Kaz II
Encyclopedia
The Kaz II, dubbed "the ghost yacht", is a 9.8-metre catamaran
which was found drifting 88 nmi (163 km) off of the northern coast of Australia on 18 April 2007. The fate of her three-man crew remains unknown, and the circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the Mary Celeste
.
, the Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on 15 April 2007, and was heading for Townsville on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia
to Western Australia
.
The first indication that there was a problem came on 18 April, 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. On 20 April, maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded it. They found the three-man crew missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange."
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 were set out on the table, a laptop computer was 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. According to news sources, there was even a small boat still hoisted on the back of the boat and the anchor was up. 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 aboard).
, a plastic sheath of fishing knives was found. They did not appear to be used recently. Under Batten's bed, in a sealed container, the investigators found a firearm and some ammunition, none of which was apparently missing. In a drawer they found an additional single bullet of the same caliber
.
After analyzing data about the Kaz IIs 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.
The investigators also recovered a video recording that showed footage taken by the crew during their trip. It revealed some clues as to the men's last day. The last footage, filmed by James Tunstead on 15 April at 10:05 A.M. local time, shortly before the men disappeared, showed, among other things:
Voluntary Marine Rescue launched a coastal and island search. At night an aircraft with infrared
capability was used to search the reefs and cays. The next day a full scale search-and-rescue effort was launched involving Volunteer Rescue Units
from several towns as well as the Townville's coast guard, two rescue helicopters, nine airplanes, and two commercial vessels. Data from Kaz IIs GPS system was also retrieved and analyzed in order to help narrow the search area. Dr. Paul Luckin, a survival-time expert, was consulted. He concluded that it was unlikely that the men were still alive if they were still in the water as they had probably gone overboard three to four days earlier. The teams still had hope that the men could have reached land and continued searching until 4:00 P.M. on 21 April, when the air and sea search for the three crew members was called off. Another coastline search was launched on Monday 23 April after some new information had come in but the search proved fruitless and was called off on 25 April.
Michael Barnes and focused on whether the men were dead, the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, and if the search for the missing men was adequate.
In total 27 witnesses were called to testify. Some of them had seen the ship on its fateful voyage and helped authorities to reconstruct the chain of events. (See the official report under External links for details on these witnesses)
on various motorboats. But the Kaz II was their first sailboat. After they bought it, the couple took a six-week sailing course and then sailed the Kaz II around the Whitsundays
twice. Apart from a minor problem with a propeller the trips were without problems.
Mrs. Batten also stated that the original plan was to sail the Kaz II to Fremantle
as a couple but that Mr. Batten was worried that just two people aboard might not be safe. He decided to take his neighbours, brothers Peter and Jim Tunstead, with him instead. The trip was planned over several months and discussed daily as they plotted routes with the help of a computer. "They allowed themselves six to eight weeks to get back to Fremantle, but because Des and Peter were retired, it didn't really matter how long they took . . . They didn't want to sail at night for safety [reasons]," Mrs. Batten said, and they planned to stay reasonably close to the shore. Although her husband was taking medications for high cholesterol
, mild diabetes, and had suffered a heart attack at age 50, she believed that he was well enough and fit for the journey.
Also heard was Graeme Douglas, who was the previous owner of the Kaz II, and who had sold the boat to Batten. He stated the boat was in good condition when it was sold and that he had met the men on the night before they set sail. He also helped the men plan part of their route and was surprised to see that, according to the police, the men had deviated from their planned route that was programmed in their GPS system.
