Glad it has been resolved. These strike teams are very quick and effective.I am sure the stowaways never knew what hit them,
Mr Beale said the individuals were detained after they were met with āoverwhelming forceā.
Yes, you are right. Thatās the only way to go, hit them hard.
I mentioned on another post an unannounced āPractice Drillā on a Maersk container ship in the Suez Canalā¦ It was over very,very quickly.
Stupid thing was directly on our course line between Portsmouth and the Alderney Race, had to steam around the 3 mile exclusion zone.
The military operation on NaveAndromeda tanker has been successfully completed. There were 2 Royal Navy wildcat helicopters and 2 Navy Merlin Mark 4 helicopters and a SBS team deployed for the operation. Crew all safe in the citadel. The ship came from Lagos in Nigeria. It was the intention of the 7 detained Nigerian stowaways to ask for asylum on arrival in the U.K.
The Nave Andromeda is surrounded from all sides. Photo British Navy.
So according to the article, the crew and owners āknew about the presence of stowaways for some timeā. Why does it seem like this was some sort of a surprise for the UK government? Every port clearance form Iāve ever filled out asks if stowaways are onboard. This sounds like they showed up and then told Southampton VTS there is a laden tanker with no one in command 5 miles off your coastline.
Something just doesnāt make sense. Crazy story though.
I doubt that this was a hijack, more for some reason aggressive behaviour just before landfall. That can be concluded from the following statement in this article of the Mirror Online.
The captain of the Nave Andromeda put out a ādesperateā call for rescue because he āfeared for his lifeā, it was claimed today.
Also: made threats to kill the crew.
From personal experience I know that stowaways hardly carry food and water with them when they sneak on board. Most of the time they come out at sea, by necessity, within one day. I never saw any aggression, on the contrary.
They were always eager to work on board for their living but that normally was not allowed by the Owners. Of course the Owners and authorities at the port of destination were radioed about the situation so that they could meet the ship on arrival. If you didnāt do that you were in real trouble.
Iām guessing everything was ok until the crew attempted to sequester them in preparation for inspection on arrival. The stowaways may have rebelled when they realized they werenāt going to be allowed to walk down the gangway scot free in the UK.
Not too many places to hide on a tanker. A little more to this story that doesnāt pass the smell test.
Lifeboats were a popular hiding place. Sometimes they ate the emergency rationsā¦ Speaking about the smell test. They also shitted in the lifeboats. We had them clean it out.
On some ships they padlocked the door but that was taken off again because the key probably was lost or unfindable if neededā¦ It was proposed to lock the door only in port but that was not good enough. So the lifeboats were always checked at departure time. If we found such passengers in the boats they were hosed out.
You have sailed many more places than me on a much different vesselā¦ All I can say is yuk, we have picked up refugees during the Cuban crisis/evacuation. I know they were desperate, but havenāt experienced stowaways as you haveā¦Some of the container tows had a few, but never had that occur on a large oil barge. We didnāt have lifeboats, just rafts. Only places they could go would be fore and aft rakes and anchor compartmentā¦ Wouldnāt be engine room, the snipes are very observant. And definitely not crews quarters. I think the stowaways knew we would be a bad choice for their endeavor.
What a horrible behavior!
With todayās officially published āgood thinkingā, You would have been hangedā¦
One country I went to we removed all brass fittings from the topsides and stowed them in the forecastle with all spare lines and WELDED the door shut. From previous experience locks were never enough. Only one entrance to accomodation with 24 hour manning.
I had one stowaway on a trip to the US once, he was dressed in the previous ports coveralls and had boarded the ship using a fork hoist. He had some food and water and had remained hidden for 4 days.
As master it is very important that one follows the correct procedure and one of the best guides is the Gaard Guide to masters. There are legal reasons why the stowaway must not be put to work.
We were boarded from the pilot cutter of San Francisco by a heavily armed USCG boarding party and FBI and CIA. They could have taken over a small country. I was then informed that he was a bank robber and was wanted by Interpol so fortunately he was taken off my hands.
I was boarded once in Houston.by law enforcement looking for a fugitive murderer that reportedly was posing/hiding as a tugboat cook. Why they picked my vessel is still a mystery to me. The officials were rather thorough checking our credentials, almost rude when i smiled and told them " That guy isnāt here"ā¦ His profile showed up on āAmericas Most Wantedā later on. Was not on my vessel. I did however have an asst engineer years before that was bothered when I asked where he got the tattoos on each of ten fingers. My radar went up when he tried to hide them whenever in my presence. He was a nice, entertaining fellow that is now doing a rather long term in prison for molesting his own kids. A third timer. You just never know who falls through the cracks. Much harder these days, but there are a few still out there.
As I understand it the master and the owners of one ship learned the hard way because a stowaway, who was allowed to work, forced an accident, falling down a hold ladder and then claimed insurance money while also accusing the master that he was threatened to work against his wishes. Modern slaveryā¦
Jeez
Speaking of stowaways:
Translation: Blind passengers lived for ten days at the helm of Norwegian oil tanks
Also, that name? On a norwegian ship?!I thought I had and heard interesting Navy sea stories but those cannot hold a candle to these!
My old First told me that heās also found people in the rudder trunk space, when they were in ballast, obviously.
Our plan was always to put stowaways in the suez cabin, so they couldnāt come inside. But when we were in the Med, the plan was to put up shelter on the deck for refugees/migrants if we had to rescue people. What a sight that would have been: a little refugee camp in among all the pipework.