D Batten, P Tunstead, J Tunstead -Msg Boaters

[awakening2lite]

Derek Batten, (56)
Peter Tunstead (69)
James Tunstead (63)

Missing, April 15th, 2007, near George Point off the Austrailian coast.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42824000/jpg/_42824647_kaz_police203.jpg
The drifting yacht, Kaz II

'Ghost yacht' found off Australia

Emergency services in Australia have launched a search for the three-man crew of a yacht found drifting off the North Queensland coast.

The Kaz II was found with its engine running, and a table laid for dinner, but there were no signs of any people.

An air and sea rescue operation has been launched to retrace the yacht's voyage, and pinpoint the search area.

The boat left Airlie Beach on Sunday bound for Townsville on the first leg of a voyage around northern Australia.

The 12m (40 foot) catamaran was spotted by a helicopter on Wednesday drifting off the Great Barrier Reef, but a rescue team only reached the boat on Friday, and confirmed that there was no one aboard.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42824000/gif/_42824451_aus_towns_map203.gif
Rescue crews say they are puzzled by the mysterious disappearance.

"The engine was running, the computers were running, there was a laptop set up on the table which was running, the radio was working... and there was food and utensils set on the table ready to eat," said Jon Hall, a spokesman for Queensland's Emergency Management office.

"It was a bit strange," he added.

All the vessel's sails were up, although one was badly shredded, and lifejackets were still on board.

Mr Hall said rescue workers had recovered the boat's Global Positioning System (GPS) device, which might give them more clues as to the crew's whereabouts.

"That will now enable us to track backwards where this yacht has actually been in the last few days, and we're hoping that can pinpoint the search area for the missing crew," he said.

Australian media reported the names of the sailors as skipper Derek Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, ages 69 and 63.

The three are neighbours in Perth, Western Australia.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the men were planning to sail around northern Australia to Western Australia.

Twelve aircraft are now searching for the crew of the boat which is already being dubbed "the ghost yacht".

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6574547.stm

[awakening2lite]

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/22/23n_kaz_wideweb__470x299,0.jpg
An investigator on board the catamaran Kaz II in Townsville.

April 22, 2007

An air-and-sea search for three West Australian men has been called off as mystery continues to surround their disappearance from a yacht found abandoned off north Queensland.

Police say skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, were believed to have gone missing from their 9.8-metre catamaran, Kaz II, last Sunday.

The yacht was found unmanned and adrift on Wednesday about 160km off Townsville after leaving Shute Harbour at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays on Sunday morning.

The men had intended to sail the catamaran back to Western Australia.

When it was boarded, its engine was still running, a laptop computer was found switched on and navigational equipment and plotting gear laid out.

The men's clothes were found folded in neat piles on the rear deck, as if they had gone swimming.

The only sign of damage was a shredded sail.

One theory is the men fell overboard in rough seas.

Another is that another vessel came alongside and they boarded it, either willingly or unwillingly, as if they had been attacked by pirates.

But Detective Inspector Warren Webber of Townsville police said just because the Kaz II's rubber fenders had been put over the side, did not necessarily mean the crew were preparing for another vessel to pull up next to it.

"I know that some people have speculated that means another craft has come alongside," Inspector Webber said.

"But I'm told it's not unusual for some small craft people not to take the fenders in.

"It's not unknown for them to be left out."

Insp Webber said the search was suspended yesterday afternoon but craft in the area had been asked to report anything they see which may be of interest to police.

"Obviously, if they do, the search can be reinstated," Insp Webber said.

But there was little hope of finding the three men alive.

"Unfortunately, the medical advice that we have received is that it is unlikely the three men could have survived in the water for this period of time," he said.

"It's certainly very unusual and it's obviously very tragic for the families and for those involved.

"It seems very unlikely we will be able to say exactly just what has occurred at this point in time."

The Kaz II, now in Townsville, will be sailed back to Western Australia.

In the meantime, Jim Tunstead's sons Grant and Shane have made the journey from WA to be with their brother-in-law Paul Grey who has also flown to Townsville.

Shane Webber said he would "do whatever it takes" to find the missing men but Insp Webber said he did not know if the men had intended to mount a search of their own.

source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/search-for-yachtsmen-called-off/2007/04/22/1177180461201.html

[awakening2lite]

April 22, 2007

A SEARCH for three yachtsmen missing off north Queensland has been narrowed after an examination of their abandoned yacht's navigation system.

