One of the last known people to have seen a foreign-owned barge at sea before it washed up on a remote Australian island says it was being towed by a boat not suited to the job.
The 100-metre barge Nelly 112 ground to a halt on Athikho Poji, a rocky islet in the Torres Strait, on January 26.
The Nelly 112 could have drifted up to 2,000 kilometres from Indonesian waters. (Supplied)
A retired commercial skipper with almost four decades of maritime industry experience said he saw the barge off the Balinese coast nine days before it washed up near Badu Island.
Australian Noel Gaunt said he came within 100 metres of Nelly 112 on January 17 while on a fishing boat offshore from Amed, in northern Bali.
He said the barge was being towed by a boat he did not believe was suitable for the job.
“It was not a tug … it was a [towing vessel] around 50 to 60-feet trying to pull this massive barge [which would be] well in excess of a hundred [tonnes],” Mr Gaunt said.
“It’s like towing a five-trailer road train in the Pilbara with a Hilux.”
Mr Gaunt, originally from Nelson Bay in regional New South Wales, relocated to Bali last November after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Noel Gaunt now lives in Bali after working for 38 years in the Australian maritime industry. (Supplied: Noel Gaunt)
He said it appeared those towing the barge were trying to keep it in a channel of the Banda Sea to avoid it entering the Timor Sea.
“It would’ve caused havoc to go through there because [the towing vessel] wasn’t in command of the barge,” he said.
“It was struggling every metre that it took.”
Mr Gaunt said he did not know what happened to the barge as it proceeded east.
However, that region of Indonesia was hit with severe weather in the days that followed.
“My guess is they cut it loose to protect the towing vessel and [in that] situation a skipper would,” Mr Gaunt said.
“It’s the safety of life at sea. You’ve got to look after yourself [and] he would’ve had crew.”
Mr Gaunt said it was plausible currents had caused the barge to drift 2,000 kilometres over nine days toward the Torres Strait.
Finders can’t call ‘keepers’
A salvage team has been contracted to return the barge to Indonesia “as soon as practicable”, according to Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ).
Maritime Safety Queensland says it won’t disclose the name of the barge owner due to privacy reasons. (Supplied)
Badu Island traditional owner Edmund Tamwoy had hoped he could claim the barge given it washed up on his country.
But Dr Rosemary Gibson from the University of Queensland’s marine and shipping law unit said the concept of “finders keepers” did not exist under maritime law.
“Where you do have an owner and the vessel is registered somewhere we can trace it,” she said.
“There’s nothing to stop them from purchasing the vessel but they wouldn’t just be able to tie a rope around it and declare it theirs.”
Dr Rosemary Gibson says the mystery barge can’t simply be claimed. (Supplied: University of Queensland)
Mr Tamwoy has since told the ABC he was trying to contact the barge owner to make an offer to buy it.
Dr Gibson cautioned against making a bid without properly costing the salvage, repairs and on-going maintenance.
“There are administrative hurdles that you then have to go through,” she said.
“You’d be wanting to factor all those things in as to whether it’s actually worthwhile.”
No timeline has been given as to when authorised inspectors would travel to Badu Island. (Supplied)
MSQ said it had arranged to inspect the barge.
However, a spokesman gave no timeline as to when its inspectors would travel to Badu Island.
MSQ said it was unable to disclose the name of the barge owner for privacy reasons.
The ABC has contacted an Indonesian shipping company which launched Nelly 112 for comment.