c. 1998 Religion News Service
NEWARK, N.J. _ Although the day was unseasonably warm, the Indian master of the aging Thai bulk carrier unloading at Port Newark kept an electric heater glowing near his feet in his cramped ship’s office as he drank tea with his visitors and discussed the growing menace of piracy on the high seas.
“The ocean is an unruly, dangerous place,” observed Capt. M.A.K. Chugtai, master of the Nira Maree, homeported in Bangkok. “There are no policemen out there. You are very vulnerable. The pirates use fast boats. They mean business.”
The captain was listened to avidly by his two guests, Douglas B. Stevenson of Maplewood, N.J., a maritime lawyer, and the Rev. Cornish G. Espino, an Episcopal priest, both representing _ in slightly different capacities _ The Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) of New York and New Jersey.
Stevenson and Espino were well aware of the alarming increase in piratical attacks on shipping throughout the world, recent examples of which involved the killing of four crew of a ship unloading in Sri Lanka and the shooting of a British female second officer at Santos, Brazil.
Piracy _ a word that conjures up decidedly old images of swashbucklers and swords, eye patches and bandana _ has, however, become a quite current concern on the 164-year-old Seamen’s Institute agenda to protect merchant seamen from the dangers and abuses inherent to their way of life. The agency has hosted industry and government roundtable discussions in the quest for a solution to the problem, which threatens the lives of seafarers.
The two men were aboard the Nira Maree to acquire insight on the piracy menace, along with other maritime issues, from the point of view of a ship’s master who routinely sails the waters of the South China Sea, where the attacks have been the greatest.
“So far we have been lucky and have not been attacked by pirates, but we take precautions,” said Chugtai, whose vessel sails with Indian officers and a mixed crew of 27 Indian and Thai seamen.
“Lately, there have been many casualties. If they board us, we are instructed not to offer any resistance, to turn over the keys to the safe. We have no guns or ammunition aboard, so as not to escalate the violence.”
The SCI, an ecumenical organization with ties to the Episcopal Church, has labored on behalf of seafarers’ rights and welfare around the world since 1834 and today serves more than 150,000 seafarers from 75 nations.
Stevenson, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander, is director of the Center for Seafarers’ Rights (CSR), a division of the SCI, and a worldwide resource for legal research, education and advocacy on seafarers’ rights issues. It is the only full-time maritime legal aid office in the world.
Espino, 59, a Filipino-American, is one of the team of multilingual port chaplains at the SCI’s International Seafarers’ Center at Port Newark. He represents the SCI’s Center for Seafarers’ Services. His ability to speak Tagalog is of great value. The Philippines provide more seafarers to the world’s ships than any other country.
Each year, Institute chaplains, trained by CSR staff, visit 90 percent of the ships entering the Greater Port of New York-New Jersey, delivering hospitality, spiritual counsel and other assistance to seafarers. They are also eyes and ears of the CSR, trained to detect seafarers’ rights abuses.
“Chaplains get to hear about things on ships that would not be divulged to anybody else,” Stevenson said. “If there’s a problem, a crew member will go to the chaplain first, and then the chaplain turns to me.
“Seafarers are often hesitant to come forward. A skilled chaplain is not looking for trouble, but he can sense tension among the crew, a signal that there may be a problem, such as disputes over contracts and wages, denial of shore leave, physical abuse and medical and safety issues.”
Stevenson observed that more than two-thirds of the world’s seafarers are from developing countries and often are not aware of their basic human rights. Faced with serious unemployment in their homeland, many are forced to accept work on ships regardless of how low the wage or how onerous the working and living conditions may be.
Stevenson and Espino view escalating piracy as yet another unwelcome risk to a seafaring way of life already fraught with all the perils the sea traditionally offers to mariners.
The Malay archipelago of Indonesia has been identified as the area of highest risk for modern piracy, followed by Thailand and Brazil. But pirate activity has also been reported off Somalia on Africa’s east coast, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the coast of China.
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Last year, according a report by the International Maritime Bureau, there were 229 pirate attacks on ships at sea, at anchor or in port, only one more than the year before, but accompanied by an alarming increase in the level of violence.
“It’s the brutality of the attacks and the fact that the pirates are never caught which is causing us concern,” said Eric Ellen, executive director of the IMB, which maintains a Piracy Center in Kuala Lumpur. “Everybody thinks ships are fair game and the psychological damage done to crews is immense.”
In addition to piracy, 14 ships were hijacked last year. The IMB contends that some of the unrecovered hijacked vessels are being used as phantom ships operating under phony names and targeting other ships for their valuable cargoes, which are then unloaded at ports friendly to the pirates.
“In Somalia, there are not many who have fast boats, so they board you while you’re at anchor,” said Capt. Chugtai. “Consequently, when I arrive at port I register and then get away, drifting to save fuel, until it is time to unload or load cargo.”
Somali pirates recently added a new wrinkle to the crime of hijacking. They seized a merchant ship as it sailed along their coast and are demanding a ransom for its safe return to its owners.
The IMB report warned that men wearing Chinese military uniforms are intercepting ships off the south China coast and taking them to local ports for removal of their cargo.
The report said “it is unacceptable that China, a major maritime nation, has failed to take action against this type of criminal activity where local government employees are clearly involved.”
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“Piracy is legally a universal crime, punishable by death in some countries,” Stevenson said. “Any country can prosecute pirates. The problem is finding them. A lot needs to be done. Singapore has done a lot, but so far there has been no response from Indonesia, and the Taiwan coast is bad.”
He said the real victims of piracy are crew members.
“Pirates also go for personal items,” said Stevenson. “One seaman who had been sailing for 18 years had his wedding ring stolen. He was psychologically devastated and vowed never to go to sea again.”
He noted that there are seamen’s centers operated by private church organizations like the SCI at most of the major ports throughout the world providing for the welfare of seamen.
“It’s a tough life working on ships,” he said. “Long separations create difficult dynamics, and quick turnarounds in port leave little or no time for shore leave, a chance to socialize. There’s loneliness and stress. The church has become an accepted part of the maritime industry, not peripheral to it. Taking good care of seafarers is not only humanitarian, it’s very important to protecting the interest of the industry.”
DEA END GORDON