Two rescue helicopters and two volunteer marine rescue vessels are searching the coastline from Airlie Beach to Bowen after a police examination of the yacht's GPS system indicated the yacht was last steered six days ago.

The 9.8-metre catamaran, Kaz II, was towed into Townsville early on Friday after it was found abandoned about 160 kilometres off the Queensland coast last Wednesday.

Skipper Derek Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, remain missing.

The men left Airlie Beach last Sunday heading for Perth across the top end of Australia.

The case has baffled rescuers, who found the yacht with its computers still running and other goods untouched, including food and utensils on the table. The yacht, which had a badly torn sail, was found with its motor still running, while the vessel's dinghy remained attached.

Police said yesterday they did not believe the catamaran had been equipped with a life raft.

Northern Region Chief Superintendent Roy Wall said it seemed the men may have run into bad weather last Sunday afternoon. "The men may have been missing from the boat some time Sunday."

source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fresh-clues-in-baffling-case-of-missing-yachtsmen/2007/04/21/1176697155270.html

[awakening2lite]

24 April 2007

Relatives of one of three sailors missing from an abandoned yacht found drifting off Australia's coast believe the crew may have been kidnapped.

Hope Himing, niece of skipper Derek Batten, said the circumstances around their disappearance "didn't add up".

The Kaz II was found off the Great Barrier Reef last week with its engine running and a table laid for dinner, but with no signs of any people.

Police have said the men were probably washed overboard and drowned.


The fenders were out on their yacht, and the only reason you ever put them out is when another boat comes aside
Hope Himing, skipper's niece

Mr Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, 69 and 63, were last seen on 15 April leaving Airlie Beach, bound for Townsville.

The 12m (40ft) catamaran was spotted drifting by a helicopter three days later with its headsail badly shredded.

'Still alive'

Rescuers who searched the vessel found the men's clothes folded in neat piles, a laptop computer charging, the radio working and navigational equipment laid out on the table.

Three lifejackets and a dinghy were still on board.

Investigators who examined the yacht's global positioning system said it had been drifting with the wind and currents since the day the crew departed Airlie Beach.

Police have ruled out foul play, but Ms Himing and her family say they believe other people may have boarded the vessel.

"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," she said.

She also questioned other circumstances surrounding their disappearance.

"If it was bad weather, why would their fishing line be out? Why would their clothes be piled up?

"If it was that bad that it would have knocked three experienced sailors off, why wouldn't they have put on their lifejackets? It just doesn't add up for us."

Mr Himing added she believed the men were still alive.

Earlier this week police inspector Warren Webber said it was not unusual for small-craft sailors to leave their fenders out at sea.

Australian authorities ended their search for the crew on Sunday. But a Queensland Police Service aircraft will continue to monitor the area, police said.


source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6589623.stm

[awakening2lite]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/Kaz_towel.jpg/200px-Kaz_towel.jpg
Interior of the Kaz II, with laundry still hanging to dry.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/Kaz_townsville_forensics.jpg/200px-Kaz_townsville_forensics.jpg
Kaz II undergoing forensic exam

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/25/Kaz_II.jpg/250px-Kaz_II.jpg
Off the coast of Townsville with a torn sail.


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42824000/gif/_42824451_aus_towns_map203.gif
The yacht was found drifting 150km (95 miles) offshore

[packy]

I wondered if they ever found these men. The families should know if they were in the habit of going swimming while out in certain waters -- thinking of the clothes folded.

[awakening2lite]

I wondered if they ever found these men. The families should know if they were in the habit of going swimming while out in certain waters -- thinking of the clothes folded.

I don't think so packy. The first thing I do, before posting here, is search to find out if the person has been found or if there was a recovery.

Here's more:

May 5, 2007

Sunglasses and hats missing from a catamaran may hold the key to the three men missing from their yacht. Cosima Marriner reports.

AMID all the wild conspiracy theories floating around the ghost ship Kaz II, searchers are contemplating a simpler, yet far more chilling explanation for the disappearance of three sailors off the Whitsunday coast.

Perhaps they ran aground on a sandbar near George Point, from where the 9.8 metre catamaran last made radio contact on a Sunday evening in mid-April. The skipper Derek Batten and his crewmates, brothers Peter and Jim Tunstead, jumped into the warm Coral Sea waters to try to push the boat free. A gust of wind came up, carrying the Kaz II away before they could scramble back onboard, leaving them stranded.

