Sinking of the Francie: Few onboard were wearing lifejackets, TAIC says - Stuff

William McNatty was known for risky sailings. It cost the skipper and seven of his passengers their lives when his vessel sank.

Of the 11 on board the Francie, a charter vessel that sank in Kaipara Harbour in north Auckland in 2016, it is very likely only three were wearing lifejackets at the time it went down, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) ruled in a report released on Thursday.

McNatty, and passengers Fred Marsters, Sunia Ungo'unga, Alipate Manumu'a, Tevita Tangi, Fonua Taufa, Auerua Aria, and Taulagi Afamasaga all died when the vessel overturned as it crossed the Kaipara Bar, at the entrance to the harbour.

Three others survived – one swimming to Muriwai Beach and the other two winched to safety by the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

McNatty, the report found, had a propensity to accept a high level of risk when deciding whether to cross the Kaipara Harbour Bar, chief investigator Captain Tim Burfoot said. While others in the industry and community knew that, it wasn't reported to authorities.

The TAIC has recommended that Maritime New Zealand develop a process where boaties and others can confidentially report maritime safety concerns.

Walter Marsters​, the brother of father-of-three Fred who lost his life, said the report confirmed a fair amount of the blame for his brothers death rested "fairly" on McNatty's shoulders. "He's the guy that made the decision to go over the bar."

The conditions were predictably unsuitable at the time the Francie crossed the bar, the report said.

Three of the eight people who died wore their own life jackets.

But the lifejackets they wore weren't the type recommended for a trip across the Kaipara Bar, Burfoot said.

One of those lifejackets didn't have a crotch strap, the other two were buoyancy aids.

"The waves were high, steep, and breaking in several directions, and one of them struck the Francie behind, causing it to roll heavily and capsize," said Burfoot.

"It's very likely that only three of the 11 on board were wearing lifejackets at the time, and no-one was wearing a lifejacket provided on board in accordance with the Maritime Rules.

"It's virtually certain that they would all have had a better chance of survival had they all worn lifejackets," Burfoot said.

Those chances would have been even greater had the lifejackets had crotch straps to prevent the vests from riding up, the report noted.

However Steve MacGregor, Commodore at the Kaipara Cruising and Sports Fishing Club where McNatty was once a member, disputed the report's findings.

MacGregor said  TAIC's finding that lifejackets would have made a difference in those conditions was "debatable".

"There would have been possibly a chance but I can't really comment on that.

"They weren't really there to see it."

Reports MacGregor had received said conditions had been favourable on the way out but not on the way back in.

He also wondered if McNatty had faced pressure from passengers on his boat to go over the bar.

Marsters said his brother was a very safety conscious passenger and had refused to go across the bar in treacherous conditions two weeks earlier, over the objections of fellow passengers on the charter.

He said the family had moved on from the crash and he did not want to go on a "witch-hunt" over the report's findings.

Fred's ashes were scattered in Rarotonga earlier this year.

Amy Yerro, the daughter of Taulagi Afamasaga one of those who died in the disaster, said she did not want to comment on the report.

Commenting to Stuff late last year she said families of the victims were stuck in a state of limbo as they awaited the outcome of TAIC's investigation..

Last year Yerro recounted the day she heard about the disaster from news reports.

She and her mother had gone to the police station after reports of the Francie had trickled in

Yerro said she was expecting to find Afamasaga wet but in good spirits.

"I'll always remember my Mum's face when I turned back to her and I nodded my head that he wasn't there.

"She passed out, it was as if the life had come out completely from her, there was nothing there."

MacGregor said very few fisherman in the area now took charters across the bar after the disaster when once it had been a lot more common.

He thought the rest of the community would welcome the report saying it was "a lesson learned for all of us".

"As humans we all get complacent."