Gavin Howland, the skipper of a commercial fishing vessel the Jillian, testified that on 16 April 2007, while fishing on a reef off Bowen, he and his crew saw a white yacht with a torn sail. It was drifting sideways between the reefs through a narrow passage, at up to 3 kn (5.9 km/h), in north-northeastern direction along with the current. He came within 50 metres of the boat but was unable to spot anyone on board. This was two days before the coast guard spotted the Kaz II adrift off the coast of Townsville and the day after authorities believe the men went missing. Howland found it odd that a sailboat was in an area noted for its shallow water and rocks. He did not attempt to contact the boat or the authorities. Howland told the inquest that it did not occur to him that the crew of the yacht might be in distress and went on to say: "it did seem a bit strange to me but I just have this rule that no one goes near another vessel,"
Sergeant Paul Molloy, one of the three forensic police officers who examined the Kaz II after she was towed back to shore in April 2007, told the inquest that he did not believe the men had met with foul play. He spent several hours combing the ship for signs of a struggle but found no evidence that anyone beside the three-man crew of the vessel had been inside. "We came to the conclusion the boat itself was not a crime scene," he told the inquest. After questions by Peter Tunstead's widow Frances as to why the police did not check for fingerprints, Sgt. Molloy said his years of experience told him it was not necessary. "We were there for a long time; we pulled the boat apart and found nothing untoward. . . . If there was any indication [of foul play] we would have taken every measure we could to examine that boat."
Detective Sergeant Graham Patch said that the police found a video recorder inside the boat. On it was footage taken by the three crewmembers on the morning they went missing. As the video was played in the courtroom Patch explained that land masses on the video helped officials narrow the search area for the missing crewmen.
"On Sunday, 15 April 2007, at 10:05 A.M., the Kaz II was sailing in the vicinity of George Point. Up to that moment everything was going as planned but, in the following hour, their situation changed dramatically. The men hauled in the white rope that was trailing behind the boat and bundled it up on the foredeck, possibly to dry, next to the locker it was normally kept in. For unknown reasons, James Tunstead then took off his T-shirt and glasses and placed them on the backseat. The report says that since the men's fishing lure
was found entangled in the ship's port side rudder, an obvious explanation would be that one of them tried to free the lure and fell overboard while doing so. Standing on the boat's 'sugar scoop' platform (a platform at the back of the ship close to the waterline
) while the boat is moving is perilous and falling in the water is easy, but getting back aboard almost impossible. One of the other men then came to the rescue of his friend, while Batten, still on board, started the motor and realized he had to drop the sails before he could go back for his friends.
As he left the helm to drop the sails, a deviation of the ship's course or wind direction could have easily caused a jibe
, swinging the boom
across the deck and knocking Batten overboard. This could even have happened before Batten was able to untie and throw out the life ring
to his friends. A blue coffee mug found near the life ring may support this. Since the boat was travelling before wind and at a speed of 15 kn (29.4 km/h), it would be out of reach of the men within seconds. The report states: "From that point, the end would have been swift. None of them was a good swimmer, the seas were choppy; the men would have quickly become exhausted and sunk beneath the waves."
The report rules out foul play and staged 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. 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. Relatives of the missing men say that the boat's condition 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.
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 to which the crew might have willingly, or unwillingly, transferred to.
In answer to speculation, Townsville police stated that small craft commonly leave their fenders out at all times, making it impossible to draw any definitive conclusions about this feature.
Derek Batten was 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. The last known contact of the family members with any of the crew was made one-and-a-half hours after it left port, when one crew member was contacted by his wife.
Volunteer radio operator Ivan Ormes recorded that the Kaz II radioed in at 6:45 P.M. on 15 April, 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 taken them only 2½ 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 14 April, but were forced to return because of the non-functional GPS. That incident was because of a user error and it was easily fixed, so the Kaz II set off early the next day.
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.
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.
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
which was found drifting 88 nmi (163 km) off of the northern coast of Australia on 18 April 2007. The fate of her three-man crew remains unknown, and the circumstances in which they disappeared are mysterious and have been compared to that of the Mary Celeste
Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste was an American brigantine merchant ship famous for having been discovered on 4 December 1872, in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned , despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able...
.