This could explain why the Kaz II was found three days later drifting 60 nautical miles off Townsville, its engine still running but with no sign of the crew. It could explain why the only items missing from the boat were three pairs of sunglasses and two hats, why T-shirts and towels were left neatly folded on the deck, and why down in the cabin, laptops, mobile phones, wallets, watches, cameras and a Sunday paper were still spread out on the table.

"It looks like they've just stepped off the boat," Jim Tunstead's daughter, Keryn Grey, told the Herald. Yet, like all the ghost ship theories that have become dinner party fodder around Airlie Beach, this one still lacks evidence to substantiate the hypothesis.

Indeed, three weeks into the search for the Kaz II crew, new information and theories continue to emerge, which may yet help the families and police solve the mystery. The Herald can reveal how problems with the boat's navigation system had forced the sailors to turn back and how after 11 hours at sea they were only 2½ hours sailing time from their departure point.

For more than six months a picture of Kaz II held pride of place on Jim Tunstead's Perth kitchen table, a constant symbol of the "trip of a lifetime" he was about to embark upon. He and his brother Peter were going to help their neighbour Derek Batten sail his boat from Airlie Beach back to Perth. They would spend six to eight weeks hugging the coast all the way around the top of Australia, mooring somewhere new each night.

"He was so excited," recalls Ms Grey. "They'd been planning this for months and months. [He'd been looking forward to] not working, just fishing, sitting around bullshitting and joking with Uncle Peter."

But Ms Grey refused to look at her father's beloved picture of the Kaz II. She had serious misgivings about three men aged 56, 63 and 69 taking to the seas in a boy's own adventure.

Yet the trio were not nautical novices: Batten had sailed the Kaz II around the Whitsundays a couple of times since buying it from an Airlie Beach local a year ago - most recently at Christmas with his wife. The Tunsteads had sailed together since they were 18, and worked in the radio rooms of the Volunteer Sea Rescue. All three could swim.

After a big send-off party at Peter Tunstead's Mandurah home on the Easter weekend, the men flew to Airlie Beach the following Wednesday. Final preparations for the voyage were made, and on Saturday, April 14, the Kaz II set off from Shute Harbour. But it was forced to return when the trio could not get the GPS to work. Police have told the Herald that user error was to blame, and the problem was easily fixed. At 8am the next day, the Kaz II sailed again.

The Herald has been told that the course plotted on the laptops found on board would have taken Kaz II up the Whitsunday Passage, around George Point and Gloucester Island and past Bowen to spend its first night near Ayr, a small sugarcane town 90 kilometres south of Townsville.

But a log entry written by a volunteer radio operator records Kaz II radioed in at 6.45pm on Sunday night, giving its position as George Point. It is unclear why the men were so far from their planned destination. "The thing we're baffled about is what did they do all day?" Ms Grey says. "Airlie Beach to George Point should only take about 2½ hours." Had they simply decided to spend the day fishing? Or had more problems with the GPS sent them off course?

That log entry was the last recorded contact with Kaz II. When coastal authorities found the catamaran three days later, all the safety gear was intact, the anchor was up and a small boat was still hoisted on the back of the boat. The beds had been slept in, there were just two empty tea bags in the bin, and a line was trailing off the back of the catamaran, suggesting the men had been trawling for fish. The only sign something may have gone awry was a badly ripped sail, and the fenders hanging over the side.

Dan van Blarcom, a local identity whose boat starred in the Nicole Kidman movie Dead Calm, has heard many theories.

He speculates that Batten heard the fenders bouncing on the side of the boat and went out to investigate, only to slip and fall over the side. Jim and Peter Tunstead jumped up to see what had happened, when the boom came across and whacked them into the water. Or maybe the three men took a dip in the tropical waters, when a breeze sent the boat drifting out of reach.

Then there are the more sinister theories. As in Dead Calm, pirates could have pulled up alongside the boat (hence the fenders). The Tunstead brothers and Batten could have been part of a drug ring, picked up by their accomplices with a briefcase full of cash. Or maybe they are insurance fraudsters who used a speedboat to make their getaway.

But police are adamant the men did not stage their own disappearance. They also say there is "no indication" that anybody else was involved.

If the men had died in the ocean, their bodies would have been expected to float to the surface within three days. Similarly, if they had made it ashore to one of the Whitsundays' 74 islands, the extensive sea and air search should have detected them by now.

Not a shred of evidence has washed up with the tides.

As Ms Grey observes, there are holes in every conceivable theory about the sailors' disappearance.

"You think you've worked it out and then something doesn't fit. Nobody knows. Our thoughts just keep going round in circles."

