I

[Fred Flintrubble]

I need your help!

[Fred Flintrubble]

My friends need your help.

[Fred Flintrubble]

Their Familys need your help!

[Fred Flintrubble]

Their neighbours need your help!

[Fred Flintrubble]

are asking for your help - most sincerely please!

(I need 5 posts up first to get the details to you with url's, please forgive my multiple posting!)

[Fred Flintrubble]

A Mary Celeste Type Ghost ship mysery is unfolding downunder - involving a couple of my neighbours!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/troutylow/Kaz11.jpg
The Yacht as found at sea 100Nm off Townsville
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/troutylow/Kaz11a.jpg
The Yacht as towed back to Townsville
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70/troutylow/Missingsailor.jpg
One of the missing sailors (Mr Tunsteadl I believe)

Heres a press article with some details.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/04/23/kaz_wideweb__470x312,0.jpg

Police have given up the search for the three missing men, but the family refuse to give up hope. Photo: Michael Chambers

The families of three men who disappeared from a yacht off the north Queensland coast have refused to give up hope the sailors will be found alive, despite police preparing a report on their deaths for the coroner.

Relatives of skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, will launch their own search for the missing men today.

Rescue authorities yesterday said there was no hope they would be found alive.

The trio are believed to have gone missing from their 9.8-metre catamaran, KAZ II, eight days ago.

The yacht was found unmanned and adrift on Wednesday about 160km off Townsville after leaving Shute Harbour at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays on Sunday morning.

The men had intended to sail the catamaran back to Western Australia.

Police yesterday called off the search and rescue operations about a week after it is believed the men disappeared.

However, the families of the men today will charter boats to continue scouring the north Queensland coastline.

James Tunstead's son Shane Webber today said three charter boats would search around Airlie Beach and its surrounding islands, to where he believed the men may have been able to swim.

"That's our hope. That's where we're going to concentrate today,'' Mr Webber told ABC Radio.

"I was a little bit disappointed that the official search only lasted two and a bit, three days.''

"Maybe they've all got knocked over by the boom, or something happened at the back of the boat when they were fishing because we know they were fishing at the time by video footage we've seen from the Townsville police,'' he added.

Mr Webber asked local fishermen to keep an eye out for any sign of the sailors.

Peter Tunstead's wife Fran is hopeful today's search will prove successful.

"Please everyone, keep having positive thoughts for us,'' she told ABC Radio.

"Say your prayers for us, for them - for Jimmy, for Peter, for Des - because they need that.''

Townsville Detective Inspector Warren Webber said that despite extensive investigations, the case remained a mystery.

He said police would now prepare a report for the coroner.

"We can all come up with various ranges and hypotheses and theories as to what may have happened,'' he said.

"But at this stage our investigations concentrate on just determining exactly what facts we have. We will obviously draw some conclusions from that information and that information will ultimately be provided to the coroner.''

The findings of the police inquiry will be handed to Queensland's coroner to determine whether a full inquest into the men's death is warranted.

When the KAZ II was boarded, its engine was still running, a laptop computer was found switched on and navigational equipment and plotting gear laid out.

The men's clothes were found folded in neat piles on the rear deck, as if they had gone swimming.

The only sign of damage was a shredded sail.

One theory is the men fell overboard in rough seas.

Another is that another vessel came alongside and they boarded it, either willingly or unwillingly, as if they had been attacked by pirates.

But Townsville Chief Superintendent Roy Wall ruled out foul play.

"They were all known to each other for some time, all good friends,'' told the Nine Network this morning.

"There's certainly nothing that's come forward at this stage that would indicate anything other than a tragic accident.''

He also ruled out an apparent attack by pirates.

"I think that's stretching it a bit too far - we've had no information or reports of piracy off that part of the Queensland coast,'' he said.

Anyone who can provide ANY information that might assist the family in their search, or help narrow down the area of search (currently between Airlee beach and Bowen on Australia's Queensland Coast, Great Barrier reef / Whitsunday Island chain) would be appreciated.

