KEY POINTS:
The skipper who lost his life when his fishing boat ran aground in treacherous seas yesterday was an experienced seaman who had lived through many violent storms.
Eric Barratt, managing director of Sanford, which owned the stranded San Cuvier, told the Herald last night the man and his crew had attempted to launch the liferaft at Haurere Pt near Opotiki when it became clear the boat would run aground.
The two men who died have not been named, nor have the two crew members who survived.
A minute's silence was held at the fish market in Auckland this morning to mark the deaths.
A 16-year-old from Auckland was in a stable condition in the surgical unit of Whakatane Hospital yesterday and a second man, also from Auckland, was treated for hypothermia and discharged.
Their two colleagues were among four people thought to have lost their lives in weather-related incidents over the weekend.
James Moore, 33, died when his outrigger canoe hit rough waters off Mt Maunganui on Saturday afternoon.
He had left Maketu with three friends and went missing in the rough seas. His body was recovered yesterday.
The fourth storm victim is a 38-year-old man who died in a house fire at Meremere in the Waikato which is believed to have been started by a candle after a power cut.
The crew of the San Cuvier had managed to set off a distress beacon at 3.30am yesterday from their location 11km east of Opotiki, but did not have time for a mayday call.
The survivors were picked up by helicopter about three hours later. The body of one of the men was recovered but the second was swept out to sea. A second attempt to recover his body is to be made this morning.
Mr Barratt said the San Cuvier was normally based in Auckland but was making trips from Tauranga. The ill-fated voyage was to have lasted four or five days, he said.
He did not know what had happened to cause the boat to run aground and wasn't sure if weather warnings had been received. There would be an investigation.
"We had several vessels out and once the storm warning came, they got to shelter. We fish all through the year and when storms come along, the vessels take shelter," said Mr Barratt.
Eyewitness Margaret Thompson, who lives at Haurere Pt, told the Herald the men were trying to take their boat out again after coming ashore to shelter from the storm.
Two of the four were rescued from rocks nearly three hours after setting off the distress beacon.
She had invited one of the survivors into her home to "keep warm by the fire and have a hot drink while he waited" for the helicopter to finish searching.
Maritime NZ spokeswoman Shona Brown said emergency services initially had some trouble tracking the emergency beacon from the vessel.
"The boat was under some rocks and the satellite system may have found it difficult to find it because of that."
A fixed-wing plane found the boat shortly after heading into the air about 5.50am, and the helicopter arrived about 6.30am.
- additional reporting Newstalk ZB