The families are slowly starting to accept the sailors will never return.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cruel-sea-refuses-to-give-up-its-secrets/2007/05/04/1177788400656.html

[packy]

I wonder how the sail got torn. What a mystery.

[awakening2lite]

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/11/tunstead_wideweb__470x331,0.jpg
James Tunstead (63), Derek Batten, (56), Peter Tunstead (69)

EXCERPT

Police believe they were victims of a freak accident that left them all in the water as the catamaran sailed away around noon on April 15, 2007. Others favour darker theories, suggesting the trio were kidnapped or murdered by "smugglers" after happening upon a crime in progress.

EXCERPT

Robson also spoke with an anonymous radio operator who insists he received a radio message from Kaz II hours after the time when police theorise the crew "came off" the boat. If the operator is right, it further deepens the mystery and suggests the world may never know what really became of the unfortunate Kaz II sailors.

source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/mystery-of-the-three-men-lost-at-sea/2008/04/11/1207856776274.html

[awakening2lite]

http://www.sail-world.com/photos/std_Kaz%20II%20drifting%20and%20water%20police%20b oat.jpg
'Kaz II drifting and water police boat, photo by Brisbane Courier Mail'

6/28/08

EXCERPT

THE inquest into the mysterious disappearance and suspected deaths last year of three men from the catamaran Kaz II while it continued to drift off the eastern Australian coast has been announced to begin in August.

EXCERPT

However there are unexplained mysteries, even about the time of their disappearance. After the search was called off, it was discovered that a Volunteer Marine Rescue radio operator had had radio contact with the Kaz II between 6pm and 7pm on April 15, hours after they were supposed to have disappeared.

State Coroner Michael Barnes will examine where and how the men went overboard, the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, whether they are dead and whether the search for the missing men was adequate.

source: http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=45859&rid=11

[packy]

The fenders and them being off course according to the contact with the amateur radio operator seems really suspicious.

[awakening2lite]

THREE sailors who vanished without a trace off the ghost ship Kaz II may have been involved in a "scuffle" before they disappeared off the north Queensland coast.

On the first day of an inquest into the mystery, grieving family yesterday asked the state coroner to investigate the possibility of an onboard knife fight.

Other explanations for the mystery included the possibility they were all knocked overboard by a swinging boom or that they ran aground on a sand bank.

State Coroner Michael Barnes yesterday opened a five-day inquest in Townsville into the disappearance of skipper Derek "Des" Batten, 56, and brothers, Peter and Jim Tunstead, 69 and 63 respectively, in April last year.

In an emotion-charged scene, the grieving wives of the three missing men hugged and sobbed openly as they visited the back deck of the 10.6m Osprey sailing catamaran berthed in a dry dock.

The newly bought yacht was found off Bowen on April 18 adrift, unmanned and under sail, with food still on the table, but no sign of the three men.

They had embarked two days earlier on an ambitious attempt to sail from Airlie Beach to Perth in a six to eight-week journey.

An extensive air and sea search involving up to 10 aircraft was called off after experts ruled out any chance the men would have survived in the water.

About 15 family members made the trip from Western Australia for the inquest.

Counsel assisting the coroner Julie Wilson likened the case to the enduring mystery of the Marie Celeste, saying many theories abounded as to their fate.

These included a misadventure or accident at sea; a possible raid by an unknown third party; a midnight swim with the boat sailing off; the possibility the men staged their own disappearance.

The Marie Celeste, the archetypal ghost ship, was a brigantine discovered unmanned and under sail in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1800s.

Francis Tunstead, wife of Peter, asked the coroner to investigate signs of a "scuffle".

She said the helicopter rescue paramedic who was first onboard told of "signs of a scuffle" and "knives on the floor" immediately after he was winched back into the chopper.

But police did not take fingerprint samples of the cabin interior or any other forensic tests, she said.

"It is something I want to know for my own heart," she said.

She felt all police did was identify the three men by looking through their wallets and that they assumed they had all been lost overboard in a freak accident.

The inquest continues.

source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24128486-2,00.html

[awakening2lite]

http://www.thewest.com.au/getfile.aspx?Type=image&ID=337257&ObjectType=3&ObjectID=178919

5th August 2008, 17:45 WST




The man who sold the Kaz II to three WA men who disappeared without trace in the "ghost ship" case has revealed at a coronial inquest into the mystery that he held serious concerns about their level of preparation for their ambitious and ultimately tragic journey from Queensland to Fremantle.

