Kaz II

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The Kaz II, dubbed "the ghost yacht", is a 12 meter catamaran which was found drifting 80 nautical miles (160 km) off of the northern coast of Australia on April 18, 2007. The fate of its three-man crew remains unknown, and the circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the Mary Celeste.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Contents 1 Disappearance of crew 2 Explanations 3 Crew 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Disappearance of crew

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, the Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on April 15, 2007, and was heading for Townsville on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia to Western Australia.^[2]

The first indication that there was a problem came on the April 18, when it was spotted by a helicopter, which reported that the boat was drifting in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, and that its crew were potentially in distress. ^[1][2] On April 20 Maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded it. They found that the three man crew were missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange".^[1][2]

"What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal, there was just no sign of the crew" Jon Hall, Queensland's Emergency Management office. ^[1]

In a statement delivered on the day of the boarding, officials with the Queensland Emergency Management office revealed that the yacht was in serviceable condition and was laid out as if the crew were still on board. Food and flatware set out on the table, a laptop computer set up and turned on, and the engine was still running. Officials also confirmed that the boat's emergency systems, including its radio and GPS were fully functional, and that it still had its full complement of life jackets.^[1][2] According to news sources, there was even a small boat still hoisted on the back of the boat and the anchor was up.^[5] The only signs, other than the disappearance of the crew, that were out of the ordinary, were damage to one of the boat's sails and that there was no life raft on board (it is unknown whether there ever was one onboard).^[1][2]

The Kaz II was towed into the Townsville port for forensic examination and will be sailed back to Western Australia afterwards. ^[3] After analyzing data about the Kaz II's course from the ship's GPS system, police say that on the morning of her departure from Airlie Beach the ship was steered in northeast direction, into an area where squalls and rough seas were building. On that same day, late in the afternoon, the GPS data shows her adrift.^[6]

On April 22, the air-and-sea search for the three crew members was called off as authorities did not believe that they would have survived so long had they been thrown overboard.^[3]

[edit] Explanations

Several possible explanations have been put forward for the crew's disappearance.

According to authorities in Townsville, the weather had been windy and the sea had been rough between the time that the Kaz II departed and was found drifting. ^[1] This led authorities to speculate that the crew may have experienced some form of sudden difficulty during rough weather and gone overboard. However, one issue with this theory is that contents of the cabin, including a table, did not seem to have been disrupted in any way.^[1][3]

Relatives of the missing men, however, say that the condition that the boat was found in make this unlikely, and point to discrepancies such as the fact that the men's fishing lines and laundry were set out, and that their life jackets were still stowed, which indicated that they weren't experiencing rough weather at the time of their disappearance.^[7]

Also noted was the fact that the Kaz II was found with its fenders out, leading to speculation that the Kaz II may have docked with another, as yet unknown, vessel that the crew might have willingly or unwillingly transferred to.^[7]

"'The fenders were out on their yacht, and the only reason you ever put them out is when another boat comes aside or if you come to rest against a wharf" Hope Himing, niece of boat owner Derek Batten.

In answer to speculation, Townsville police stated that small crafts commonly leave their fenders out at all times, making it impossible to draw any definitive conclusions from them.^[3][7]

Derek Batten, the ship's owner, is said to have bought the Kaz II a year before and sailed it a couple of times since then. The Tunsteads were not nautical novices either, since they sailed together from the time they were 18 years old, and even worked in the radio rooms of the Volunteer Sea Rescue. ^[5] The last known contact of the family members with any of the crew was made half an hour after it left port, when one crew member is said to have contacted his son.

A volunteer radio operator recorded that the Kaz II radioed in at 6.45pm on April 15, the evening of their departure, giving its position as George Point. This is the last known contact with the Kaz II. Ms Grey says that it should have take them only 2 1/2 hours to go to George Point and that it is unclear what took them so long to arrive there. One explanation is that they were just fishing the whole day. But another explanation is that they had problems with their GPS, since they already tried to set off on April 14, but were forced to return due to not getting the GPS working. That was because of a user error and it was easily fixed, so the Kaz II set off early the next day. ^[5]

Other hypotheses include that the boat became stuck on a sandbar near George Point, where the boat's last radio message was made. When the men jumped overboard to push it free, a gust of wind blew and the boat drifted away, leaving them stranded. This would explain why towels were left out on the deck.^[5] Another hypothesis is that one crew member may have been washed over by a freak wave and that the others were lost trying to rescue him. ^[8]

[edit] Crew

The Kaz II had a three-man crew, all of whom were residents of Perth, Western Australia. Australian media named them as:

• Derek Batten, (56)
• Peter Tunstead (69)
• James Tunstead (63) ^[2]

[edit] See also

• Unexplained disappearances
• List of people who have disappeared
• High Aim 6
• Mary Celeste
• Ghost ship

[edit] References