Kidnapped off Nigeria – An American Ship Captain Unveils the Truth

This story is on the gCaptain home page. A very informative and disturbing read. Makes the stories about the wild west look tame.

Good story. Glad to get the captains perspective on what happened. I’ve been anticipating some information. I feel very sorry for him and his family. He should’ve received psychological counseling ASAP. I hope his American shipmate is doing well considering the ordeal.

As i was reading the story i couldn’t help thinking of all the funny responses I’ve read about ECO finally giving raises, well all joking aside with an employer like ECO who needs enemies. How hard is it for Gary to give him a call and tell his employee that everything is going to be OK? Pathetic if you ask me. In the end it all boils down to profit. The bottom line no matter what…

I’m curious how much $ these capt. Are bringing back after selling fuel over there.

Good `ol ECO. About how I figured they would handle things. Keep your mouth shut or you’ll be sorry.

Wonder if ECO can be held liable for anything? Sounds like he and his family have a case for mental anguish at the least.

The change in treatment is unreal, I met one of the guys on the endeavor and he was told he was getting therapy on the company dime, no choice if he wanted to keep working there. He got a couple months off with pay, and put on the holiday to get his 6000.

My big question is did this guy contact gcaptain on his own. At one point our manager had come on the boat and we were discussing the infamous craptain fart knocker post on here about the officers meeting. He round the way asked if we knew who it was etc. He then said that, and this is the part that bothers me, that they approached gcaptain about getting any information on the poster that they could, ISP anything really. The reply he claimed from gcaptain was, “sure, we’ll give you what ever you need if you let us interview the two guys off the C-Retriever”.

John, Rob, Mikey, is that a true or even remotely accurate story, and is that how you gamed access to this guy?

Regardless, very good article, and it would be nice if this caught some more mainstream attention outside of the maritime community. People really don’t realize, or for that matter care, about the how’s and whys of where their energy and plastic products come from.

[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;134447]The change in treatment is unreal, I met one of the guys on the endeavor and he was told he was getting therapy on the company dime, no choice if he wanted to keep working there. He got a couple months off with pay, and put on the holiday to get his 6000.

My big question is did this guy contact gcaptain on his own. At one point our manager had come on the boat and we were discussing the infamous craptain fart knocker post on here about the officers meeting. He round the way asked if we knew who it was etc. He then said that, and this is the part that bothers me, that they approached gcaptain about getting any information on the poster that they could, ISP anything really. The reply he claimed from gcaptain was, “sure, we’ll give you what ever you need if you let us interview the two guys off the C-Retriever”.

John, Rob, Mikey, is that a true or even remotely accurate story, and is that how you gamed access to this guy?

Regardless, very good article, and it would be nice if this caught some more mainstream attention outside of the maritime community. People really don’t realize, or for that matter care, about the how’s and whys of where their energy and plastic products come from.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn’t buy that for a second about the guys at gCaptain. They know as well as anyone else how important anonymity is on here. They’re certainly not out to get anyone fired. Of course, where the Bayou Mafia is involved it may be considerably more than firing that someone would have to worry about… Even if they did agree to fork over any information I would surmise that it was probably not anything more than could be gathered by an average citizen with a computer and an internet connection (which is not much, unless you’re an experienced tech-wiz).

Wonder if Gary was kidnapped by Nigerian pirates like Captain Thomas if HE would follow the company’s advice of not coming out with the story. What a bunch of bull fucking shit. Good for Thomas that he has vented his story, is seeking help, and trying his best to move on.

[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;134447]The reply he claimed from gcaptain was, “sure, we’ll give you what ever you need if you let us interview the two guys off the C-Retriever”.

John, Rob, Mikey, is that a true or even remotely accurate story, and is that how you gamed access to this guy? [/QUOTE]

Ummm… no.

That’s what I figured, had to ask though.

Yeah, that’s not even a remotely true statement.

That interview really makes me angry at ECO. Even after all the horrible crap I’ve seen companies do to their people for no good reason I STILL cannot believe that this guy was treated this way. I already had plenty of reasons not to go work for ECO but this really just puts gold-encrusted frosting on that cake. What a bunch of crack-pots. Missah Garry bettah watch his self afoe’ he git found face dahwn in deh bayou der’.

