The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

AFTER spending 30 months on a ship docked at a port in Canada, veteran Bahamian sailor Richard Thompson is packing up to come home.

Mr Thompson, 59, travelled to Quebec City in 2016 as part of a crew commissioned to get the MV Ethan ready to sail after it was purchased by Bahamian company D&D Maritime.

But the ship never left the city port due to financial challenges that left the crew unpaid. Vyacheslav Borshchevskij lives on the ship with Mr Thompson. 

The pair’s nearly three-year struggle was reported by CBC News, which revealed the ship that was purchased for more than $750,000 US cash was sold for $150,000 earlier this month.

“It hasn’t been like some destitute island,” Mr Thompson said. 

“Honestly it’s nowhere near like that. The real problem is just the fact that if you decide to sell a ship, the crew onboard needs to be dealt with and that didn’t happen. The court wasn’t informed we were onboard the ship. The problem lies here in Canada not in The Bahamas.”

Although most of them left in 2017, Mr Thompson and Mr Borshchevskij, a Ukrainian, opted to stay because they believed they would eventually get paid but also because the ship would rapidly deteriorate without constant maintenance.

Mr Thompson is owed $110,000 US in wages, according to CBC, and has used his personal savings to pay for expenses and some of the crew’s salaries.

“The real story is basically the guys ran out of money because they were given a bill that was really outrageous and that created the whole issue,” Mr Thompson told The Tribune. 

“They did what they could, they lost a hell of a lot because everything they did with cash, and I’m not going to be continue to be part of a story that is going to bring down The Bahamas - that hits my home. 

“I know the company did what they could, that they went broke trying to get this ship out.”

Ownership of abandoned vessels is automatically transferred to the Canadian government, according to the news agency, which reported the Port of Quebec successfully obtained an order from a Federal Court judge to force the sale of the MV Ethan last month. 

It furthered D&D Maritime had not paid its port fees in more than a year, adding its owner Chuck Deal stated his intention to appeal the Federal Court ruling.

Mr Thompson and Mr Borshchevskij have also filed a protest to be considered as creditors because the men were left out of the court’s ruling as if the ship had been abandoned. 

Mr Thompson told The Tribune he was eager to put the ordeal behind him as he pushed back against international reports that painted his countrymen in a negative light.

“I see a company who I knew put every dollar they had into a ship and a bill was placed on them. They fought and fought,” Mr Thompson continued, “they tried their best. I really don’t appreciate it. When they talked to us we told them straight and plain the company does do what they can. 

“We were owed wages but even during that time they were sending money to Ukraine for the chief’s family and they were giving my family some money in Nassau, so they didn’t abandon us. They couldn’t pay us our full salary. They were trying to get funds to take the ship out and would have paid us.”

Mr Thompson continued: “It’s a matter of what the court’s final position is as to what happens with proceeds with the ship, when that happens we’ll know. At this time I’m getting ready to come home. I’m not going to wait here, the matter has been taken care of so I guess we’ll hear the end result.”

The Tribune attempted to contact D&D Maritime but was unsuccessful at reaching anyone at their Caves Professional Plaza location. A company search yesterday did not produce any results for that name. On its website, the company also lists a US location in Detroit, Michigan.