Disappearance of crew
According to the Australian Maritime Safety AuthorityAustralian Maritime Safety Authority
Australian Maritime Safety Authority is responsible, on behalf of the Commonwealth Government of Australia, for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's shipping fleet and management of Australia's international maritime obligations...
, the Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on 15 April 2007, and was heading for Townsville on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia
Northern Australia
The term northern Australia is generally known to include two State and Territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory . The part of Western Australia north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included...
to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
The first indication that there was a problem came on 18 April, when it was spotted by a helicopter, which reported that the boat was drifting in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
, and that its crew were potentially in distress. On 20 April, maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded it. They found the three-man crew missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange."
- "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.
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 were set out on the table, a laptop computer was 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. According to news sources, there was even a small boat still hoisted on the back of the boat and the anchor was up. 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 aboard).
Forensic examination
On Friday, 20 April, the Kaz II was towed into the Townsville port for forensic examination On 21 April Police Sergeant Bardell and Sergeant Molloy searched the ship for signs of foul play or third-party involvement; no evidence for this was found. They found the cabin to be neat and tidy apart from some magazines, a piece of newspaper, and a wine cask which were lying on the floor. It was later determined that these items ended up on the floor while the ship was being towed to shore. In the sink were a few butter knives and, on a bench in the galleyGalley (kitchen)
The galley is the compartment of a ship, train or aircraft where food is cooked and prepared. It can also refer to a land based kitchen on a naval base or a particular formed household kitchen.-Ship's kitchen:...
, a plastic sheath of fishing knives was found. They did not appear to be used recently. Under Batten's bed, in a sealed container, the investigators found a firearm and some ammunition, none of which was apparently missing. In a drawer they found an additional single bullet of the same caliber
Caliber
In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
.
After analyzing data about the Kaz IIs 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.
The investigators also recovered a video recording that showed footage taken by the crew during their trip. It revealed some clues as to the men's last day. The last footage, filmed by James Tunstead on 15 April at 10:05 A.M. local time, shortly before the men disappeared, showed, among other things:
- Batten was at the helm
- Peter Tunstead is sitting on the aft stairway of the boat; he is fishing
- A long white rope can be seen trailing behind the boat
- The engine is not running
- Fenders can be seen hanging from safety rails on both sides of the boat
- The camera is panned 360 degrees and shows islands and surroundings; this helped investigators pinpoint the exact location of the ship
- The sea is choppy and none of the men is wearing a life jacket
- Tunstead's shirt and glasses are not in the place where they were later found
Search
Search and rescue efforts began on Wednesday, 18 April, and Australian search and rescue AusSAR sent a Navy aircraft to search in the vicinity of the vessel in an effort to locate the missing men. At the same time BowenBowen, Queensland
Bowen is a town on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Bowen had a population of 7,484.-Geography:Bowen is located on the north-east coast of Australia, at exactly twenty degrees south of the equator. In fact, the twentieth parallel crosses the main street...
Voluntary Marine Rescue launched a coastal and island search. At night an aircraft with infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
capability was used to search the reefs and cays. The next day a full scale search-and-rescue effort was launched involving Volunteer Rescue Units
Volunteer Rescue Association
The Volunteer Rescue Association is an Australian organisation of volunteer members across New South Wales who assist in times of emergency....
from several towns as well as the Townville's coast guard, two rescue helicopters, nine airplanes, and two commercial vessels. Data from Kaz IIs GPS system was also retrieved and analyzed in order to help narrow the search area. Dr. Paul Luckin, a survival-time expert, was consulted. He concluded that it was unlikely that the men were still alive if they were still in the water as they had probably gone overboard three to four days earlier. The teams still had hope that the men could have reached land and continued searching until 4:00 P.M. on 21 April, when the air and sea search for the three crew members was called off. Another coastline search was launched on Monday 23 April after some new information had come in but the search proved fruitless and was called off on 25 April.
Official investigation
On 4 August 2008, an inquest into the men's disappearance began in the Townsville Coroner's Court. The inquest was led by Queensland state coronerCoroners Court of Queensland
The Coroners Court of Queensland is a court in Queensland, a state of Australia. The Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and to make findings about the cause of death of a person....
Michael Barnes and focused on whether the men were dead, the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, and if the search for the missing men was adequate.
In total 27 witnesses were called to testify. Some of them had seen the ship on its fateful voyage and helped authorities to reconstruct the chain of events. (See the official report under External links for details on these witnesses)
Hearings
On one of the hearings, Jennifer Batten testified that her husband Derek Batten was an experienced and careful yachtsman, had been around boats for 25 years, and that he was acutely aware of the need for safety. He had earned his recreational skipper's ticket and a qualification in marine radio. Every summer they travelled together to Rottnest IslandRottnest Island
Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is long, and at its widest point with a total land area of . It is classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the...
on various motorboats. But the Kaz II was their first sailboat. After they bought it, the couple took a six-week sailing course and then sailed the Kaz II around the Whitsundays
Whitsunday Islands
The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial...
twice. Apart from a minor problem with a propeller the trips were without problems.
Mrs. Batten also stated that the original plan was to sail the Kaz II to Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
as a couple but that Mr. Batten was worried that just two people aboard might not be safe. He decided to take his neighbours, brothers Peter and Jim Tunstead, with him instead. The trip was planned over several months and discussed daily as they plotted routes with the help of a computer. "They allowed themselves six to eight weeks to get back to Fremantle, but because Des and Peter were retired, it didn't really matter how long they took . . . They didn't want to sail at night for safety [reasons]," Mrs. Batten said, and they planned to stay reasonably close to the shore. Although her husband was taking medications for high cholesterol
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...
, mild diabetes, and had suffered a heart attack at age 50, she believed that he was well enough and fit for the journey.
Also heard was Graeme Douglas, who was the previous owner of the Kaz II, and who had sold the boat to Batten. He stated the boat was in good condition when it was sold and that he had met the men on the night before they set sail. He also helped the men plan part of their route and was surprised to see that, according to the police, the men had deviated from their planned route that was programmed in their GPS system.
Gavin Howland, the skipper of a commercial fishing vessel the Jillian, testified that on 16 April 2007, while fishing on a reef off Bowen, he and his crew saw a white yacht with a torn sail. It was drifting sideways between the reefs through a narrow passage, at up to 3 kn (5.9 km/h), in north-northeastern direction along with the current. He came within 50 metres of the boat but was unable to spot anyone on board. This was two days before the coast guard spotted the Kaz II adrift off the coast of Townsville and the day after authorities believe the men went missing. Howland found it odd that a sailboat was in an area noted for its shallow water and rocks. He did not attempt to contact the boat or the authorities. Howland told the inquest that it did not occur to him that the crew of the yacht might be in distress and went on to say: "it did seem a bit strange to me but I just have this rule that no one goes near another vessel,"
Sergeant Paul Molloy, one of the three forensic police officers who examined the Kaz II after she was towed back to shore in April 2007, told the inquest that he did not believe the men had met with foul play. He spent several hours combing the ship for signs of a struggle but found no evidence that anyone beside the three-man crew of the vessel had been inside. "We came to the conclusion the boat itself was not a crime scene," he told the inquest. After questions by Peter Tunstead's widow Frances as to why the police did not check for fingerprints, Sgt. Molloy said his years of experience told him it was not necessary. "We were there for a long time; we pulled the boat apart and found nothing untoward. . . . If there was any indication [of foul play] we would have taken every measure we could to examine that boat."
Detective Sergeant Graham Patch said that the police found a video recorder inside the boat. On it was footage taken by the three crewmembers on the morning they went missing. As the video was played in the courtroom Patch explained that land masses on the video helped officials narrow the search area for the missing crewmen.
