ABOAT TIME: Man forced to pay $15K+ to remove Shorncliffe eyesore

An abandoned and sunken yacht north of Brisbane has cost its owner thousands of dollars in removal costs, a court has heard.

An abandoned and sunken yacht in Cabbage Tree Creek at Shorncliffe has cost its owner more than $15,000 in fines and compensation following a hearing at the Sandgate Magistrates Court this morning.

The 10.9 metre timber sailing ship named Destiny was owned by 48 year old Bruce Eric Waddle and moved to the Deagon Slipways mooring in 2016 in order to undergo routine maintenance.

A yacht sunken in Cabbage Tree Creek. This vessel was found in early 2020 and is therefore unlikely to be the same boat, but is similarly submerged in the same area and to the same level Destiny once was. Picture supplied by Volunteer Marine Safety Brisbane.

According to the police prosecution, Waddle made a deal with Deagon Slipways to keep the ship moored there for six months following the completion of the work in December 2016, in exchange for six months worth of commercial diving work.

Six months came and went, and Waddle dodged call after call from Deagon Slipways to remove the boat.

The court heard that by December 2017 the boat had started to take on significant amounts of rainwater due to the lack of drainage in the hull.

Employees of Deagon Slipways pumped the hull a number of times to prevent the ship from submerging into the creek and called Waddle to tell him that if he did not maintain his vessel it would surely sink.

Bruce Eric Waddle leaving Sandgate Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Waddle said he would “take care of it”, but he did not, and the ship did indeed sink to the bottom of the narrow channel mere weeks later.

Destiny remained at the bottom of the creek for a total of 16 months.

During high tide the ship was fully submerged aside from its unlit mast, which posed a significant safety hazard to other marine craft, though no marine incidents were recorded.

Maritime Safety Queensland became involved in April 2019 when they noted the ship to be a derelict vessel and began to investigate the matter further.

Waddle was contacted in May, July, August and September and while he accepted responsibility for the craft, he told officers he was struggling to find the money to pay for the removal.

At court Waddle told Magistrate Jennifer Batts that he’d been forced to discontinue his commercial diving work after he recovered two corpses.

“I can’t go back (to that job) until those last two bodies that I pulled out of the river have left my head,” Waddle said.

In October, MSQ contracted Deagon Slipways to remove the vessel at the cost of $15,970.

Waddle was fined $500, ordered to pay the full amount of $15,970 in compensation to MSQ, and $97.95 in court costs.

No conviction was recorded.