Moreton Bay boat tragedy: Read the last texts Robert Holden sent to his wife before the storm capsized his boat
A father-of-three who died after his boat capsized during an annual fishing trip during heavy storms on Boxing Day had texted his wife during his painful final moments.
Robert Holden, 48, was with 11 other men on the 10-metre vessel in Moreton Bay, north of Brisbane, when the fierce storm broke through about 4.50pm on Tuesday.
Mr Holden and his mates David Logan and Stephen Tait were all killed when their boat capsized. The others on board survived.
Mr Holden’s wife, Michelle, had texted him five minutes before the storm hit asking if he was going back because a “major storm” was coming and she was concerned.
‘I had sent Rob a message saying, ‘There’s a big storm coming, darling, I’m scared… are you still on the water?’ and he said, ‘Yes, it might be safer for us to stay here,'” she said The courier post.
Rob Holden had texted his wife Michelle (pictured together) minutes before he drowned during a fishing trip with friends on Boxing Day
Pictured are text messages between Robert Holden and his wife Michelle before he was killed when wild storms capsized his boat
She then sent her husband a photo of the rain radar, but didn’t hear from him until 5 p.m. when he called her pocket.
When she tried to call him back, the line was busy.
‘He was on the phone with my daughter… (she) called me and said ”did you get a weird call from dad”, I said ”yeah… what happened?” and she said : ”Mom, it sounded like he was under a pile of blankets’.’
She then received a final text from her husband that read, “we.ducked.”
“(He) tried to say ‘we’re damned,’ but he never swore, so I knew something was very wrong,” she said.
The 10-metre ship (pictured) was battered by a wild storm that battered the south-eastern coast of Queensland on Tuesday afternoon
Mr Tait’s brother, Andrew, was also on board and survived, while the ship was owned by a third Tait brother, Graham, who was back on shore.
When Mrs Holden texted her husband at 4.45pm, Graham Tait also texted Stephen with the same concerns and asked if they were going back.
When the storm hit minutes later with a force strong enough to blow the ship’s glass windows apart, Mr. Holden and Stephen, described by Mrs. Holden as close friends who did not want to leave each other, found themselves below deck.
Andrew Tait held the cabin door open for them so they wouldn’t get stuck, but when the ship capsized the pair became disoriented.
Former Queensland rugby players David ‘Mario’ Logan (left) and Stephen ‘Taity’ Tait (right) also died in the boat tragedy
Mr Holden was remembered by his son Joshua as a ‘good man through thick and thin’
Mr Holden’s son Joshua said his father was found with a nasty lesion on his forehead and he believes he had hit his head and was unconscious when he drowned.
Police divers who later visited the capsized vessel were unable to find the pair for hours as the water turned ‘black’ due to the boat’s leaking diesel fuel.
Mrs Holden said her husband was ‘unrecognizable’ when she had to formally identify his body.
Joshua described his father as a hero and said he believed he was trying to ensure the others on board were safe when he became trapped in the ship’s hull.
He said his father was “a good man through thick and thin” and the family’s “reliable provider.” He launched one GoFundMe to support his mother.