The East Wood affair was an incident of piracy in early 1993 aboard the cargo ship East Wood (also Eastwood), after Chinese illegal immigrants took control of the vessel. The vessel was eventually taken back by her crew.[1] More than 500 undocumented Chinese nationals were being transported in one of the largest efforts to smuggle Chinese into the United States in recent times.[2][3]
Radio messages
On January 27, 1993 a distress message went out from the freighter that it had been hijacked by an armed crew member after it had left from Hong Kong to Taiwan.[4] On February 7 the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Rush, after gaining permission from the Panamanian government (the ship was registered as a Panamanian vessel), boarded with armed sailors but by then the mutiny had already been put down.[5] They found signs of violence and discovered 527 illegal immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong provinces, China.[1] The only weapons were pocket knives and machetes, and two crew members were missing.
Aftermath
The ship was escorted the Marshall Islands, breaking down twice, and arrived at Kwajalein where the immigrants stayed for 20 days to recover their health before being returned to China.[1][6] The Indonesian crew members were flown back to Indonesia.
References
- 1 2 3 Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Command History 1993 Volume I March 31, 1995 Histories from US service or unified commands in the Pacific were released to Nautilus under US Freedom of Information Act requests. Declassified July 16,1999 SEC 3.1 E. O. 12958
- ↑ Essoyan, Susan - of Chinese Refugees Into U.S. Grows : Smuggling: Last week more than 500 would-be immigrants were found in ship's holds. Since August, 1991, 1,126 nationals have been intercepted. Los Angeles Times, February 10, 1993
- ↑ Air Station Barbers Point History United States Coast Guard
- ↑ Coast Guard reports possible vessel hijacking in Pacific UPI, January 30, 1993
- ↑ Union Bridge man served in Coast Guard rescue NORTHWEST -- Taneytown * Union Bridge * New Windsor Baltimore Sun, March 30, 1993
- ↑ Mann, Jim, Christine Courtney and Susan Essoyan - Outlook : Chinese Refugees Take to High Seas : Emigrants pay up to $30,000 to criminal syndicates that pack them into boats, the INS says. Numbers are small but growing. Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1993
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