Nation on Board

by Lynn Schler

  In this testimony and many others, the exploitation of seamen as porters for the officers’ trade was described again and again by seamen as the ultimate abuse, and in describing the treatment they received at the hands of Nigerian officers, they declared, “They treated us as slaves.”74 The historical and cultural significance of being compelled to carry someone else’s load without being properly compensated was associated with the lowest rungs of society, those suffering the greatest exploitation and having no power to exercise their autonomy. The sense of powerlessness and anger was captured by one seaman: “When you cheat people, do not show it to them. But they are cheating us and they are showing it to us. So we must be angry.”75

  Carrying the officers’ loads was insulting to seamen who did not see this as their responsibility, but more significant was the end of the seamen’s ability to conduct their own trade once ships were monopolized by officers. As can be seen in the testimony above, seamen also suspected that captains stopped their overtime pay in order to make sure that the crew would not have the financial resources needed to engage in independent trade. Seamen claimed as well that captains would not provide them with cash advances due to them in ports of call, and would instead use the funds for their own business in secondhand goods. Adding insult to injury, they would then force seamen to carry and load this cargo:

  Things were moving fine when the white captains were in the NNSL until we trained our black captains. However, the black captains were the worst. . . . NNSL captains were selfish. They wanted everything in their own care. For instance, if they brought money to the ship to share for all the crew, some of the captains used the money for their own interest. They used the money to buy secondhand goods and used the ratings to be carrying the goods for them. Sometime you can carry them from night till the following day morning. And in the morning, you will start the normal company work again. If you refuse, you will be the number one to be dropped from the ship when you get to Lagos.76

  This seaman accused Nigerian captains of charging the seamen freight rates in order to deter seamen from trading, but they themselves did not pay for the cargo they loaded:

  The Nigeria captain did not want us to trade because they did not want us to have more money like them. So they say no trading on board. If you buy goods, you would pay freight, but the British captain did not make us pay for it. The captains never pay for freight, but we the ratings were compelled to do so by the Nigeria captains. They thought that it was the only way to stop trading on board. Once you paid for freight, the trading is no longer profitable because how much would you have left, and you have wife and children back home in Nigeria. So, once the paying for freight was introduced, that means you are working for nothing.77

  Several seamen interviewed claimed that captains of the NNSL earned additional cash through the manipulation of exchange rates. Seamen were given cash advances in ports of call, and many claimed that captains paid them at a lower rate than was due to them. The distrust ran so deep that several seamen claimed that they contacted the local embassy to verify the exchange rates rather than taking the captain’s word.78 In some cases, one seaman charged, the money that was wired for cash advances simply disappeared:

  Sometimes our people changed the exchange rate and seamen protest to the embassy for conformation before we were paid; this exchange problem was a common thing. When crew members request for certain amount of money, telex is sent to the receiving company and the agent of the company brings the money to the ship, but after two days Nigerian captains denied the arrival of such money and crew members must protest before he pays. It is a regular routine with black people, but it was not so with the white man.79

  Seamen expressed a sense of powerlessness in the face of these abuses. The small benefits they had came to expect under the British slowly disappeared as Nigerian captains and officers tried to maximize their own opportunities. For example, the same seaman recalled that when rice cargo was loaded onto ships, the company made provisions to distribute some of this to seamen, but only the British captains followed through. As he recounted: “The British captains would give us one or two bags of rice each, but Nigeria captains offloaded those bags of rice in the cargo first, they sold them and kept the money. That was outright exploitation; we really suffered.” Seamen recognized the injustices and yet they lacked the resources necessary to combat them:

  In short, we were downtrodden. What I mean is that the NNSL itself used us the way they like. No one could raise any issue because we were contract staff. You are only paid when you sail with a ship. No permanent job. The majority of those working for the union were not literate. The majority of them do not even know their right from left. The only thing they knew was that they would say “I went to England,” that’s all. Even the payment system was characterized by fraud, as more often than before, you are paid less than what you signed for. And for a very long time, we never knew about this.80

  Not all captains were engaged in the exploitation of seamen, and, indeed, many attempted to uphold the highest standards on board the ships they commanded. But these captains did not necessarily identify with the seamen’s plight, and they expressed disdain for seamen’s attempts to exploit opportunities in order to improve their standing. For example, Captain Niagwan boasted in an interview that seamen used to call him “Black Hitler” because he forbade independent trade on his ship. He was undeterred by their anger and claimed the trade was evidence of seamen’s lack of dedication to the job. When I asked him about their lack of options, he replied, “Nobody put a gun to their heads.” At the same time, he acknowledged that one seaman died in the course of loading tires purchased by an NNSL captain in Hamburg.81

  The history of the independent trade in the NNSL reveals that most of the management and officers did not share in Captain Niagwan’s conviction. On the contrary, the widespread engagement in independent trade among management and officers was a key factor in the breakdown of authority, regulation, and leadership in the NNSL. As Engineer Akinsoji claimed, seamen would have acted differently had the leadership of the NNSL set a different tone: “Corruption to me was not the issue for failure. Failure goes beyond corruption. If you have focus, and good leadership that maintains focus, people will line up behind him. In fact, this country will transform within six months if you have good leadership that maintains focus.”82 In a poignant testimony, Akinsoji argued that the engagement with the independent trade was both a symptom and a cause of the NNSL demise:

  I will tell you a story. When I was still a superintendent I went to Liverpool to inspect a ship, but there was this cabin that was locked and I insisted to see what was inside the cabin. And when it was opened, it was full of carpets owned by the crew, captains, officers, and cadets. I just lined them up and I asked who owned what? I later called a meeting on the ship and then wrote the names of everyone against his carpets. Although the captain of this particular ship did not have a carpet, I drew his attention to what his ship is being used for. His chief engineer had put his name there. So, unfortunately, some of those carpets were sent to be bought by those in management in the office through the crew on board. So, when I came back and wrote my report, it never had any headway because the management knew about it. I rounded all up by saying that we do not have the culture of what it takes to run shipping. Even the office did not have that culture. You would imagine a shipping company that condones that in a competitive world? It will certainly be out of business. That is why I say comparative cultural virtue is important in shipping. If you don’t have it, you can’t keep afloat because your counterparts, their crew are busy working while your crew are busy buying secondhand carpets. So, how did you compete? So, while you are still doing this, your counterpart would have completed a voyage while you are still on half voyage. So, it is a must. Until that culture is developed among those in the chain of shipping, we are not likely to have our quota in shipping.83

  ILLEGALITY ON NNSL SHIPS

  As work conditions deteriorated an
d authority and discipline waned on NNSL ships, growing numbers of seamen turned to illegality. Archival records and interviews with seamen reveal that rank-and-file ratings increasingly engaged in illicit activities, particularly theft and drug smuggling. Ship logs document many instances of theft on board ships, with the crew taking equipment and supplies from vessels, as well as cargo from the holds. In some instances, these records reveal a strong correlation between the turn to illegality and seamen’s discontent with working conditions, and the breakdown of authority and discipline on board ships. This could be seen in the logbook of the MV Bareeb in 1972. The journey began in Lagos, with the crew complaining that they were not being paid their salaries or given enough food. Over the course of the next week, seamen began deserting the ship in protest, and the captain reported there were no day or night watchmen on guard. Within a few days, the cargo was broken into, and the captain conducted searches in crew’s accommodations, where he found many of the missing items.84 Similarly, on the River Benue in 1981, the crew refused to secure the cargo on the deck unless they were paid an overtime bonus of twenty hours each. The captain refused, and the safety of the cargo was compromised.85

  Seamen and captains interviewed reported that there were many hiding places on ships, and it was never easy to discover items that went missing. In several instances, stolen goods were found among the belongings of crew only after they were hospitalized or logged off for disciplinary action, and other crew members were sent to gather their personal items. This could be seen on the MV Ileoluji in 1979, when the captain reported finding cornflakes, tea, ketchup, toilet paper, evaporated milk, and some electric cables from the supply rooms among the personal belongings of a greaser who was sent to the hospital.86

  Captains determined what punishments were given to those caught stealing, and there was a wide range of responses. Thus, on the River Benue in 1970, the captain ordered a search of the ship when it was reported that one hundred bolts of cloth were missing from a cargo hold. In the course of the search, the cloth was found hidden under old mooring ropes. Four crew members came forward to confess one week later and begged for mercy, to which the captain responded, “No promises were made.”87 Some captains would dole out very harsh punishments for these infractions, and it was particularly the British captains who demonstrated no tolerance for perpetrators. This could be seen on the Salamat Ambi, when Captain Lancaster fined the cook three days’ pay for stealing one frozen chicken and three pounds of beef.88

  Nigerian captains often adopted a more lenient position toward these infractions, as seen in the logbook of the River Benue in 1980: “Mr. A. Nwanegbo, Greaser, was this day caught carrying a case of Guinness to his cabin. When questioned, he admitted having obtained it from among the ones landed on deck for the ship’s stores. He claimed it was given to him by one of the riggers and pleads for leniency. He was ordered to return the case of Guinness and further more warned that severe measures will be taken against such behavior in future.”89 In another incident reported in the logbook from the River Oji in 1981, the captain discovered some ship supplies among the personal belongings of a radio officer taken ashore: “When he was removing his deep sea kit from the ship just before sailing, it was hinted that he had in the company’s van that was to take him ashore some items belonging to the ship. On intercepting him, Mr. Aluge, in the van, I found one table fan belonging to the ship in the van, together with his luggage. He claimed that he took it in error. I then asked him to return it to the ship. This he did. [I] had to give him D.R. for conduct in his discharge as what it boils down to is stealing ship’s property, which is not condonable as a ship’s officer.”90

  In these instances and many like them, the crew, often buttressed by discontent over working conditions, took advantage of opportunities to boost their earnings and improve their circumstances. Living and working on the ships presented seamen with multiple prospects, and seamen exploited them to the fullest. Tools, foodstuff, and cargo could be taken for personal use or for resale. One captain reported that the crew had sold cement that had been swept up from the cargo hold to people ashore in Sapele rather than dumping it at sea.91 Those who took alcohol from the cargo hold or from supply rooms sponsored parties in their rooms for other members of the crew.92 Ships logs and interviews reveal that seamen, discontented with the terms of employment and work conditions on board ships, subsequently capitalized on the opportunities that presented themselves.