For the life of me I have never understood the attitude in the office towards the “Boat People” as they love to call us behind our backs.

I was lucky that Maritrans was very good about things like getting you off the boat for deaths and other family emergency’s. When I worked out of N.Y. before 1988 a tug that I was on had just got done putting out our sea hawser en-route to the 106 mile dump. The Captain called down to see of the AB was still up as the office had called to tell him to call home. Now this was before cell phones so he used the Marine Operator. It turns out that his wife had been calling the office for almost 24 hours to tell him that his Father had died! To this day that Captain has my respect because he turned the tow around and shortened the hawser up and called for a launch. The office was screaming over the radio the entire time. The Cook and I took turns standing his watch until he got back. The frigging office was worried that we would not sail short handed so the decided not to tell him.

I hope that this Captain gets the help that he needs to be able to put this behind him and get back to enjoying his life with his family!

Hey Tugs, that’s a pretty neat story. Sounds like a cool Capt. to have. When I was stationed on the John C Stennis, I had a buddy who was raised by his grandparents have his grandpa pass away. XO and CO refused to let him go home for the funeral. Just a few weeks later while in the Persian Gulf there was a dude that “won” a trip home to go to the Super Bowl in a round of Bingo. Pretty fucked up right?

It didn’t say what is in the captain’s future. It sounded as if he has parted ways with ECO.

I wish him the best. Sounds like a very capable person.

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;134459]That interview really makes me angry at ECO. Even after all the horrible crap I’ve seen companies do to their people for no good reason I STILL cannot believe that this guy was treated this way. I already had plenty of reasons not to go work for ECO but this really just puts gold-encrusted frosting on that cake. What a bunch of crack-pots. Missah Garry bettah watch his self afoe’ he git found face dahwn in deh bayou der’.[/QUOTE]

The billionaire that cares… Not!

[QUOTE=Tugs;134465]For the life of me I have never understood the attitude in the office towards the “Boat People” as they love to call us behind our backs.

I was lucky that Maritrans was very good about things like getting you off the boat for deaths and other family emergency’s. When I worked out of N.Y. before 1988 a tug that I was on had just got done putting out our sea hawser en-route to the 106 mile dump. The Captain called down to see of the AB was still up as the office had called to tell him to call home. Now this was before cell phones so he used the Marine Operator. It turns out that his wife had been calling the office for almost 24 hours to tell him that his Father had died! To this day that Captain has my respect because he turned the tow around and shortened the hawser up and called for a launch. The office was screaming over the radio the entire time. The Cook and I took turns standing his watch until he got back. The frigging office was worried that we would not sail short handed so the decided not to tell him.

I hope that this Captain gets the help that he needs to be able to put this behind him and get back to enjoying his life with his family![/QUOTE]

That does sound like a crew I would want to be a part of, I would do the same .Good story, Its one thing if you out in middle of the or way off shore. but being able to bring the person back with in reason only makes sence. loved ones only die once and they only have one funeral.

I hope Wren can lawyer up and get some compensation.

ECO’s reaction is a little odd. Is it Gary’s overarching arrogance, or is he just trying to minimize any attention given to a very corrupt (and lucrative) part of his business empire. Hope this hits the mainstream media.

Fox News has mentioned the article on the app I have

You are not saving lives by putting this out there. You are endangering the lives of all expats working in the region. The same way you say that the base mentioned your destination on VHF 16 that could be heard for miles… YOU ARE POSTING ON WWW, to be seen worldwide. Do you not think Nigerian pirates do not look at gCaptain? Endangering lives just trying to set one’s self up for a law suit. I was transferred from the region within one week of requesting a transfer. You are responsible for your own actions. If you were scared or not comfortable then you choose not to go back. I am sure the lure of the money is what kept you climbing on the Delta flight, not the refusal to be transferred. I was transferred after one week of my request, but you would not be transferred after begging for 4 years??? TOTAL BS right there!