Villy Larsen: I regret my behaviour

The words come from captain Villy Larsen, who in September 2006 experienced a nightmare off the American east coast, while captain on the Danish coaster Danica White, bound for the military harbour of Sunny Point close to Wilmington to take on military cargo for Greece and Saudi Arabia.

“I would have done it otherwise, surely”, says Villy Larsen. “Being in prison with an almost unknown future was a real nightmare. I was not sure that I would come out at all, and sometimes got the impression that everyone wanted to forget about me while I was locked away in a dark prison.”

It all started when a US Coast Guard boarding party with nine persons approached the Danica White some three nautical miles off the coast for an inspection.

“They wanted the crew to stay in the mess room, while the officer in charge and his deputy came on to the bridge”, explains Villy Larsen. “The officer in charge showed his ID, while the deputy did not have one. This is against the rules, and it is also against the rules for our ship to have any unknown persons onboard.”

The officer in charge insisted on vouching for the deputy. Then a long discussion started with the officer in charge, who also insisted on keeping the crew in the mess room during an inspection of the cabins.

Again captain Villy Larsen stood up and insisted that the persons living in each cabin should be present during the inspection. This was agreed upon. The next hurdle was inspection of the cargo hold. The USCG officer in charge insisted on having the hatch opened instead of using the access at each end. Villy Larsen refused to open the hatch as it can only be done with the derricks lifted, which for safety reasons he did not want to do in swell, three nautical miles off the coast.

“I think there was some bad chemistry between the officer in charge and me right from the beginning”, says Villy Larsen, and continues with explanation of the “attack” on the coastguard dingy:

“When the party left I had to speed up the vessel a little in order to be able to steer it. The dingy touched the side of the ship, but with no damage at all.”

When the “collision” occurred the Danica White was drifting at 1.2 knots.

Not enough food in the prison
A few days later an inspection of the cargo hold was conducted while lying at a safe anchorage without any problems, and there were no signs of authorities or trouble when the ship was taken to the quayside and lay there a whole weekend.

“The office in Copenhagen, the charterers and USGC had worked out a scheme to send over a new captain to the ship and he was on board during the approach to Sunny Point”, says Villy Larsen. “After a quiet weekend I was told to come down to the quayside and was arrested. I was taken to the immigration authorities and then to a judge and put in jail with the words that it would all take about a couple of weeks, maximum a month.”

“Coming into the prison was a very strange experience”, says Villy Larsen. “It was a non-smoking area as the state of South Carolina buys prison cells from private prison operators and non-smokers are better paid than smokers, so they insist on non-smoking. That was tough for me, as I usually smoke 20–30 cigarettes per day. Also in prisons the amount of food is not enough for everyone, so there are fights. Lights are on 24 hours a day, so you learn to sleep with the lights on. The only cigarette I smoked during the 104 days was on my birthday, November 16, when I purchased one cigarette at a price equal to DKK 90 on the inside black market.”

After 14 days in Wilmington he was transferred to the capital city of South Carolina, Raleigh, and jailed there for another 14 days before going to the prison in Smithfield. There he was put in a one-person-cell with another inmate.

“Two persons living in a cell measuring 2 x 2 metres with one bed and one mattress on the floor and with a combined toilet and washing facility in the cell and lights on 24 hours a day. It was a real change of lifestyle for me. I was used to working from six am to late at night every day onboard the ship, reading, talking and taking care of the engine as well as the whole ship. Now I had nothing to do at all. Nothing whatsoever. No reading stuff, and the only TV on was the TV shop in the dayroom in the prison. And no smoking!”

	Villy Larsen’s passport shows an entry stamp for prosecution. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Assault with deadly weapon
On November 27, Villy Larsen was brought to a court in Wilmington, where the prosecutor and his own lawyer insisted on a release, but the judge wanted a declaration from the US Home Land Security saying that they did not have any claims on Villy Larsen. So it was back to jail. The paper from Home Land Security was provided on December 18 and the same day Villy Larsen was escorted to the airport and sent on a plane to London. Then the original charge – assault nine times with a deadly weapon (read: the ship) giving a fine of USD 240,000 and twenty years in prison – was boiled down to time served plus a fine of USD 100 for abusive language and inexpedient manoeuvring.

No roses for the employer
“I must praise my union Maritime Leaders to the absolute highest level”, says Villy Larsen. “From the very first days they did everything possible to help me. They provided me with a lawyer and paid that for me and furthermore, they provided me with money to buy extra food in the prison. There you get a jail account to which they transferred money on a weekly basis. On the home front they also took mental care of my wife Lone, who was sent home from Wilmington without knowing anything about my fate.”

