Skipper was distracted by phone before grounding
A skipper was distracted by his phone as he steamed towards catastrophe.
Teone Martin Taiaroa, 62, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and admitted his careless actions, which ultimately led to the boat sinking and the dramatic rescue of the bedraggled sailors by helicopter.
Court documents reveal he failed to maintain proper lookout and use all means appropriate to determine if the risk of collision existed.
The defendant had worked on fishing vessels since 1980 and was qualified to operate the boat, the fishing vessel Tamahine, which he had owned for about seven years.
About 6.15am on June 4 last year, Taiaroa was operating his wooden commercial fishing vessel in Taiaroa Head.
He had one crew member aboard, who was new to the job, and they left Dunedin heading towards the fishing grounds northeast of the the head.
Once out of the shipping channel he set the boat's autopilot to North East, made a coffee and sat at the wheel of the boat reading a news article on his phone.
The other crew member was also on his phone, the court heard.
Taiaroa admitted grounding the fishing boat which sank off Taiaroa Head. Photo: staff photographer
About nine minutes after setting the autopilot, Taiaroa realised the boat was heading south-east rather than its intended course.
The vessel was caught in the swells and the defendant engaged manual steering but could not get away from the breakers.
The Tamahine grounded just below the Royal Albatross Colony and began to take on water.
Taiaroa launched the liferaft and a rescue helicopter was deployed to recover Taiaroa and his crew member.
About six hours later, Tamahine sank.
The defendant was taken to hospital where he was treated for hypothermia.
Taiaroa said the grounding was caused by satellite-compass failure, causing the compass readings to be reversed.
The defendant will be sentenced in December.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz
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