The last anyone heard from the men, was Sunday evening at 6.45pm when they radioed Bowen sea search and rescue to report their position 10 Nm north of "Olden Island", (between Airleee beach & Bowen) everything OK!

One assumes they may have wanted to shelter in the lee of an island overnight - rather than sail unfamiliar waters inside the GBR in the dark.

Many of us locals / neighbors / associates of the missing men (& fellow sailors) - believe that - with the 3 piles of clothes found neatly folded on the rear deck, it is highly likely they were in a windless situation - motoring with the sails still up, and that they motored into the lee of an island using the engine likely with the intention of overnighting there.

It seems the auto pilot was left engaged, and the engine put into neutral, while maybe they took a quick swim before lunch/dinner, - sea breeze has appeared suddenly - and the yachts sailed away without them!

We suspect they have been left stark nekkid on an island off the coast somewhere - sitting under a tree - probably sunburnt to a crisp, awaiting rescue.

We think the sail found torn at the front of the catermaran probably shredded itself after they were lost, as the yach drifted under auto pilot control with the currents, up and down inside the Great Barrier Reef each day - and the loose old sail flapped itself into shreds!

The fact the cutlery, crockery & navigation plotting gear (gps & laptop computers etc) was undisturbed on the dining table, the clothes on back deck were undisturbed, folded meatly in their 3 separate piles, and no water was aboard in the bilges etc, likely means the yacht hasn't seen bad weather as the authorities suggest in their theory the men were all swept overboard at sea in rough conditions! The weather authorities report no such conditions existed during that week.

Sadly, the authorities have given up looking - after combing the area and islands with helicopters, aeroplanes etc equipped with infra red heat detecting equipment capable of detecting the body heat of a person (supposedly) for 2.5 days after the vessel was spotted adrift by a coastguard aeroplane.

The family however - continue to hire charter vessels to keep looking!

I contacted someone, with some limited psychic ability, to try and make contact with any of the 3 men...and the response I received back, was:-

the person contacted was very calm (or the water was very flat calm around him) and the insistent word "Indon".
As mentioned - their last reported position Sunday evening at 6.45 pm was 1 NM north of Olden Island - which sounds kinda similar to "Indon"??

The fact that the vessel was found with it's rubbber fenders deployed usually would indicate that either the catamaran intended to pull alongside a floating pontoon or another vessel maybe came alongside? (Or the men were so inexperienced as to not have stowed them after leaving harbor in Airlee Beach that morning). No skipper worth his salt will do this - the old sailors expression (If underway & the fenders are down - beware - the skipper is a clown!) means that these guys with their sailing and marine rescue backgrounds, just would NOT have allowed that to happen for prides sake if nothing else IMHO!

Perhaps, they were taken aboard another vessel (an indonesian fishing boat maybe?) and are being held captive against their will? However unlikely it seems it remains a very remote possibility - but raises more questions such as - why would all their personal valuables etc even down to the clothes they were wearing, have been left behind as well as all the valuable equipment on the vessel, if piracy were at issue?

Lastly - many would suggest to just "backtrack" on the vessels GPS /chartplotting instruments / computer to see where the vessel went on Sunday 15th Monday 16th April, when the men may have dissapeared, to see if they pulled in at any specific landfall point - for a swim where the yacht may have got away from them.

Apparently Police foensics people have tried that! I am informed by sources close to the family and investigation that - their equipment is similar to my own - in that the further you travel - the software requires a lot of memory to store the route taken via millions of closely spaced individual waypoints (GPS derived lattitude / longitude position fixes - sometimes up to 2 or 3 per second) to form the route taken which is displayed as a continuous line on a chart.

As the yacht sailed further and further, while adrift under auto pilot control for the 5 or 6 days after the men apparently left the vessel - the memory requirements exceed the capacity of the computer machine / software, - in order to preserve the most recent navigational data, that route layed down on the electronic chart at the beginning of the vessels journey, is slowly erased to free up memory for the new data being aquired.

