Shipwrecked crew praised for passenger evacuation

The tourist vessel Tiger III went on to rocks in the Bay of Islands last December after first one, then the other, engine failed. Picture / Naomi Stent

The master and crew of a $2 million tourist catamaran wrecked on rocks in the Bay of Islands in December have been praised for their actions in evacuating all 62 passengers.

The Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) launched an investigation after the December 18 grounding of the Fuller's vessel Tiger III.

Salvagers were unable to retrieve the 22m catamaran, which was a complete write-off.

In its report into the grounding, released yesterday, the MSA blamed an engine failure for the incident.

MSA chief accident investigator Mike Eno said the crew performed very well after the grounding .

The investigation found the accident happened when an engine failed at a critical moment in the confines of the cove at Cape Brett.

"The skipper found himself in the unenviable situation of being ashore in a rocky cove, with no forward motion and with not a great deal of sea room," Mr Eno said in a statement.

"Fortunately, and because of the quick reactions of the crew, there were no injuries among the 62 people on board.

"Although it is unknown exactly what caused the engine to fail, we suspect it failed due to an abnormality in the fuel system.

"This is because both the port engine and generator failed within a short period of time and the fuel system was one of the few common links between the two."

On the day of the accident, the skipper had decided the sea was too rough to take a trip through the "Hole in the Rock", a natural tunnel passing through Piercy Island, and instead took Tiger III around the west coast of Otuwhanga Island towards the landing below Cape Brett Lighthouse.

But when approaching the cove, the port engine failed and the skipper stopped the vessel about 40m from the shore, where the other engine failed soon afterwards.

The skipper decided to keep the vessel alongside a natural rock ledge and, once close enough to the rocks, crew members fastened mooring lines to rock pinnacles on the shore.

When the lines were secure, the crew helped passengers abandon the vessel, which was surging against the rocks.

The MSA said although there were enough life jackets onboard, all the children's ones were the same size. The vessel should have carried appropriately sized life jackets for everybody onboard.

- NZPA