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HMAS
Fremantle bailed out this Indonesian fishing boat 300 nautical
miles north-west of Darwin.
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HMAS
Fremantle (LCDR Matt Brown) went to the aid of an Indonesian fishing
vessel in distress approximately 300 nautical miles north-west
of Darwin on November 12.
The vessel’s engine had broken down and the three crew members
were bailing water out by hand.
They had almost run out of fresh water and had no food. The nearest
land was Indonesia, 110 nautical miles to the north. The vessel
was five metres long and one metre wide and not suited to be so
far out to sea.
HMAS Fremantle gave the crew 10 days’ rations and then used
their 4.7 metre rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) to take the
small vessel in tow.
“They were pretty pleased to see us,” said LCDR Brown.
As luck would have it, a few hours later HMAS Fremantle located
a larger Indonesian fishing vessel, several miles away, and through
the Indonesian linguist skills onboard Fremantle was able to hand
over the smaller fishing boat to the larger one to be escorted
back to Indonesia and safety.
