Rescuers have recovered the body of a man from Mount Aspiring National Park after he fell 30-40 metres down a bluff on Saturday night.

A fisherman whose boat sank in the middle of the night was so determined not to surrender it that he swam the waterlogged vessel nearly 1km to safety.

Police have named the man who died after falling during a climb at Chinaman's Bluff in Central Otago on Friday.

The survivor of a "freak accident" spent a night alone on a narrow ledge at an isolated cliff-face knowing his climbing companion had fallen to his death.