“On the other hand, there is no reason for roses to my company H. Folmer & Co, who did nothing to free me from jail. I think they kept a low profile in order to keep the profitable charters out of South Carolina. Neither was there any help when Lone called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is your own problem, was the answer she got from a telephone call.”

Villy Larsen and his wife took off at the end of January for Namibia to sign on to the sister ship Danica Brown for trading between Namibia and the Congo River in Africa.

“Africa is much easier to work in. With a couple of cartons of cigarettes most problems can be solved there and then”, explains Villy Larsen.

//Bent Mikkelsen

Master Mariner or Master Criminal?
Mark Twain once wrote “sailing is like being in jail, but with the added opportunity of drowning”. Captain Larsen has tried the correctness of that statement the hard way, and unfortunately, his encounter with the American Department of Justice is not an isolated experience.

Over the past years, developments show a trend where a criminal charge against the individual seafarer has become the prosecutor’s tool of choice in order to attend to safety, security and environmental issues. Accidents, especially those involving oil spill, result in not only liability, but also in criminal investigation. It is widely accepted that any deliberate actions that result in pollution, injury to life, industry and the environment should be taken seriously, but in many cases, a criminal investigation is initiated even if an error in navigation or management of the vessel caused the incident. According to those who advocate this, the aim is to discourage others as well as punish the wrongdoer.

In his interview, captain Larsen criticizes the owners of the Danica White for the meagre assistance in his precarious situation, and instead praises his union, the Maritime Leaders, for all their efforts. Since the P&I does not cover costs and fines deriving from a criminal charge, an experience like captain Larsen’s can be a costly occurrence for all involved.

Birgitta Hed, Deputy Area Manager at the Swedish Club, therefore stresses the importance of a contingency plan for the ship owner on how to handle criminal investigations, so that all functions involved – the owner, management and crew – are aware of their rights and obligations and how to avoid additional charges of obstruction of justice.

	Birgitta Hed of the Swedish Club.

Rewarding the whistle blower
A policy well known to all employees will also serve another purpose. Birgitta Hed relates to the American authorities’ campaign, where a “whistle blower” is entitled to a percentage of the fine imposed if they tell their side of the story. A well informed crew that feel the support of their employer will less likely end up as a hostile witness in a crime investigation, but instead work with the company in improving routines and preventing accidents.

A fully implemented Safety Management System (SMS) is the backbone in loss prevention at sea and can of course be helpful in any investigation. However, when prosecutors exploit the information from incident reports to nail the crew or, as in some cases, the shore based Designated Person (DP), there may be a risk that the already scarce reporting is curbed even more. The focus shifts from lessons to be learned to finding fault and a scapegoat; the opposite of what International Safety Management sought to achieve. There have also been cases where people, on the advice of their lawyers, entirely refuse to speak to investigators of an incident, thus comprising truth and transparency.

Birgitta Hed believes this trend is clearly counterproductive and that it may result in suppressed incident reporting, among other things.

Similarly, Peter Jodin, who is Safety Manager at Wallenius Marine, thinks that people onboard will think both once and twice before reporting accidents and near misses. Wallenius Marine has not had an incident like this yet but Captain Jodin feels confident they know how to react when and if it happens.

“We will not leave any of our boys or girls behind”, says Peter Jodin.

If ever in the situation, Wallenius Marine will set their P&I and local agent to work to arrange with legal assistance. Even if in the end the P&I will not cover the charges, the person accused is innocent until proven guilty and will get all necessary assistance.

Written policy on the way
At Transatlantic, they are equally prepared for the worst. A written policy is on its way out to the ships and the issue was recently discussed at a conference with the company’s senior officers and engineers. The concept is the same.

“Transatlantic will immediately contact our insurance companies and use their expertise to arrange for legal assistance and to raise a possible bail”, says Lars Holmberg, Technical Manager at Transatlantic.

Experience has shown that both guilty and innocent seafarers are caught in criminal investigations, often with great harm done, both personally and economically, before a decision is made. With today’s shortage of quality seafarers, the trend to criminalize the seafarer may possibly act as a deterrent to those interested in a sea-going career. Who wants to take up the challenge of becoming the company’s DP or accept the position as captain or chief engineer, if the risk at stake involves prison?

//Cecilia Österman

Latest update 20-02-2007 9:02

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