No mutiny found

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32847, 22 February 1972, Page 19

No mutiny found

f,y Z.P.A -Reuter — Copyright)

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 21

The voyage of the freighter Oriental Venus started in New York—and ended in Philadelphia in a driving snowstorm with the ship’s decks crowded with police, F. 8.1. agents, customs and immigration officials, State Department men -nd coast guards, all looking for the mutiny that never was. The Philadelphia F. 8.1. chief, Mr Joseph Jamison, said the story of the “mutiny” started when a handful of the ship’s crew, which comes from Taiwan, invaded the stores yesterday and broke open a case of liquor. A fight started and the captain radioed ahead to Philadelphia for police help. A radio operator in Maryland heard the garbled message and passed it on to the coast guard.

By the time the 10,776-ton Oriental Venus had anchored in the Delaware River, the message had turned into a warning that the crew had mutinied and was holding the captain hostage. The city police commissioner (Mr Joseph O’Neil) headed a bus-load of his men to the docks—to find the other officials ready to set out for the ship. An argument started over who should board the vessel. But finally they agreed on a compromise—they would all go.

They set off through the snow and high winds in two boats, and swarmed aboard the Oriental Venus ready to confront the crew. “But,” said Mr Jamison, “everything was peaceful and there was no sign of a mutiny.

“It was all just a misunderstanding.”