Stowaway searches were never fun. We had a private firm that came on in South Africa with about a half dozen Jack Russel terriers. Crew was put on the bridge or in the control room and the team swept the ship. The terrier handlers would toss the dogs up onto things or lower them down into spaces to search. They did a very thorough job.
We did have a guy try to come on in Durban. I was coming back to the ship in a van and saw a guy streaking through the yard in nothing but a pair of tighty-whities. I get to the gangway and the AB says âThe damndest things just happenedâŚâ The guy had tried to board the ship wearing a pair of new coveralls from the coal yard we were at. The AB jokingly asked him for ID, the guy freaked out, stripped the coveralls off and took off running. Gangway watches were fairly lax due to the number of âworkersâ that were constantly going on and off the ship. It had bred complacency and a reliance on the stowaway search.
One of the other ships with that company found a dead stowaway hidden up in the stack between the exhaust ducting and bulkhead. Theyâd apparently died of heat stroke or exhaustion some time before and the heat had desiccated the body. They werenât sure how long the stowaway had been there for, they found the body in shipyard.
In the case of the Nave Andromeda one of the reports said that they had entered the ship through the rudder trunk. Iâm not sure how thatâs even possible and Iâm a bit skeptical of that. Anyone have experience with a rudder trunk hatch that could be opened from outside to allow access to inside the vessel? Maybe they were in the rudder trunk when they were discovered (noise?) and were then brought aboard.
Just before we sailed from Cape Town, port security reported that a couple of workers that had come onboard to do some cleaning were unaccounted for. The mate found them peering out from an equipment room vent in the ER that was vented to the fan tail. They barricaded themselves in but port security came and got them out and we sailed on time. I canât imagine that anyone on board would have been complicit.
After the turn of the century, my company picked up an old TECO bulk barge that ran from Corinto Nicaragua to Tampa for 20 years. Our first trip, we loaded corn in Houston for Matarani Peru. During the Panama transit, we anchored for 2 days in Gatun Lake. Un beknowing to us, 8 stowaways made it onboard. It was 13 days before we made it to Matarani. The first one discovered was when an AB opened a line box. He almost passed out to find a Colombian laying there. 3 were hiding in the chain locker. It was a wonder none were mangled when we dropped the anchor. When we rounded them up, one ask âthis is not Tampaâ?? They were all flabbergasted to find out they were in Peru. They were pretty emaciated. We first gave them a 10# stick of boloney 3 loaves of bread and about 5 gal of gatoraid. Not a crumb left. Other interesting things happened on this trip that would make a whole chapter in a bookâŚ
Tankers with a midship had a storage and auxiliary equipment area underneath the midship which was called the center castle. It was used as a general utility area for all kind of things like for instance for the midship ventilators, airconditioning equipment, midship liquor/beer store, suitcases storage etc. One chief officer I sailed with even had his motorcycle stored here! The doors giving access to this area were never locked, could not be locked in fact, until our first encounter with these unwelcome guests, we were still naive then. In fact it was an ideal area for stowaways, a lot of hiding places.
About half a day after departure of Pointe Noire in West Africa an AB came running up to the bridge where the chief officer was on watch. He had heard strange noises and the sound of breaking glass coming from the center castle. The chief ordered that the second officer with two ABâs should take a look see. As it turned out five stowaways had broken into the midship liquor and beer storage space. This space had no bulk heads but wire mesh âwallsâ and a door with a simple padlock. They were totally drunk and fighting amongst each other while throwing beer bottles and bottles of precious Dutch gin and the captains beloved Jack Daniels to smithereens. The boatswain and a couple of his lads quickly rigged a fire hose and kept them pinned in the store until they had cooled down.
They were locked in a spare storage space in the center castle, the captain didnot want to take any risk with this aggressive lot who looked now more like drowned kittens. After consultation with the owners we turned around and sailed back to Pointe Noire. Never seen a more meeker party leaving the ship surrounded by a large number of police. Well, they had there moment of joyâŚ
Had a few corgies, they never shut up. Loyal to a fault. Will sniff out trouble in a heartbeat⌠My Black bear dog is just as alert. If you get through her, she has awakened or alerted me. Bad choice to proceed for my meager weatth⌠Your bride will not be happy with the results.
"For example, in February 2000 nine Afghan men hijacked an Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 and forced the pilot to land at Stansted. A siege involving the hijackers and 187 passengers and crew lasted five days. The hijackers were jailed but their convictions were later quashed.
In 2006, they brought legal action which allowed them to stay in Britain."
WTF??? Their stay in Britain should have been in a cemetery.
Steamer, we donât agree sometimes, but this bullshit should have resulted in severe punishment. Perhaps off track, but I am so tired of âPeoples rights offendedâ.with a resulting violent act. This shit is beyond ridiculous
You donât kill innocents to further your beliefs. I for one am frigging sick of it. Perhaps that is how they want me to feel sorry for . I say blast these terrorists to wherever the fuck they came from.
Totally agree.
Same as the twats that murdered WPC Yvonne Fletcher in 1984, shot by some prick from the Iranian Embassy; the whole lot should have been expelled 6 feet under, not out of the country.
Some people from Muslim countries that claim asylum in the UK pretend that they are gay and/or have converted to Christianity. They canât be sent home because in their home country being gay or apostasy is punishable with death.
I donât know if that was the case with these nine men from Afghanistan. I wonder how life has gone for them since settling in the UK, I donât think they have been in the news again so must have kept out of trouble.
Interesting post regarding helicopters. My next door neighbor was/ is a retired master chief who participated in the Iran Hostage mission. As we all know, some aircraft didnât make it back. His take on it, a decent plan but too many fingers in the pie and a hellacious sandstorm.
