About 12.30am on Sunday, Oamaru charter boat fisherman Neville Scoles skippered Dunedin vessel Katherine Johnstone into safe harbour with fisherman Graham Mills and Waitaki District Council harbour operator and North Otago Yacht and Powerboat Club commodore Kevin Murdoch, in the club's rigid-hulled inflatable boat, providing support.
``It [Katherine Johnstone] was only a few hundred metres off the wharf at anchor, but it drew 2.4m and at low tide we would only have just over 1m at times,'' Mr Murdoch said.
``It's a very substantial vessel - it's all steel and very well built.
``To come into Oamaru, local knowledge is pretty much what our harbour is all about - there's not enough water there and it's a very narrow channel.''
The crew was safe and ``the boat's still in really good condition'', he said.
The Otago Daily Times was unable to contact the boat's two-man crew yesterday.
A police spokeswoman said they were monitoring the situation at the weekend and could not provide details.
Maritime New Zealand senior communications and media adviser Sandra Ford said Maritime New Zealand was notified of the situation by phone and was making ``initial inquiries''.
Mr Murdoch said he understood the boat first encountered trouble with its steering ``not long out of Dunedin'', and then the boat's GPS began giving incorrect positioning.
The boat then struck ``Danger Reef'' near Moeraki but the crew signalled to say there was no grave or imminent danger.
But the time Katherine Johnstone reached Oamaru the two crewmen appeared to be sleep-deprived.
``Whenever there's something like that, it's more than one thing that goes wrong,'' he said.
``There was more than one thing that had them a bit puzzled.''
Fishing vessel Jane Marie sank attempting to enter Oamaru Harbour in February. In May, a Maritime New Zealand investigation found the boat had grounded on rocks on the seaward side of Holmes Wharf because it hit ``shallow water on a low tide''.
