FOUR Adelaide residents were rescued from their sinking boat 30 kilometres offshore at Port MacDonnell by two local fishermen yesterday afternoon.
The crew aboard the MV Port Princess, formerly a popular dolphin cruise boat operating at Port Adelaide, raised the alarm mid-morning after experiencing motor trouble.
Among the crew was Tammy Moore of Port Adelaide, who called her daughter Kaitlyn for help.
“The dolphin cruise business had recently shut down and this trip was a last hurrah for the boat,” Kaitlyn Moore told The Border Watch, explaining that the Port Princess had been en route to Melbourne.
“Mum called me early in the morning to let me know they would be stopping at Port MacDonnell today, she asked if I would drive from Adelaide to pick her up because she was over it – they’ve been on the boat for four days.
“She called again a few hours later and told me the motor wasn’t working, told me they were offshore and asked me to call for help.”
Panic stricken, Ms Moore called the police and after arriving in Port MacDonnell approached two fishermen at the boat ramp.
James Carlin and John Howard had only just returned from a spot of tuna fishing.
“We went out and caught a 107 kilo tuna and we had just got in from fishing when she walked up,” Mr Howard said.
“She said ‘my mum and that are out there and they’re sinking.'”
“I said ‘righto’ and rang the police, rang Eddy who’s our local officer and he said go out there, so off we went.”
Mr Carlin and Mr Howard set sail on the San Miguel and found the Port Princess half submerged around 30 kilometres offshore.
“We were about 18 mile from Port MacDonnell and when we got there, there were three in the life raft and the captain was still on the boat,” Mr Howard said.
“I think the motor had stopped and they had waves coming from behind, they were taking on water and the pumps weren’t keeping up and it just got worse and worse.
“The captain took a little convincing and we said ‘mate, it’s going to go down.'”
“We waited for a couple of hours for it to sink but it’s still drifting at the minute – we couldn’t tow it in because it was just too big.”
Mr Howard said the three men and Ms Moore appeared to be uninjured but had spent some time on the life raft.
“When we first got there the lady was hysterical, she was pretty beside herself,” Mr Howard said.
“We said ‘it’s alright now, everything’s going to be fine.'”
“Everyone seems to be okay and it’s all over now – that was the drama for the day.”
Ms Moore extended her gratitude to both Mr Carlin and Mr Howard.
“If they hadn’t been here mum might still be out at sea floating on a life raft, I hate to think what might have happened,” Ms Moore said.
“I can’t thank them enough – they saved the day.”
