Kiwi yachtie's Pacific nightmare

Alexander Macdonald survived a storm that took his skipper's life and raised police accusations of murder. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Tired, hungry and in shock from losing his skipper overboard, New Zealander Alex Macdonald says he was then kept in Tongan police custody for five days, accused of killing him.

Macdonald, now back home in Christchurch, has spoken for the first time of how he drifted helpless in the Pacific Ocean after his experienced British shipmate David Parkinson was washed overboard in a storm.

He tells of waking to Parkinson's cries and rushing on deck to find the British sailor clinging desperately to a rope trailing behind the 12m sloop Santana - and trying in vain to save him.

For four days afterwards, he says, he first searched for Parkinson then sailed in search of land, unaware of the emergency locator beacon on board, and unable to communicate his plight to passing fishermen.

Worst of all, when he was finally rescued he was met on the dock by five policemen, who noticed his bleeding knuckles and bruised body.

"You had an argument with the captain," one officer accused. "You threw the captain overboard."

Macdonald, 66, was taken into police custody for questioning until 10pm that night. "I hadn't eaten, I hadn't slept for days," says the retired shearer. "All I wanted to do was go to bed. I kept telling myself, 'there's a man's life at stake'."

When he finished making a statement, he was told he would spend the night at the chief of police's house - where he was to stay for the rest of his time in Tonga. "I still got the feeling I was in custody, where they could keep an eye on me."

Police took his passport until the investigation was completed. In the days that followed, police and Macdonald went over his recollection of events and examined the yacht. The questioning continued in the same vein.

"They said to me several times, 'You threw the captain overboard didn't you?'. They said 'How come it took you three days to activate the locator beacon?"'

Macdonald repeated he hadn't known there was a beacon on the boat.

"They were insinuating I had murdered a guy," he says. "I had the feeling they were going to charge me with murder."

But finding no proof, the Tongan police finally had to let Macdonald go. And last Sunday night, Tongan Police Commander Chris Kelley said Macdonald could leave the country.

He returned home to Canterbury and the wintry cold that had first motivated his ill-fated Pacific expedition.

Macdonald had met Dave Parkinson, a 65-year-old former Royal Marine, in Rarotonga.

An American traveller at the hostel he was staying in asked if he was interested in extending his month-long holiday, as he knew a yacht-owner looking for a crew to help him sail to Tonga. "He said it would be great: 'You'd be sitting on deck, reading books in the sunshine'," recalls Macdonald. "I thought, at my age, the opportunity might never come up again."

He met Parkinson and the two got on well, finding a common interest in motorcycles.

Macdonald had no yachting experience but understood Parkinson had already sailed halfway around the world, picking up crew along the way, so he felt he was in capable hands.

Initially two Germans were to join them, but when they dropped out at the last minute, Parkinson decided to go ahead anyway. He predicted it would take them 10 days at the most to reach Tonga and they set off on August 7.

Parkinson had a pacemaker in his chest, which sent electrical impulses to electrodes in his brain, to fight the effects of Parkinson's disease. "We didn't even know each other's last names. I said 'I'm Macdonald' and he said 'Mine's Parkinson, the same as my disease'."

He took regular medicine, but Macdonald had noticed the disease still caused his skipper difficulties with his balance. "He had trouble walking in a straight line, even on land."

What began as an idyllic holiday quickly turned into a nightmare. The men took turns keeping watch for three hours at a time.

Three days in, the motor stopped working, so they could not charge the batteries for power. Then the first storm hit. For two days and two nights, there were high seas and gale-force winds. The men were bruised and bloodied from being thrown about.

Finally, through a break in the storm, they spotted Tonga. Macdonald felt relief that they were almost there, and went below decks to catch some sleep before his next shift at 6pm.

The next thing he remembers is waking to the sound of Parkinson's desperate cries. He heard his skipper screaming his name, then silence. He dashed up the steps on to the deck.

"He was being dragged backwards by the safety rope," says Macdonald. "Sometimes under water, sometimes above."

Parkinson yelled for more rope so he could reach the safety ladder.

In shock and still groggy from sleep, Macdonald managed to throw another rope out and get the end into a cleat for support.

He extended a boat hook till Parkinson had both hands on the ladder but, overcome with exhaustion, Parkinson slipped back into the sea.

In desperation, Macdonald threw him a life ring and a safety rope. "I screamed 'grab that'.

"I was pulling by hand and then... it went slack. The bloody rope had broken."

Macdonald says he was in a state of shock. "All I could see was big seas and white caps. I never seen him again. I thought 'Shit, you're gone mate'. I told myself, 'I've got to survive'."

He did not know how to operate communications equipment and was unable to call for help. "I raced down and turned the radio on and sent out mayday calls, 'Man overboard'." No one responded.

The inexperienced Macdonald taught himself to use the GPS system, charted his position and wrote 'HELP' on a banner, which he attached to the side of the boat.

The sign and his waving attracted the attention of a fishing boat but, after desperately explaining his situation, he realised they couldn't understand anything he was saying.

He continued to circle near 'Eua, a small Tongan island, looking for Parkinson.

On the third day adrift, he found a rescue beacon on board and activated it. The local Navy was alerted and rescued Macdonald south of Tonga on the afternoon of August 23.

Thinking the ordeal was over, "I had a cry."

But he arrived ashore to find the five waiting police officers.

"All I wanted to do was go home," he says. "I've done my best to save a man, but it didn't happen."

David Parkinson's body has not been recovered.