It seems the relevant data to KNOW with 100% ceratintly whether the vessel made landfall anywhere late in the hours of Sunday April 15 or early in the hours Monday April 16 is NOT available to the police / family searchers for that reason.

Anyway, anyone who can help in any way with ANY info derived in ANY manner - it would be very much appreciated!
If you'd sooner not post it here - then by all means, email me please.

Many t.i.a.

Yours Sincerely,

Fred F.

[Fred Flintrubble]

Please - if you have the God (EL Shaddai, Elohim, Yaweh, Allah, Buddah) given Psychic gift that can help these people and their familys - (even if it is ONLY to find closure to a terrible tragedy) then please apply yourself to this task and advise your findings.

In matters like this every hour counts!

Sincere thanks in advance!

[Fred Flintrubble]

By the time anyone from this forum even bothered to TRY & answer - they guys would be dead! :rolleyes:

Cheers!

[Fred Flintrubble]

From Mndays Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/family-believe-missing-sailors-kidnapped/2007/04/24/1177180632390.html


Family believe missing sailors kidnapped
April 24, 2007
Relatives of the skipper of a mystery yacht found off the coast of north Queensland believe the three missing crew members might have been kidnapped.

Hope Himing, niece of Derek Batten, 56, said today there were many unusual circumstances surrounding the yacht, which was found adrift off the coast of Townsville last Wednesday, that suggest foul play.

Emergency service crews found the engine running, computers turned on, food on the table and the GPS system operating but no sign of the boat's crew.

"It just doesn't all add up," Ms Himing said today.

"If it was bad weather why would their fishing line be out?

'It just doesn't add up'

"Why would their clothes be piled up [and] if it was that bad that it would have knocked three experienced sailors off, why wouldn't they have put on their life-jackets?

"It just doesn't add up for us."

Ms Himing said her family dismissed police suggestions that her uncle - known to the family as "Des" - and his crew members - brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth - were washed overboard in bad weather.

She said she strongly believed that the 9.8-metre catamaran, KAZ II, was boarded, and the trio might have been kidnapped.

"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," she said.

"It looks like they've been boarded."

Ms Himing said she held grave fears for the trio's safety, but believed they were still alive.

She said the families would continue to search Airlie Beach and the surrounding islands until they had closure.

Spiritual contact

Ms Himing said she and her mother had both felt spiritual contact from Derek, whom they believed was still alive but fighting for his life.

"My mum and I are both Spiritualists. My mum's had a really strong feeling from Des that he's somewhere dark and he can't see and I don't feel that he's dead either,'' Ms Himing said.

"I don't think he's got a lot left in him but I actually don't think he's dead, and so everything we can do to get (people) out there looking again is a huge thing.''

Ms Himing said the families of all three crew members felt that authorities called off the search too quickly, and said James Tunstead's son, Shane Webber, had already told them he would continue his own search until he found something.

"The police have dropped interest very quickly and dropped the search ... we feel hugely let down about this,'' Ms Himing said.

"They've spent days longer looking for other people in situations like this, so why have they called this one off so quickly?''

Ms Himing said the lack of closure was the most painful part of the situation.

Not knowing

"The hardest thing for us now is waiting and not knowing,'' she said.

"You can deal with a bad accident (where) they've passed away because you know, but when you don't, and to have so many questions hanging over it... it's very difficult.''

Queensland police said in a statement last night they would continue to keep "a watchful eye'' for the three missing men.

"Despite the search being officially suspended, a Queensland Police Service aircraft will continue to monitor in an effort to locate the bodies of the missing three men,'' the statement said.

But police said medical advice was that the chances of survival would be "highly unlikely''.

AAP

Sounds like the Family are more pschyic than anyone on this forum!

My contact likewise suggested strongly (indon) possibly meaning indonesian!

The men may well be captives of indonesian pirates!

