I got up to go have breakfast since Captain Ulf Mahnke and I had an
agreement that if I would send an email I would give him the floppy
in the morning so that he could send an email by sometime around lunchtime.
After breakfast I found Captain Mahnke up on the bridge. I handed him
the floppy and we exchanged pleasantries. I told him that I would be
returning to my cabin to read the company’s history book which
is over 250 pages, is written in English and is titled “Reederei
F. Laeisz, From Sailing Ships to Container Shipping”. He lent
us the book yesterday. It is a beautiful book and our current Captain
said that he is mentioned somewhere in the book.
After an hour of reading the Captain called our cabin to come immediately
to the bridge if we wanted to see a family of whales. Cindy looked out
the porthole and saw them and I ran up to the bridge to see them behind
the ship. The captain said that the sea smelled liked fish and so there
were plenty of fish which usually meant this area would have lots of
possible whale and porpoise sightings.
I chatted further with him and explained that I was looking for his
name in the history book and had not yet found it. He gave me a hint
followed by the story of the NORASIA PEARL.
This event occurred during the 8 year war that raged between Iran and
Iraq. The NORASIA PEARL was stopped by an Iranian navy ship in December
of 1987. A heavily armed crew boarded her, took over the radio station
and began to investigate the ship and the containers on board.
The Iranian naval ship issued orders to the container vessel to follow
into the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Captain Mahnke protested heavily
but the Iranian vessel threatened to shoot if the orders were not complied
with. The entire event was very difficult to deal with. The ship did
not only have cargo and crew but there were also passengers onboard.
The passengers were so bored with not being able to help that they
came as a group and asked the captain if there was something they could
do to keep busy while going through this ordeal. The captain had half
of the passengers cleaning the kitchen and the others were cleaning
some other part of the ship. The ship’s release was finally obtained
as a result of help from the highest levels of the German Government.
After much unloading, loading, and searching the Iranians finally realized
that there were no goods for Iraq on board the ship and let the ship
leave after 2 weeks. Captain Mahnke noted in the ship’s log, “I
must emphasize the amazing discipline and high morale of both the crew
and passengers during this stressful period. Thanks to their exemplary
behavior this very heavy work and hard job was completed in the shortest
possible time”. The ship was honored as he “Ship of the
Year” and the President of the ship financing company signed a
letter to the ship with an enthusiastic triple “hip, hip, hooray!”
We spent the rest of the day doing general reading, writing, discussing,
napping, and visiting the bridge.
Saying Goodbye from the M/V Penang Senator.
Until next time.
Ron and Cindy Sekkel
