Adriatic Star

The State Coroner assisted by Sergeant Geoff Sorrell held an inquest into the circumstances of the suspected deaths of Herbertus Jacobus Franciscus Ackermans and Jeffrey Ross Champion at the Esperance Courthouse on 1- 2 September 2003 and 16 - 17 October 2003.

The two men departed from the Brandy Creek Boat Harbour, Esperance at approximately 5:30am on Friday 8 November 2002 on the shark fishing vessel LFBE46 Adriatic Star. The destination was a fishing camp at Wanteen, via Mundrabilla in Western Australia. The last known contact with either of the two men took place on 9 November 2002 at approximately 8:15pm. There had been no known sighting of either of the two men since that date and portions of the vessel were sighted floating on the sea some days later. An extensive search was conducted for the two men without success.

The weather which the vessel would have experienced on 9 November 2002 appeared to have been fairly rough with onshore wind speed variations from 30- 46km/ph. In these circumstances the vessel may have experienced difficulties due to the prevailing sea scape.

An article in the Port Lincoln Times (South Australia) on Thursday, 5 December 2002 stated that the crew of the Adriatic Star were only able to get out a partial satellite phone call before contact was lost and wreckage was found washed up a week later at Point Dover.

An Australian Search and Rescue spokesman confirmed that no radio message was picked up from the 13 metre vessel and that it was unclear whether the vessel even had a radio.

The spokesman said ‘there was no EPIRB signal either and it looks like it was sudden and catastrophic’. However, according to reports in the Esperance Express newspaper the vessel had been surveyed in October 2001 and was ‘fit for the sea’ indicating that the vessel was equipped with a marine radio.

The Port Lincoln Times article also reported that the local member for Flinders, Liz Penfold, was using the recent loss of the Western Australian shark boat, Adriatic Star, as a warning about an ‘inadequate’ emergency radio service. Mrs Penfold joined local fishers and electronic experts in the criticism of the new HF emergency radio service to be used to call for help in an emergency situation. The Federal Government operated the old Telstra marine radio network but in June 2002 handed the responsibility to the State Governments and in South Australia the new ‘Coast Radio Adelaide’ station is based at the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Port Augusta.

If the men had tried to call for help on their radio they may not have been heard. South Australian Transport Minister, Michael Wright, said Coast Radio Adelaide in Port Augusta began operating on 19 August after some delays. ‘Since complaints by Mrs Penfold about the service, new software had been designed to make the system function better, an extra frequency has been added and the level of concern around this issue has resulted in the National Standing Committee on Transport agreeing that the Australian Maritime Group would reactivate its technical working group to conduct a systems evaluation and to respond to any issues identified’ Mr Wright said.

Mrs Penfold said that the State Government had initially been reluctant to take the problem seriously and hoped that any improvements would be in place before more rock lobster, tuna and other boats headed out into the Bight.

In view of the information available at the inquest, the State Coroner concluded that the evidence available to him did not allow him to determine the cause of the sinking of the vessel with any confidence, although it appeared likely that the incident which led to the sinking was relatively sudden and unexpected and that the deceased men did not have time to take emergency action such as activating the EPIRB.

The State Coroner made an Open Finding as to how the deaths occurred.

The State Coroner recommended that the Department of Planning and Infrastructure should give consideration to mandating the use of 406 mHz EPIRBs with hydrostatic release functions on all commercial vessels operating in Western Australian waters well before 2009.

The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure advised the State Coroner by letter dated 6 January 2004 that the Minister had been advised that the Australian Maritime Group (AMG), whose membership comprises senior executive officers of each of the marine safety jurisdictions, is reviewing the current arrangements for marine distress and safety radio communications. This was being done as part of the national reform process, so as to achieve a nationally uniform system for marine radio communications by mid 2005. The issue of float-free 406 mHz EPIRBs had also been brought to the attention of the AMG for consideration during that process.

Herbertus Jacobus Franciscus Maria Ackermans was born on 20 May 1945 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. Jeffrey Ross Champion has a small memorial plaque in Esperance Public Lawn Cemetery dedicated to him.