Shortly after 16:00hrs, on 8 March 1990, a distress signal is received from a vessel in the vicinity of Byron Bay. It is reported to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Brisbane airport who despatched an Orion P30 to search for the source of the signal.
Earlier that day Mrs Joanna Martin of Bangalow, NSW, reported to Byron Bay police that her husband Julian and friend Reg Bladwell, were overdue en route from Redcliffe on the catamaran Moana-Ari. They had been expected back in Byron Bay on 7 March.
March 8: 18:58 – the Orion locates the stricken catamaran. The boat is dead in the water with no sails rigged and two people are on the aft deck waving frantically and flashing a torch. Weather and sea conditions in the area are treacherous. The disabled craft is in a violent storm cell with winds over 50 knots, rain and no natural light, due to low cloud cover. No rescue by helicopter is possible. One ship, the 100 000 tonne tanker Ampol Sorel, is 3 hours from the cat.
Constable Eddie Bennet, of the Gold Coast Water Police decides that the rescue has to be made by police boat. He selects the 8.5m police catamaran D.W. Wrembeck with the Harbours and Marine vessel the Douglas Cairns as back up. The Wrembeck is readied for rough seas and Bennet is accompanied by Constables Neil Paulsen and Kyle Bates as crew.
23.25 – the Ampol Sorel reports that she has collided with the cat and that the two survivors cannot be transferred to the tanker.
March 9
00:45 – the Wrembeck requests that Ampol Sorel put up a flare and the police vessel heads towards it.
01:40 – the Wrembeck enters the storm cell and their speed drops to 3-4 knots. The seas constantly break over the boat and render all but one police UHF radio out of order.
02:02 – the cat is in sight, with one hull under, and one very low in the water. Martin and Bladwell hang on desperately. The Wrembeck manoeuvres closer to the Moriana Ari, and while Bennet holds a spotlight on the operation, Paulsen and Bates throw a life ring and line towards the cat and the survivors jump for it.
Both men manage to get hold of the life ring and Bennet slowly motors the Wrembeck away from the cat. As the men are pulled closer to the Wrembeck, Bennet takes the motors out of gear, to avoid risking injury from the propellers. Both men are safely pulled aboard.
04:33 – the crew are exhausted. Wrembeck can see Jupiter’s Casino but one motor has run out of fuel.
05.28 – the Douglas Cairns transfers fuel to the Wrembeck .
06.27 – the Wrembeck finally makes port. All aboard are generally in good health although Bladwell has suffered a fractured wrist and Martin has fractured his ribs during their ordeal.
The three officers involved in this rescue each received, the Queensland Police Service Valour Award. They also received the national Australian Sea Safety Award which commended the outstanding rescue of the year.
This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM THE VAULT – A Bold & Daring Rescue” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode