Remembering a father lost at sea

DOUG LAING
ESPEN Kristensen, 23, and big brother Julian, 37, should have been celebrating their birthdays yesterday.
But instead, on opposite sides of the world, they were remembering their father Svein, a fisherman who disappeared with crew Bede Parker and Stu Hamilton on the Napier fishing boat Deep Sea II off the Wairarapa coast 20 years ago.
Espen, sister Heidi, 34, and mother Diane were among about 30 people involved in the formal remembrance, dropping wreaths and flowers from the launch Golden Eagle off the Pania Reef Southern buoy, out from the Port of Napier.
Julian was unable to be present because of commitments to his work with a London news agency.
Bede Parker's wife, Michelle, now living in Australia, was unable to be present but the family was represented by Bede's parents, Brian and Peg, sister Jane Churchwell, her partner Michael McEwen and daughter Jane, and another sister, Robin Nathan, and her son Miles.
Stu Hamilton's family was represented by mother Nessie, sister Kathy Ellmers and husband Trevor, and nephew Chris Kelly.
Most placed flowers in the sea from the tail of the Golden Eagle, owned by Napier businessman Rodney Green and skippered by Barry Crene, after readings led by Mrs Kristensen's brother, Jeff Franklin.
Also aboard were other longer-serving members of Napier's commercial fishing industry, including Mike Terry, Warwick Smith, former Svein Kristensen crewmate Paul Jenssen, Hawke's Bay Seafoods boss and fishing fleet operator Nino D'Esposito, and other members of the Jenssen family for whom the Deep Sea II was originally built in 1965.
In what Peg Parker later described as "the most touching point" Pacific Trawling's Moonraker, skippered by Mark Broad, circled the reef and the Golden Eagle in another mark of remembrance.
The Deep Sea II has been missing since about 11.30pm on November 26, 1987, the time of the sudden end of the 70ft steel-hulled boat's radio communication with another Napier boat, the Winchester Star.
The lost contact, while reported, was dismissed as radio failure, till Mrs Kristensen began asking questions about the boat's whereabouts three days later and the huge searches began, including private searches supported by the government of Norway where Mr Kristensen was born, but nothing was ever found.
As the Golden Eagle returned to port, the families agreed it was "wonderful" to all be together for the occasion, while fishing stalwarts turned their minds to the possibility of a permanent commemoration, a plaque, considering sites around the inner harbour.