  It is within this context that drug smuggling among seamen must be understood. From the establishment of the NNSL until its demise, there was a steady rise in the number of seamen engaged in drug smuggling. Thus, in 1973, the captain of the Oduduwa claimed that “the carriage of cannabis was rampant among the crew.”93 While none of the seamen interviewed claimed to have been personally involved, almost all of them talked about the practice as widespread. Ship logs reveal countless discoveries of drugs, and the ceaseless efforts of captains to conduct searches and put a stop to the practice. The captains’ efforts were largely fruitless because, as many seamen and captains testified, there was little difficulty in bringing drugs on board and finding a hiding place for them during the journey:

  Because of the lower wages that they are paying people, most of the former seamen who are older than me when I started the work, they all carry drugs to Europe. I am not talking of cocaine, but I am talking about marijuana, which some seamen took to Europe from Nigeria so as to make more money. And not every time they get away with it. Sometime they were caught by the customs and excise men who often bring detective dogs to the ships. They used different ways to carry the drugs. They sometime kept them in the waste bin and sometimes inside the empty can of beer. They made a lot of money just as many of them were caught.94

  This seaman’s testimony draws a distinction between cannabis on the one hand, and cocaine and heroin on the other. Incidents involving marijuana were not looked upon as severely by Nigerian captains, and many incidents were reported of crew members smoking marijuana on board. For example, the captain of the King Jaja in 1975 reported that M. Fowoshade was found walking around in the middle of the night covered in paint. The next morning, he was found in his cabin, which was filled with smoke and “smelled like Indian hemp.” When asked, the greaser said that “he regularly smoked Indian hemp and that it helped him to perform his duties better.”95

  Nigerian captains beseeched their crews to throw goods overboard rather than risk being caught by local authorities in ports of call. Thus, the captain of the River Ogun reported that he “drew the attention of all crewmembers to the danger the involvement with cannabis or any contraband may have and warned all crews that if anyone has it, he should dump it overboard before the vessel arrives Tilbury Dock, London.”96 In another incident on the King Jaja in 1971, a bag of cannabis was discovered hidden in the engine room. The captain of the ship ordered the fourth engineer to dump “the ownerless bag” overboard “in order to avoid delays at Dakar.”97 He posted a sign warning the crew that it is a very serious offense to smuggle or smoke cannabis on the company’s vessels. He recommended that the crew throw the drugs overboard: “In view of a recent accidental discovery of a bag of cannabis in this ship and signs of crew smoking cannabis, I am posting this notice warning all those concerned to dispose of whatever quantity they have in their possessions and hiding places before the ship gets to England.” He asked the crew to come forward in confidence to report anyone smoking or smuggling cannabis and claimed in frustration that his search had turned up nothing: “My recent search was a legal obligation and was fruitless. The spies quickly passed the news round. But do not think that is the end, as more drastic action will follow. Be warned.” The captain’s warning apparently had fallen on deaf ears, because one week later, another bag of cannabis was discovered in the same hiding place. At this point, the suitcase was confiscated and the captain reported his plans to turn the bag over to the police in Middlesbrough.98

  The frustrations of another captain can be seen i
n the logbook of the King Jaja in 1973. The captain delivered a stern warning to the entire crew to refrain from using or dealing in drugs. He reported conducting a thorough search before sailing, which turned up nothing. Despite these efforts, when the fourth engineer entered the pilot’s cabin four days later, he perceived “a very strong, smoky odor.” He immediately notified the captain, the chief officer, and the chief engineer, and together they agreed that the strong odor was that of cannabis and that someone must have been smoking in the room: “It therefore became established that after the thorough search for cannabis conducted and despite the chief officer’s address to the crew and officers alike that the company does not permit any crew member to have onboard any quantity of cannabis either for personal use or for commercial purpose, a diehard or some diehards amongst the crew or officers still have onboard some quantity of cannabis.”99

  As the problem proliferated, captains and management took increasingly harsh measures to prevent and prosecute drug smugglers. The Nigerian Maritime Board imposed very strict punishments, and seamen caught smuggling drugs were permanently removed from the register. In light of this hard line, customs officers in Hull, England, did not prosecute the head greaser of the Salamat Ambi in 1977, who was caught with a small quantity of cannabis. As the captain’s log reported, “No action was taken by the authorities in view of the severity of punishment imposed upon members by the rules of the Nigerian Maritime Board. They consider that dismissal is sufficient punishment in this case.”100 The increasingly hard line toward drug smuggling could be seen in the following announcement posted on the River Benue: