Stricken boat washes ashore at Red Bluff

Efforts are under way to remove a boat that mysteriously became beached on the shore at Red Bluff Station more than a week ago. Camp ground manager Jim Caldwell said no one saw the vessel Tarquin — which he believed was from Carnarvon, about 125km to the south — wash ashore on Monday morning last week. Mr Caldwell said he first saw the stricken vessel when he returned home about 3.30pm after a day out to The Blowholes. “We arrived to a big boat on the beach. It was a bit odd,” he said. “It’s been washed ashore — apparently under anchor — and she’s a good effort to get it out.” Yesterday, a salvage company dragged the Tarquin from the water and up the beach, amid fears it would break apart if hit by rough conditions. Mr Caldwell said the crew did an “amazing job” to move the 30-tonne vessel, which was weighed down further with water and sand, though it remains on the beach for now. “It was getting smashed in the shore break, and that’s what we were worried about, with that cyclone looming,” Mr Caldwell said. “If we had one of those cyclone swells it would have just got destroyed and trashed the beach. “Now we’re waiting on mobilising some trucks and an excavator to pull it to bits and get rid of it entirely.” A man, believed to be a Carnarvon resident, was on board the Tarquin when it washed ashore and was not injured, according to Mr Caldwell. He said the boat was in a poor state of repair before it encountered trouble and conditions were “very nice” on the day it beached at Red Bluff Station. “The boat itself should never have been in the water,” Mr Caldwell said. “It shouldn’t have been able to leave Carnarvon Port. I’m not an expert, but that’s the way I look at it. “It’s been in the fascine in Carnarvon for years, apparently.” A Carnarvon Volunteer Sea Rescue spokeswoman said she heard about the incident “through the grapevine” but the group were not called to assist. A spokesman for Carnarvon police said he was unaware of the incident.