Salvaged ferry in pieces as inquiry continues into grounding

The tourist ferry Tiger III ran on to rocks in an inlet below Cape Brett on December 30. Picture / Northern Advocate

An engine from written-off Northland tourist ferry Tiger III will be removed from the wreckage to find out why it failed.

The engine stopped on December 18 as the catamaran sat in an inlet under Cape Brett during an excursion to the Bay of Islands' famous Hole in the Rock near Cape Brett lighthouse, off Paihia.

The skipper could not stop the $2 million ferry being rammed into the rocks and within minutes the port hull had filled with water.

Sixty-three passengers and crew scrambled on to rocks and were rescued by helicopter.

The ferry was declared a total loss but it took a month to remove the wreckage from the rocks.

Fullers Bay of Islands chief executive Kit Nixon told NZPA today the ferry would not go back to sea.

"It is in a number of pieces. It has been cut up. It is history."

He said an independent engineer would remove the port engine in the next few days in an effort to find out why it failed and led to the loss of the vessel.

"There are lots of questions and they will be answered by the official investigation."

He said one of the questions would be why the ferry could not get out of trouble with only one engine.

New Zealand Diving and Salvage managing director Dougal Fergus said the aluminium ferry had been cut into several big pieces. His team of three divers and four other workers removed the superstructure before a barge lifted the hull off the rocks which were jutting up through it.

"It was difficult. It had to be lifted off the rocks, not pulled," Mr Fergus said.

He said the operation took about 10 days and recovered between 30 tonnes and 50 tonnes of material. The hull and engines were taken to Opua yesterday.

Mr Nixon said the skipper on Tiger 111 when it hit the rocks was one of the company's most experienced and would stay with the company. He was devastated by the grounding, Mr Nixon said.

Tiger 111 was replaced by a similar-sized ferry from Bluff, which initially began a service between Bluff and Stewart Island before it was decided it was unsuitable because of the often-extreme conditions in Foveaux Strait.

Fullers paid $3m for the 23-metre ferry from Bluff, now called Tiger V.

- NZPA, NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)