Conclusions
State coroner Barnes admits in his official report that he "cannot be so definitive about the circumstances under which the deaths occurred." However, based on the eyewitness accounts, the video found on board, and the state of the yacht in which it was found, the report proposes the following scenario:"On Sunday, 15 April 2007, at 10:05 A.M., the Kaz II was sailing in the vicinity of George Point. Up to that moment everything was going as planned but, in the following hour, their situation changed dramatically. The men hauled in the white rope that was trailing behind the boat and bundled it up on the foredeck, possibly to dry, next to the locker it was normally kept in. For unknown reasons, James Tunstead then took off his T-shirt and glasses and placed them on the backseat. The report says that since the men's fishing lure
Fishing lure
A fishing lure is an object attached to the end of a fishing line which is designed to resemble and move like the prey of a fish. The purpose of the lure is to use movement, vibration, and colour to catch the fish's attention so it bites the hook...
was found entangled in the ship's port side rudder, an obvious explanation would be that one of them tried to free the lure and fell overboard while doing so. Standing on the boat's 'sugar scoop' platform (a platform at the back of the ship close to the waterline
Waterline
The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...
) while the boat is moving is perilous and falling in the water is easy, but getting back aboard almost impossible. One of the other men then came to the rescue of his friend, while Batten, still on board, started the motor and realized he had to drop the sails before he could go back for his friends.
As he left the helm to drop the sails, a deviation of the ship's course or wind direction could have easily caused a jibe
Jibe
A jibe or gybe is a sailing maneuver where a sailing vessel turns its stern through the wind, such that the wind direction changes from one side of the boat to the other...
, swinging the boom
Boom (sailing)
In sailing, a boom is a spar , along the foot of a fore and aft rigged sail, that greatly improves control of the angle and shape of the sail. The primary action of the boom is to keep the foot of the sail flatter when the sail angle is away from the centerline of the boat. The boom also serves...
across the deck and knocking Batten overboard. This could even have happened before Batten was able to untie and throw out the life ring
Lifebuoy
A lifebuoy, ring buoy, lifering, lifesaver, life preserver or lifebelt, also known as a "kisby ring" or "perry buoy", is a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water, to provide buoyancy, to prevent drowning...
to his friends. A blue coffee mug found near the life ring may support this. Since the boat was travelling before wind and at a speed of 15 kn (29.4 km/h), it would be out of reach of the men within seconds. The report states: "From that point, the end would have been swift. None of them was a good swimmer, the seas were choppy; the men would have quickly become exhausted and sunk beneath the waves."
The report rules out foul play and staged disappearance.
Other explanations
Several alternative 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. 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. Relatives of the missing men say that the boat's condition 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.
Also noted was the fact that the Kaz II was found with its fenders
Fender (boating)
In boating, a fender is a bumper used to absorb the kinetic energy of a berthing boat or vessel against a jetty, quay wall or other vessel. Fenders are used to prevent damage to boats, vessels and berthing structures. Fenders are nowadays constructed in several ways, typically of rubber, foam...
out, leading to speculation that the Kaz II may have docked with another as-yet-unknown vessel to which the crew might have willingly, or unwillingly, transferred to.
-
- "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 craft commonly leave their fenders out at all times, making it impossible to draw any definitive conclusions about this feature.
Derek Batten was 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. The last known contact of the family members with any of the crew was made one-and-a-half hours after it left port, when one crew member was contacted by his wife.
Volunteer radio operator Ivan Ormes recorded that the Kaz II radioed in at 6:45 P.M. on 15 April, 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 taken them only 2½ 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 14 April, but were forced to return because of the non-functional GPS. That incident was because of a user error and it was easily fixed, so the Kaz II set off early the next day.
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.
Another hypothesis is that one crew member may have been washed over by a freak wave
Freak wave
Rogue waves are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves that occur far out in sea, and are a threat even to large ships and ocean liners...
and that the others were lost trying to rescue him.
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)