The fifth and final missing person has been found dead following the sinking of fishing charter vessel Enchanter off the North Cape on Sunday night. 

It is understood the person was found inside the hull, which dive squad members had been assessing this afternoon after it was found yesterday. 

Ten people were on board when the Enchanter sank amid rough seas around 11pm on Sunday. A rogue wave is understood to have hit the boat near Murimotu Island, breaking the bridge. 

Five, including the vessel's skipper Lance Goodhew, were rescued by the Northland emergency rescue helicopter. 

Four bodies had been recovered by yesterday with a large-scale air and water search continued today until the fifth was found. 

Among the deceased were Richard Bright, 63, and his mate Mike Lovett, 72, who had packed their car on Wednesday morning and headed up to Mangōnui to join the five-day fishing charter. 

Long-time friend Rick Williams caught up with Bright for a beer at his bar the Group One Turf Bar on Tuesday night just before he headed off, while he had also just seen Lovett who worked at his thoroughbred stud farm. 

It was the second time the pair had gone on a fishing charter to the Three Kings. 

"They had been there once and it was Richard's wish to hook a marlin. He hadn't got one. He had caught every other form of fish, so this is why he went again this year to go and get a marlin." 

But Williams is unsure whether his good friend Bright and long-serving colleague Lovett fulfilled the dream that was shattered when a rogue wave split the boat they were staying on in two. 

Yesterday was a tough day for the stud farm manager after losing three friends – Bright, Lovett and 43-year-old father-of-three and Te Awamutu builder Mark Sanders – to the ocean. Two other men from Cambridge are also understood to be missing or dead. 

"It was just an unbelievably bad day. I'm not even family and I feel terrible, so I can't think or understand it." 

He described Bright as a "likeable clown" and said his death was a terrible loss not only to his friends and family, but also the wider Cambridge community to which he gave a lot of money through his bar. 

Gael Sanders, mother of Mark, said she heard around 8am on Monday morning that something had happened and since then, the day had been "devastating". 

"He had spoken to his family at around 6pm [Sunday] night. He has a wife and three children and was having such a wonderful time and just so happy. He'd caught some amazing fish and it was best time of his life." 

The 43-year-old father loved fishing and often fished with his dad in Kawhia, Gael said. 

"He just loved his fishing so much," she said. 

"The only nice thing is, we're so happy that they've actually found his body. That's very special. I hate to think of him out there on his own. Six o'clock last night, when he spoke to his family and he spoke to the three kids and his wife, he was just so happy and it was just amazing." 

- by Adam Pearse, NZ Herald