My Experience with Stowaways | Chief MAKOi

Another question came up in the comments section and it asked about stowaways.

I used a few AI generated images to aid in story-telling.

Chief MAKOi
Seaman Vlog

[awmperry]

Port security here. Two years ago yesterday I dealt with an attempted stowaway who snuck into my quay by, as far as we can tell, clinging to the underside of a lorry. He tried to board a cruise ferry through the bow ramp but was stopped by the stevedores, who called me. As I was guiding him away (our policy is to avoid going hands-on or arresting unless we have to) the ship assumed the situation was resolved, and decided to start closing up. The stowaway broke away, sprinted for the ramp, leapt over the safety gate and jumped 2.5 m up to grab the edge of the ramp as it rose.

As he swung his foot up he lost his grip, falling by then three metres down onto the steel plates protecting the quayside, bouncing half a metre back into the air and falling into the water. I radioed for my colleagues (and police and ambulance) and grabbed a life preserver, expecting to find him unconscious - but when I looked over the edge he was happily treading water.

Long story short, he pulled all his clothes off and tried to swim across the channel to the other side of the harbour, but thought better of it and came back to where we - and the police - were waiting for him.

[LuigiRosa]

(cruise line corporate IT here) In 2018 after a drydock we were repositioning from Bahamas shipyard to Barbados without guests onboard. At one point south of Haiti I was in the office of the Chief Engineer chatting and the engine stopped. We went on the bridge to find out that we intercepted a small boat with 10 people onboard (9 mean, 1 woman, turned out to be pregnant).
We managed to safely bring them onboard, as in your case, we hosted them in a confined and guarded area with proper living spaces.
Eventually we disembarked them in Barbados, but the company had hard time to convince the authorities to accept them.

[Subgunman]

Back in the 1800's the British were quite brutal with stowaways. If they were not thrown overboard they were they were put to work and often turned over to British naval vessels where they would be placed into "indentured servitude" aboard the naval vessel as long as the captain saw fit. Just the word getting out among these travelers they learned to stay clear of British flagged vessels.

[robersonorg]

Good Presentation.
Thank you, Chief!

[albusperkamentus]

Hey chief, 2 years ago I commented about starting at seafaring school thanking you for introducing me to this work field. I'm glad to say after 2 years of schooling that I will be working for 6 months as a cadet onboard a heavy lift vessel next month. I'd once again like to thank you for doing what you do😄

[nvragn]

Hey Chief I was starting to worry about you and missing your new videos. Glad to see it pop up so without further ado I have some business to do for the next 10 minutes or so 😂👍🇨🇦🔧. Also you know me I can't promise that you won't see another comment from me seen as I'm the guy who can't wait until the end of the video to comment. Cut me some slack. I'm older than dirt and if I don't do it right away I will forget 😂😂😂. Thanks Chief 👍🇨🇦

[Duckfarmer]

Chief - Thanks for an interesting explanation of something I wouldn't even thing to ask!

[FLGurl]

This channel never disappoints with profound information. Many thanks! 🤗

[beefgoat]

My mom would tell me stories about family members, around the turn of the last century, who would hop on freight trains and disappear. Maybe several months later a letter would arrive, but not always. But they wanted to go out west, looking for opportunities. They didn't see much of a future in being just another poor Irish guy living in South Boston.

[ronjurgs]

Retired chief engineer and radio officer here. I've had two experiences with stowaways on a ship. The first time was actually on the training ship I was aboard during my Merchant Marine Academy training days. We were leaving Mexico when a stowaway was caught aboard our ship. I was standing next to him and felt sorry for his hungry and sad look so gave him a coupule candy bars that I had in my pocket. Later I was talked to by the captain and told that any stowaways on American flagged vessels must be only fed bread and water (that was the law) until they could be discharged. It took a couple of days but the stowaway left the ship and I don't know what happened after that.

The second case was when I was an officer on a car carrier anchored before transiting the Panama Canal. Late at night, 5 stowaways climbed up the anchor chain and got onto the foredeck. They really couldn't go anywhere because all the hatches to the other areas of the ship were secured. Eventually they were caught the next morning while the crew was heaving anchor before our canal transit. The authorities were immediately called and the stowaways were removed. We did loose our spot in line for our canal transit but eventually got thru the same day. One of the enforcement officers rode along with us during our transit in case we found any other stowaways. I asked him why a stowaway would leave a fairly prosperous area like Panama and was told that the stowaways were from another country in Central America and they really couldn't get any kind of a good job there so thought they could do better in the USA. If they could have gotten into the cargo area with the 1000's of cars there we would have to be very lucky to ever find them on our 7 day trip to our next stop in Jacksonville, FL. It's possible that they could have gotten something to eat & drink in the officer's or crew mess during the trip at the late night hours as no one is really around much then.

PS: After reading another's stowaway experience, it triggered another 'sea story' memory while I was a crew member (Merchant Marine) aboard a US Navy ship. This was a research ship that was owned by the US Navy but 100% crewed by Merchant Marine personnel. In this case I had to share a room with another crew member. We were at the dock and after a good nights sleep I got out of my top bunk and found my berthmate in the lower bunk with a female. I was surprised and quickly left the room not sure exactly what to do. As luck would have it I came across the captain at the coffee pot in the officer's lounge and told him what I saw. He quickly went to the room and confronted the other crew member and his girl friend. She was kicked off. I don't know if the plan was for her to be a stowaway but obviously they needed a better plan for that to work.

[KenNeumeister]

given the size of the ship and hiding opportunities, do some go undetected for the entire voyage, or even found dead later from dehydration, suffocation, or extreme heat or cold.

[monsterzero]

Chief I didn’t realize all the stuff you guys had to do with a stowaway situation. Thanks for another informative video.

[GaryCameron]

I've heard of them hiding in cargo containers and nearly died from the 50C heat, lack of water and air since their particular container was somewhere in the middle of the stack. It would be horrible to find a body days later of someone who hid in a dangerous spot and died there.

[chrissmith]

👍👍😎 Thank you chief for your time. Nice work.

[connork]

There were some African ports we tied up at where the port security was virtually nonexistent. We always searched the vessel prior to getting underway and fortunately never had stowaways. It certainly was a fear however as this was and still is a serious concern. Have a good watch chief.

[abigailhowes]

I remember as a child in some parts of the world, some of the freight carrying ships would be willing to book passage for passengers. I remember sailing from the US to the Bahamas either in a "vanna boat" or "tomato boat". We were given (paid for) a room and the same meals as the crew. I remember in particular one crew member named Winston, and we had fun with him. At that time cigarettes were still advertised on Radio and TV. We would sing the jingle to him for Winston cigarettes. Do they still have this policy of hiring out rooms in some cargo ships, or is that a thing of the past? I remember it being a fun, frugal and interesting way to do some travel. This was back in the 1950'scabd 60's.

[darrengladstone]

That kind of financial impact certainly makes some pretty advanced security systems reasonable.

[trep]

Another great piece from Chief MAKOi. Very dangerous aspect of the shipping industry.

[rossbryan]

THIS IS THE FIRST OF YOUR VIDEOS I HAVE SEEN SINCE 2?? YEARS AGO!!
THIS WAS QUITE INTERESTING, AS I WORKED FOR THE RAILROAD, AND WE DO SEE FREELOADING RIDERS ON OCCASION!!

[bholdr----]

What an interesting story... I was surprised by several parts within it, and am thankful for the humane treatment and decent resolution of this situation.