While seeking shelter from a storm in an unfamiliar anchorage on the north coast of the Papua New Guinea province of New Ireland, a cruising yacht was boarded by three men armed with machetes. The crew members were able to repel the boarders – according to this first-hand report from the British skipper who is on a round-the-world voyage.
Avoiding Bad Weather
On Tuesday the 7th of April at about 20:30 I went to my cabin to go to sleep. We had anchored at an unknown anchorage in the Southeast of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, to avoid some bad weather. Co-ordinates are: 3°56.224′ S 152°49.892′ E.
At 22:30 I was awoken by very loud screaming from two of my crew members – Ilayda and Maelle. I had never heard screams like that before, they were truly chilling. They had been sitting in the cockpit and Maelle thought she heard a noise. She shone the torch around and got the most terrifying fright when she saw a man next to her with a machete. She grabbed Ilayda who was dozing off and threw her down the stairs.
I arrived at this moment and went straight to confront the intruders. At first they backed away, so I told them to go to the back of the boat and sit down and then we could talk about what they wanted.
The trouble is, they spoke pidgeon and perhaps they didn’t understand me. Either way, one of them lashed out with the machete and it caught me on the back of the hand. At this point I thought they are going to kill us – so we needed to defend ourselves.
I got to the bottom of the stairs and forced the bathroom door open and against the stairs in the companion way. At this point my third crew member, Hanifa, had come out of her room with a very large kitchen knife. She screamed at them and tried to stab their hands. They were trying to get past the door, but Hanifa’s constant lashing prevented this.
Ilayda passed me the spear gun, but it was not cocked. However, we could still use it as a spear to stop them advancing. Ilayda was searching for the bear spray. She passed it to me and I sprayed some into the air. At this point they dropped their machete – either because of the spear gun or Hanifa’s knife catching one of them on the hand.
Hanifa picked up the machete and let out of wild scream, which made them take a step back and within seconds they were running off the boat. Once the intruders jumped into the water, we lifted the anchor and went out into the bay.
There were three intruders and they appeared to be in their early twenties. There was thunder, lightning, pouring rain and a 30kt headwind which is why we took shelter. We circled around for a little while and heard men shouting, but it was pitch black. We then motored two days north to Nusa/Kavieng – as this area is considered safe.
We had anchored in the morning to wait out the approaching bad weather and my three crew members went ashore. The villagers were excited to see them, but it was three men they had not seen before, who came to the boat in the evening.
I have some machete cuts on my hand and Maelle has one on her foot. Maelle and Ilayda were extremely traumatized by the incident. Hanifa and myself not so much, but my hand is sore. Maelle’s foot is healing nicely.
I sent a report to internal.affairs@police.gov.pg but have not received a response.
Tony Price
SV Tiko II
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Other Security Reports for Papua New Guinea
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