Beach walkers find wreckage of missing boat Margrel in Goolwa as Alexandrina Mayor theorises an accidental drift from Granite Island
Wreckage found at the Murray Mouth on Friday contained troubling signs for the welfare of missing skipper Tony Higgins. The local mayor, defending the boatie’s actions, says reports point to an accidental drift.
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Wreckage and items from the vessel of missing boatie Tony Higgins have washed up near the Murray Mouth three days after he became lost at sea for a second time.
SA Police was alerted to the discovery by a young couple who found the bow of the vessel and other debris, along with items believed to be from the boat, just before 1pm on Friday.
The wreckage and items were recovered by water operations officers for examination but police said there was still no sign of Mr Higgins, who vanished in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police officially called off the search on Thursday after search and rescue crews found some of Mr Higgins’ possessions and several items of debris from his boat.
Charlie Mantell, 25, and Lee Langmead, 24, found the debris scattered along Goolwa Beach during a morning drive.
Ms Mantell, who is in Australia on a visa from England, said the couple first discovered the steering wheel before recovering various parts of the boat including a compass and Margrel signage.
“The minute we saw the steering wheel we knew what it was and what boat it belonged to. It’s not every day there’s a missing boat,” Ms Mantell said.
Ms Mantell, who is a dairy farmer, said the couple spent more than an hour collecting debris spread along the beach to the Murray Mouth.
She said they gathered it together away from the water after contacting police.
“It was shocking … it must have washed up (Friday) morning,” Ms Mantell said.
“We had a look in the cabin and thankfully found nothing but it also means (Mr Higgins) is still missing.”
A regional community leader has defended Mr Higgins, who is believed to have been asleep when his 33ft Margrel broke its moorings off Granite Island and started taking on water.
Alexandrina Council mayor Keith Parkes said reports suggested Mr Higgins woke up to find himself drifting out to sea with knee-deep water in his boat when he called triple-0 at 5am.
“At the stage there would be too much water in the boat to start the engine and there is no hope of doing anything other than if he was lucky enough to swim to shore,” Mr Parkes said.
“He could’ve swam to shore and got in the sand dunes and sheltered … it’s a pretty rugged bit of coast. He would’ve been at the mercy of the winds and the currents and the huge surf.”
Mr Parkes, a past commodore of the Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club, said strong winds and currents along with driving rain had created appalling weather conditions during the week.
“There is no way knowing anybody would have put out to sea in that weather. It would not matter how good of a boat you had – you would not go out in that,” he said.
Mr Parkes said there was a sense of community disbelief just a fortnight after the relief of finding Mr Higgins and his mate Derek Robinson, who disappeared at sea for four days.
The pair sparked South Australia’s largest maritime search when they hit trouble on a voyage from Coffin Bay to Goolwa.
Authorities scoured 104,000sq km before finding the men 13 nautical miles off Meningie at the top of the Coorong.
“People cannot believe what’s happened again with the second rescue effort in a couple of weeks,” Mr Parkes said.
“You hope for the sake of family and friends that whether (Mr Higgins) is deceased or alive you hope they find him for some closure. Missing and no sign of somebody is terrible.
“You just don’t know what part of the coastline he could or would have ended up on. It’s pretty sad and a terrible situation.”
Mr Parkes said described the waters off the South Coast as a “massive wild ocean”.
“It’s the Southern Ocean and the next stop is the Antarctic – there is nothing else out there,” he said. “It’s a wild bit of coast. These are unprotected waters down here.”