Perhaops the indonesian authorities have reason to take captive 3 Australian's - after all we have been detaining a LOT of thier Illegal Indonesian fishing crews who trespass into our territorial waters, burning their boats and deporting them back to Indonesia!

Perhaps there is a Govt need within Indonesia - to have "something to trade" in order to solve some political nexus - more than likely over Timor Sea oil & Gas...

Who knows!

[Fred Flintrubble]

Yup - better get psychic in folks - the numbers are building up - they are dropping like flies around here!

They say bad things come in 3's and likely they are right!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1912834.htm

Water police search for man missing from ferry

A large-scale sea and air search is under way for a Perth man who fell from a Rottnest ferry this afternoon.

Water police say the man was travelling alone on the Star Flyte ferry when he went overboard about two nautical miles west of Fremantle.

Sergeant Adam Mack says police reacted immediately.

"We've sent some police straight down to the scene, and they have been interviewing witnesses from aboard the passenger ship, and we also have a very large-scale search running," he said.

"We have about 12 vessels out there, including specific search helicopters as well as a fixed-wing aircraft."

Sergeant Mack says the search will continue throughout the night.

"We will concentrate and bring our resources closer together, and also the guys will turn their engines off every now and then, just to call out in case they can hear anything, any sound travelling over the water," he said.

Police are examining a jacket and paperwork found in the water.

and as if that ain't enough........

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=378517

Hopes fade for missing Perth sailor
2nd May 2007, 15:49 WST

Rescuers had on Wednesday night all but given up hope of finding an Australian sailor washed off a yacht in wild seas deep in the Southern Ocean.

Exhausted surviving crew members - one with serious leg injuries - were awaiting rescue aboard their stricken yacht, which had its mast snapped off by a massive wave.

Three West Australian men and a South African woman were aboard the Cowrie Dancer when it was knocked down 750 nautical miles south-east of the South African coast on Monday, the country's rescue centre said.

Perth man John Blackman, 55, was washed overboard, despite being secured to the yacht, and was still missing in freezing seas south of Durban on Wednesday night.

The 17.5 metre ketch's experienced owner and skipper, Dale Peterson, seriously injured his leg while his fellow Australian Nicholas Lawson suffered bruises and cuts to his scalp. The South African mechanical engineer, Carol Erasmus, was uninjured.

Mr Peterson's brother-in-law James Paxton said Mr Peterson had been at the helm, and everyone secured, when disaster struck.

"I understand it was one very large wave followed by three more," Mr Paxton told reporters.

"They would have been all secure, but it was such a strong wave that it has taken him overboard.

"They did put a makeshift help on the boat and turn it around but I understand Nick wasn't in a condition to continue."

South African Maritime Search and Rescue duty officer Mark Steed said a South African research vessel, SA Agulhas, which has helicopters and medical facilities aboard, was steaming towards the men.

Two helicopters would be deployed from the ship to search for Mr Blackman about two hours before they were due to pick up the three surviving crew, now expected to be about 1am AEST.

However, he said hopes were fading of finding the missing man.

"The chances of finding him are very slim, even if he did have a life jacket which, our information says, he was not wearing," Mr Steed told AAP.

"It was quite deep sea, 750 miles from the nearest South African coast and about 500 miles north of Marion Island. It really was in the middle of nowhere.

"I think they have pretty much given up on finding him, the crew are quite exhausted," Mr Steed later told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

Dale Peterson's wife, Liz, said in Perth that finding Mr Blackman alive "would take a miracle."

"They had a major knock-down and lost the mizzen mast and the steering wheel and so on overboard, and the life raft, and various other damage," she told ABC radio.

Her husband was very distressed about the loss of his very, close friend, and in a lot of pain from his injured leg, she said.

"He is not sure if it is broken or what it is. He can't be moved and he is waiting for a doctor to assess this," she said.

Mr Paxton said the surviving crew were drifting north as they waited to be rescued.

"(Tuesday) night and (Wednesday) morning the waves were very significant and they have done well to hold out as they have.

