Former Sea Swift ship Endeavour Bay towed to PNG at cost of $1m

The sale of unseaworthy ships to operators without the means to make them shipshape has been raised as an ongoing concern as the decrepit old Endeavour Bay departs Cairns to be disposed of in PNG.

Carpentaria Contracting vessel Strait Shooter tows the Endeavour Bay from Trinity Inlet and tows it to the Coral Sea, towards Papua New Guinea. Picture: Brendan Radke

After a lifetime of plying Torres Strait waters under a Sea Swift flag, the now-decrepit Endeavour Bay on Wednesday was towed for the last time up Trinity Inlet en route to Port Moresby.

It was an unceremonious end to the 58-year-old vessel that had fallen into disrepair under the private ownership of Anthony Roy Wolfe, after being offloaded by Sea Swift in October 2020.

The ex-general cargo supply vessel had been anchored at Trinity Inlet since being sold before being identified as a marine and environmental hazard by the state’s marine regulator Maritime Safety Queensland.

The vessel was then compulsorily acquired by the state government.

The Endeavour Bay with a heavy list to port anchored at Trinity Inlet.

The cost of the salvage, rubbish removal and tow to the Queensland taxpayer was estimated to exceed $1m.

In January MSQ announced Carpentaria Marine Services had won a contract to patch up the leaky vessel and tow her to a Papua New Guinea slipway where the ship would be broken up.

Carpentaria Marine Services managing director Vance Wallin said the crew on board tow vessel Strait Shooter had been waiting for five days of favourable weather needed to complete the trip into international waters where the vessel would be handed over to PNG operators.

“It’s looking good,” he said.

“I think a lot of people are happy to see her departure.”

Former Sea Swift transport barge Endeavour Bay has been seized by the Queensland Government from its owner, who allowed the vessel to fall into disrepair. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Wallin said the degree of difficulty in salvaging the ship was manageable due the

49m vessel not being on the bottom, but significant work had to be done before the crossing of the Torres Strait.

“We did have to send down divers to weld a few plates and install new bilge pumps and install running lights,” he said.

The deck of the Endeavour Bay.

“North Marine got the contact to remove all the rubbish two months ago and (on Wednesday) we had to take three skips (of waste) off the ship before we could depart.”

Mr Wallin said up until Wednesday former owner, Mr Wolfe, was living on the ship and had tied up a recently acquired yacht alongside to transfer his possessions to his new vessel.

Seventy-year-old Mr Wolfe has a colourful marine history and in 2020 was convicted of hindering a commonwealth public official in Cairns Magistrates Court.

The official was undertaking an inspection of the unseaworthy, ex-navy tug, the MV Wallaroo.

The former Royal Australian Navy tug, the MV Wallaroo. Picture: John Wilson

During the inspection, Mr Wolfe became aggressive and engaged in an expletive-laden tirade, forcing the inspector off the vessel.

Mr Wallin identified the sale of ageing and decrepit ships to operators that don’t have the means to get commercial vessels into survey as a serious issue.

“It’s a bit of a problem and a bit of a loophole in the law with selling unseaworthy vessels and there are more than enough gullible people to buy them,” he said.

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Originally published as Former Sea Swift ship Endeavour Bay towed to PNG at cost of $1m