Sea snatches trawler man

By BRIDGET CARTER, NATASHA HARRIS and SCOTT MacLEOD

Strong waves pulled two sailors from each other's grasp as they struggled to get into a liferaft after their trawler sank.

The 35-year-old skipper of the trawler St Peter could only watch from the bobbing raft as his 39-year-old crewman drifted away.

The skipper, Antony "Jack Sprat" Hodgson, was rescued yesterday after drifting for 20 hours.

A search for the crewman was called off last night because of bad weather.

The professional fishermen, with up to 18 years' experience, were fishing 3km from Great Barrier Island when they heard bad weather was on the way and decided to head for port.

At 4pm, the Simunovich Fisheries-owned trawler was swamped by what Mr Hodgson said were two large waves, causing it to capsize.

The men clung to the hull, then floundered in the water until the St Peter sank to 7m under the surface, triggering the release of a liferaft.

Mr Hodgson clambered in, but the crewman slipped from his grasp.

Mr Hodgson spent the next 20 hours drifting 56km to Mangawhai Heads, north of Auckland, where he fired one of his last two flares.

The patrol captain at Mangawhai Heads Surf Life Saving Club, Zane Baker, said that from about 1.50pm the club received about 14 calls from residents who saw the flare.

He and another lifeguard who went out to save Mr Hodgson found him pale, shivering, suffering hypothermia and in shock.

They brought him back to shore and towed his raft in.

The missing man had not been named last night.

Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman John Bain said Mr Hodgson was taken to the Whangarei ambulance base and given a hot shower and warm clothes before being taken to hospital.

He said Mr Hodgson was exhausted and emotional when he was discharged from Whangarei Hospital and driven back to Auckland last night.

The crewman had "slipped from his grasp and drifted out to sea", and Mr Hodgson was "incredibly distressed".

Mr Bain said it seemed the two men acted sensibly and were overtaken by the weather.

Simunovich Fisheries managing director Peter Simunovich said his company became worried when the fishermen did not report yesterday morning.

Search and rescue crews were alerted at 9.30am.

Mr Simunovich said he understood the men went to the back deck of the boat after it was hit by the first wave. They were washed off by the second.

"I have gone to visit both families and while one family is relieved, the other one is very upset," he said.

"We will support the families in any way we can."



The St Peter was built by Mr Simunovich's father and a friend in 1971.

The 12m trawler was the smallest - and first - boat in a fleet of 17 fishing vessels.

The boat was four days into a five-day fishing trip.

"It was a good boat," Mr Simunovich said.



One former skipper of the St Peter, Jim Mitchell, said the vessel was seaworthy and "a bloody good, solid little seaboat for its size".

He had been on board during heavy seas, and was surprised at the sinking.

Simunovich Fisheries has lost three men in 31 years of operation - two in 1981 and one in the late 1990s.

A National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research spokesman, Dr Jim Salinger, said the big waves might have been caused by wind gusts of more than 100km/h that were whipping through the area.

Maritime Safety Authority director Russell Kilvington said the sinking would be investigated.