"I gather Nick has had very little sleep, they were bailing by hand during the night (until) Carol ... managed to fix the electric bilge pump."

Ms Peterson said her husband was on the voyage of his lifetime which began in October last year when he, Mr Lawson, and two other crew members left Fremantle bound for Hobart, then Chile and to cruise the Patagonian channel.

"They went to Antarctica on their way to Cape Town," Ms Peterson said.

Mr Blackman joined the boat in February and they were on the last leg of their voyage when he was washed overboard.

Mr Peterson is an experienced sailor with 200,000 nautical miles sailing offshore, the equivalent to five or six circumnavigations of the world, said fellow Fremantle sailing club member Mike Bibby.
AAP

You pshchic's don't hurry up and get the lead out - your gonna end up with a psychic backlog! :D :D

Hmmm - heres my psychic prediction...

Holds hand to forehead like spock doing the vulcan mind meld

Prediction!

I foresee that sailing Yachts will be selling cheap In Perth WA soon! :p

See - I got more psychic ability in my little toe than anyone else here! :cool:

Cheers!

[Fred Flintrubble]

The guy who jumped off the Ferry 2 miles from port, washed up as crab bait at the harbour entrance a few days later! :rolleyes:

Sooo - ahh how come no one replies to this thread, when other threads for missing people - AKA the little girl n portugal - people do reply? :confused:

Strange! :rolleyes:

Cheers!

[Erebus]

I understand that you are very desperate, but we arent some crack team of supermen who can solve any case with our minds. Psychic powers are unstable, random, and hard to control.

But, I will try to meditate on the matter and try to squeeze a little bit of information from the empty universe. Most likely I will get nothing, I'm only an amatuer psychic that specializes in energy control.

EDIT- after trying meditation, I got nothing. Thats the scary part, I felt for his life force and didnt find it, either its very weak or non-existant. Or maybe I didnt do it right, dunno.

[Fred Flintrubble]

hey thanks for at least trying - you are the only one who has!

Cheers!

[Trust]

Hello Fred Flintrubble,
I have tried to help get some information by meditating and by doing other forms of dowsing for these lost men but the information was not forth coming I'm afraid, saying that I did pick up on a number things that may be more a reflection of what these men's condition's was when i was was searching for them at that time and thing's may well of changed since then as it is very difficult to trace someone you are not connected with and without say articles of clothing,a photo or a personal item/effect,and don't forget I'm in England so there's also a distance thing to bare in mind, but i did pick up on some things and i hope it helps in some small way, i will blurt the information out in the same way i received it here go's........

1, First feelings I got was that they did in fact fall overboard due to a freak wave or weather condition, despite the weather being reported as calm or good at that time? but as far as I'm concerned they did go in the water due to more natural circumstances rather than suspicious? I really do not think initially they was taken against their will!

2,I asked for the conditions of these men and got rather a odd feel about them, also i felt very uneasy about two of the men? firstly I feel that Mr Tunstead "Pete" I believe is alive but has sustained injury that is preventing him from contacting anyone and is for sure with other people?

3, well this is where I concentrated on Mr Batten"Des" well with him I felt like I was alive but in great distress and that His life signs was failing, also feels like he had sustained injuries to his neck and or back and was unable to move never-mind walk or indeed swim!

4, Now here is where I got very concerned, I tried to locate or find out the physical condition of James Tunstead, I didn't feel any sort of life signs at all only feelings of a struggle of some kind where he was hurt very badly due to being hit on the back of the head by what looks like a "wooden paddle or Ore" of some kind? the feeling is that all three was found but all of them are in separate locations now or at least they was at some point, I see one man crying and holding the one who got hit in the head as if he knows He's hurt very badly? I did see blood coming from His ear and nose and a great feeling of sadness, but please understand that this may not be the three sailors, and I hope not as well but thats what I got when meditating and by dowsing for these men......
My initial feel is they did end up in the water from the start and was picked up by small group of men on a small ish boat and was then taken away? also I feel that a young man on his own had boarded their boat and fled rather quickly, maybe to get help or maybe to get someone to help collect it? He was around 5 feet 3 to 5 foot 5 inches tall with short black hair that almost looks oriental in appearance but not as strongly featured as oriental with quite darkened skin? and aged around late teens to early twenties, I really feel this young man would know more about what happened and that I don't think for some reason he could speak English if so not very well? but sadly I could not get a name with him I'm sorry to say.
I hope that some of this information helps in some way although quite vague, I will continue to try and get some more information as soon as I can.
Love and Light
Louis.

