Auckland Harbour Bridge Crossing - Summer 2012

aground on the notorious Middleton Reef,

Middleditch, that is a great account of the Runic’s stranding and brings to mind a story that I have posted before about another stranding There was a mad mariner, a Welshman named Irfon Nicholas who sailed from Europe to Auckland via various ports in a 30 odd foot Ferro-cement yacht that had the charming name of “Sospan Fach”, Welsh for little saucepan and named after a little ditty that the town of Llanelli is famous for. It is supposed to be the most famous nonsense song sung at Welsh rugby union matches. Apparently Irfron’s crew left him in Auckland and when it became time to move on to Sydney he advertised in the local paper for new recruits and took on an Australian male and two NZ women all in search of adventure. I remember the bloke, a reticent sort of character, and his boat, a doubtful example of a sound craft, and the sort of boat that we used to call a floating septic tank. The skipper left Auckland in 1974 without notifying the local Marine Authorities and getting a certificate of sea worthiness, headed to North Cape before setting a westerly course toward Australia and by this time he had already started to quarrel with his crew. Some time after the drama that follows I remember reading that the crew expressed doubts about his navigational skills and were told that to get to Australia you just sailed to the top of NZ, turned left and sailed to the best weather advantage until you sighted Aussie then coast down to Sydney!! Needless to say that plan did not work and they finished up going aground on the notorious Middleton Reef, graveyard to many ships, one of the biggest being the “Runic” that went aground during a cyclone in 1961. Luckily for “Sospan Fach” crew they were able to find shelter and food on a nearby Japanese trawler wreck “Fuku Maru” that ran aground in 1963 in high seas. This wreck has been replenished with supplies and used as a food cache for ship wrecked sailors ever since. They were eventually able to signal a passing ship and get rescued..

Shipwreck of the yacht Sospan Fach on Middleton Reef in 1974.

Subject: Shipwreck of the yacht Sospan Fach on Middleton Reef in 1974. Category: Miscellaneous Asked by: kentheavonman-ga List Price: $50.00 Posted: 09 Oct 2003 19:31 PDT Expires: 08 Nov 2003 18:31 PST Question ID: 264782 In June of 1974, four people were plucked from Middleton Reef. They had attempted to cross from Auckland, NA to Sydney, AU, in a ferro-cement yacht called the Sospan Fach. Skipper Irfon Nicholas. Passengers Peter Lindemayer, Christine Braham, and Geraldine York. Nicholas was a Brit. Graham was an Aussie from Adelaide. The other two were, I believe New Zealanders. I need as much information as I can gather on the people and the vessel. Thank you. Ken Lord. Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 11 Oct 2003 10:06 PDT I've unearthed only one newspaper article about this incident, from June 18, 1974. The article is a few hundred words in length, and contains: --some details of the foursome's survival -- what they ate, how long they were stranded --the length of the yacht --the identity of the rescuing ship --how the survivors signaled the rescuing ship --a bit of background on the people themselves, but not much. Nationalities are given, one is identified as a former school teacher --there was apparently quite a bit of tension between Irfon and the rest, even before the wreck, and some information about this is given as well. All in all, there's some good detail in the article, but it certainly doesn't go into a great deal of depth. Would you like me to post this information as an answer to your question? Clarification of Question by kentheavonman-ga on 11 Oct 2003 22:12 PDT Probably I have this, as I have articles from NZ Herald, AU Herald, Adelaide News, Auckland Star, etc, for 6/12/74 and about 2 weeks thereafter. What I think I need is the ad that was run in an Auckland Paper. I will need to know something about the tension -- so go ahead and post it. Nicholas apparently had some reputation at Auckland. I need to know about that. Did he build the boat? Whose plans? Records of sea rescue services. Peter Warner of the ATA (vessel). Any background on the four before the voyage? Any follow up in the weeks post June 12, 1974. Any way to find the four people? My search of telephone numbers gives me nothing. Thanks. Ken Lord Clarification of Question by kentheavonman-ga on 11 Oct 2003 22:18 PDT Was the Sospan Fach registered? I know it did not pass customs or give notification of the sea journey. But was it registered? If so, what was the registration? Is air and sea rescue reachable about this either in NZ or AU? There is some reference to an Air Base in AU. Where is it? Is the ATA still working? Is Peter Warner still alive and working and can he be found? Thanks. Ken Lord Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 12 Oct 2003 17:03 PDT Clearly, I can only make a very meager addition to the information you already have. So here's the little bit I found about the in-fighting...you can have it gratis: According to a newspaper article dated June 18, 1974: The rescued were the Welsh skipper Irfon Nicholas, 38, Australians Peter Lindenmayer, 18, and Christine Braham, 23, and Geraldine Yorke, 23, of New Zealand. Nicholas' had gotten the crew together by advertising... ...Nicholas said he quarreled with his crew on April 9, two days after they left New Zealand, and after that they rarely spoke to him. "I had to get aggressive and to swear to stay in command", he said. "I was glad when we were rescued, so I would have someone to talk to at last".

The Sospan Fach saga 1974

The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) of luck and bad management - and some desperate praying ONE OF THE STRANGEST tales of the sea is the story of the two girls, boy, and man, with all too little sailing experience, who set out to cross the Tasman Sea to Sydney in a yacht and were marooned for six weeks on Middleton Reef, 300 miles from Australia and 800 miles off course. JEAN DEBELLE talked o them after their rescue. "MANO here, he's the one who saved us," said Peter Lindenmay er, cheerfully hugging the stocky Tongan fisherman. Mano just grinned. It was Mano Totau who first saw the signal from the wreck of the Japanese fishing-boat that led to the rescue of the crew of the Sospan Fach. When the survivors landed at Ballina, northern New South Wales, there was an emotional reunion with family and friends - who had giv en them up for dead. As a backdrop to the intense excitement, Tongan crewmen strummed island music on guitars. Peter Lindenmayer. (18). of Melbourne, had. with Christine Braham. (25) of Adelaide and Geraldine York. (19). of Auckland, answered an advertisement pinned to the wall of a New Zealand youth hostel. The advertisement sought three girls to crew a ferro-cement sloop, the Sospan Fach, from Auckland to Sydney, with its owner-builder Irfon Nicholas. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/46242362