Graeme Douglas, of Airlie Beach, in Queensland, lived with his wife on board the Kaz II for two years before selling the 9.8m catamaran to South Yunderup man Derek “Des” Batten, 56, in July 2006.

Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and Jim Tunstead, 69 and 63, all from Perth, disappeared from the yacht within days of setting off from Airlie Beach on April 15 last year.

A Coastwatch aircraft spotted the drifting boat about 88 nautical miles off the coast of Townsville on April 18 and a massive search for the men was launched on April 20 after authorities inspected the vessel and found it unoccupied.

No trace of the trio has ever been found.

Mr Douglas told the inquest he helped Mr Batten and brothers Jim and Peter Tunstead, who were excited about the trip but were also suffering anxiety and frustration because “things kept going wrong.”

Mr Douglas said he helped prepare the men for the trip by teaching them to program the boat's global positioning system and he had extensive discussions with Mr Batten about possible routes from Airlie Beach, where the men began their journey, to the nearby Gloucester Passage, a narrow strait between the mainland and Gloucester Island.

He said it appeared the trio did not know how to operate the GPS system, and said they were also having trouble with a laptop, on which they had stored sea maps for the journey.

“They were excited about the trip but they were also frustrated that things were going wrong,” Mr Douglas said.

Such was Mr Douglas' concern about their preparation, he suggested the trio might cruise around the local area to further familiarise themselves with the Kaz II.

“I even got to the point of saying, 'If you're not ready, then don't go',” Mr Douglas said.

“Then I realised I was perhaps being a little heavy-handed.”

The inquest continues.

source: http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=2&ContentID=89304

[awakening2lite]

Conclusion of Inquest

EXCERPT

After a week-long inquest in Townsville, Queensland, the coroner decided yesterday that a freak accident had claimed their lives. Michael Barnes concluded that either Peter or Jim Tunstead had fallen into the water trying to untangle a fishing line from the boat's rudder and the other brother had fallen in while trying to rescue him. Mr Batten had tried to adjust the sails so that he could turn the boat around and go back for the men but, said Mr Barnes, a shift in wind direction had swung the yacht's boom around, knocking him overboard.

“Once the three men were in the water there was very little chance they could get back on the boat, as it was blown before a 15-knot wind and they struggled in lumpy seas,” Mr Barnes said. “It would be beyond their reach in seconds.”

EXCERPT

At the inquest, the men's families insisted that they had been more than capable of sailing the catamaran around the coast of Australia. Peter Tunstead's wife, Frances, said that she was disturbed by video footage of Mr Benson on his return to the helicopter. “He came back and said there was an empty bottle of spirits on the floor. He said it looks as if there'd been a scuffle,” she said.

The coroner ruled out the prospect that the men had staged their disappearance, noting that there had been no “suspicious transactions” on their finances and that the three were dedicated family men.

source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4488605.ece

[SavannahStar]

Gosh what an interesting case. I think I've heard of it before, not sure.

About this:

After a week-long inquest in Townsville, Queensland, the coroner decided yesterday that a freak accident had claimed their lives. Michael Barnes concluded that either Peter or Jim Tunstead had fallen into the water trying to untangle a fishing line from the boat's rudder and the other brother had fallen in while trying to rescue him. Mr Batten had tried to adjust the sails so that he could turn the boat around and go back for the men but, said Mr Barnes, a shift in wind direction had swung the yacht's boom around, knocking him overboard.


Good grief, how could they have figured THAT out??? I read all the posts here and unless there is something missing, it's hard to imagine they could come up with such a specific scenario! :0009:

[packy]

It is strange how they could come up with a scenario like that. What about that bottle of spirits and someone saying it looked like there had been a scuffle?

[awakening2lite]

Gosh what an interesting case. I think I've heard of it before, not sure.

About this:




Good grief, how could they have figured THAT out??? I read all the posts here and unless there is something missing, it's hard to imagine they could come up with such a specific scenario! :0009:

I don't understand it either. I'm still trying to work out how the main mast was ripped nearly top to bottom, and the tables settings with food remained undistrubed.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42824000/jpg/_42824647_kaz_police203.jpg

Here's am image. It's not clear to me how the sail could have come loose and knocked someone overboard when the steering area is completely enclosed.

I don't know how the coroner came up with a scenario. My guess is he had to come up with something to close the case, and so he did. I did post all the articles which offered additional (not repeated) information on the case.

The Katz II is referred to as a Ghost Ship in some of the articles.