[Trust]

Hello again,
I have spent all of last night and this morning trying to give you more information but with little or no luck, only the same thing's came up,I'm truly sorry for not being able to give you or their families more information but I did try and I also think maybe it's because of the distance as I'm in England or the fact that it's almost impossible to get a lot of information without personal item's or effects of some kind to get a feel for their energy?
Again I'm sorry and I will try to do some more and let you know A.S.A.P.
Sleep with Angels
Louis (Trust)

[Fred Flintrubble]

Yes they may well have ended up in the water, maybe hit bye the boom, on the sail or something?

It has now been 8 weeks since they went missing and nothings been found!
The familys have held a memorial service!
I somehow think we won't ever hear any more!
If indeed - they have been taken by others - then it could be by drug trafficers or Indonesian Pirates (Very unusual for them to be so far south in Australian waters - such a high traffic area for tourists and so close to large population areas - non have been sighted that far south ever before, and very difficult for them to sail back to indonesia without being sighted by other Australian vessels along the way!)

It is possible that maybe they were taken by drug smugglers or something.
We may never know is my best guess!

All the same.....it remains a mystery to all invloved and yours and others (the mens family & my own family) psychic feelings, after attempting "contact" all have certain 'similarities'!

This is probably the best that can be done!

Cheers & thanks again for trying!

[copperhed]

I understand that you are very desperate, but we arent some crack team of supermen who can solve any case with our minds. Psychic powers are unstable, random, and hard to control.

But, I will try to meditate on the matter and try to squeeze a little bit of information from the empty universe. Most likely I will get nothing, I'm only an amatuer psychic that specializes in energy control.

EDIT- after trying meditation, I got nothing. Thats the scary part, I felt for his life force and didnt find it, either its very weak or non-existant. Or maybe I didnt do it right, dunno.

As Erebus stated, we can't conjure them up, they visit us......unexplainable why. It just is. For me anyways.
I only got EXTREME cold.
The bone-numbing kind.
I did however feel as if only two were overboard at the beginning, one to save the other. Things gone awry, perhaps drinking involved.

The one left got to the radio....was there any radio transmission whatsoever? If not I would look into the radio's capabilities, perhaps it was unresponsive?

I am more than adept at death/mortal wounds, but usually children and women.
Best to you my friend,
Copper

[Trust]

Yes they may well have ended up in the water, maybe hit bye the boom, on the sail or something?

It has now been 8 weeks since they went missing and nothings been found!
The familys have held a memorial service!
I somehow think we won't ever hear any more!
If indeed - they have been taken by others - then it could be by drug trafficers or Indonesian Pirates (Very unusual for them to be so far south in Australian waters - such a high traffic area for tourists and so close to large population areas - non have been sighted that far south ever before, and very difficult for them to sail back to indonesia without being sighted by other Australian vessels along the way!)

It is possible that maybe they were taken by drug smugglers or something.
We may never know is my best guess!

All the same.....it remains a mystery to all invloved and yours and others (the mens family & my own family) psychic feelings, after attempting "contact" all have certain 'similarities'!

This is probably the best that can be done!

Cheers & thanks again for trying!
No problem at all, My Thoughts and Prayers are with them and their families at this time, and I hope with all my heart that the pain they are suffering of not really knowing ends soon.
All my Loving Thoughts and prayers
Louis.