Ship stalemate transferred

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33141, 3 February 1973, Page 1

Ship stalemate transferred

f.V.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Feb. 2. The Dagon affair—a fishing boat for which no-one wants the responsibility—has now been placed in the hands of the Italian Government by the Italian Ambassador (Dr Benedetto Fenzi) at the behest of the Wellington Harbour Board.

The board’s general manager (Mr R. R. Reeves) said today that its representations to the 436-ton squid bait carrier’s owner in Rome had been without result.

“Consequently, the board has now made representation to the Italian Embassy, and the Ambassador has given full details of the situation to his Government,” he said. “The board is now awaiting a reply through Dr Fenzi.”

Meanwhile, the Dagon rocks forlornly through its thirty-eighth day at its moorings, and despondency

deepens around its Taiwanese master, Captain Chung Cheung-on and his countrymen aboard the ship. In the midst of the complicated international legal wranglings they sit wonder-

ing when, or if, they will be allowed to sail again. The Dagon needs 16 drums of generator oil and enough provisions for about 15 days in order to continue its interrupted voyage from Hobart to Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands.

Until arrangements have been made for payment, Captain Chung cannot take the oil and food aboard. It looks now as if no-one wants to pay. Hope that an end to his problems was in sight was given to Captain Chung on January 19, with a cable from the ship’s agent in Las Palmas: “Please don’t worry and owner arrange wait now.” The next week, the harbour board received word that encouraged Mr Reeves to announce that he expected the ship would be free to sail within a few days. Now, Captain Chung will only shake his head and say: “Ask the harbour board.” The board has no answer. FOOD GETS STALER There is another factor. No-one knows how the Taiwanese are managing to

subsist without money and with shrinking food supplies. A month ago, it was estimated the food aboard the ship was only 23 bags of rice and a few oil-tainted, but edible, vegetables. How much of that is left is known only to the crew.