Shipwrecked dog rescued by New Zealand Navy
by Lee Mylchreest on 15 Jun 2014
SW
No-one seems to know how he got there, but a dog found at sea after a ferocious storm in New Zealand has been rescued by the crew of a Navy patrol vessel during a Customs operation. They were already navigating between dangerous logs in the water when they noticed the dog, balancing on a distant log. 'I would hate to think how long he was there', said Lt. Anthony Norris.
Inshore Patrol Vessel HMNZS HAWEA rescued the distressed dog while on a Customs operation this week
to Great Barrier Island. The dog was spotted floating on a log in Smokehouse Bay.
As HAWEA came in to the bay to anchor, navigating between logs and other flotsam from Tuesday's storm, ASCS Filipe Latu noticed the dog perched on a log and went straight to the Commanding Officer, LT Anthony Norris with a plea to go to the rescue.
LT Norris said it was an unusual and unexpected sight: 'There was significant debris in the water and on one large log floating in the water was this poor helpless dog.
'I would hate to think how long he was there.' As soon as the ship was safe, LT Norris deployed one of the ship’s RHIBs with four crew to rescue the dog.
The dog was taken ashore, where the sailors found a friendly face who knew the dog’s owners.
After handing over the dog, the sailors then spent further time removing the largest debris from the water to aid with safe navigation for boats sailing in or out, before continuing their patrol.
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