port Nikau mooring and unpaid power bills.
Yesterday, Mr Franklin said the boat was "100 per cent structurally sound".
"It's been bloody good fun," Mr Franklin said, hanging off the side of the boat as he was towed back to shore.
He said he wanted to return the boat to where it was built at Totara North in 1909 so it could be used as an educational vessel for the community there.
"They [the harbour master] have decided it's unsafe to move. There is no basis to that whatsoever," he said.
"He's salvage laws this, salvage laws that," Mr McGoram countered, as he stood on the wharf watching the action unfold.
Mr Surendran was unsure at this stage whether any charges would be laid in relation to the incident.
The worker logged 437 hours in five weeks - all of which was unpaid.