Stranded freighter to leave port; Ukrainian veterans provide assistance to crew (08/15/99)

Stranded freighter to leave port

Ukrainian veterans provide assistance to crew

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The Ukrainian freighter Znamia Oktiabria (Banner of October) that has been waiting for new shipping orders since April finally has been scheduled to take on cargo and head to the Caribbean.

The ship was to pick up 260 used cars and trucks on Thursday, August 12, at the Howland Hook Container Terminal on Staten Island and to transport them to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

For four months the ship of Ukrainian sailors with a crew of 23 men and three women had been stranded in New York Harbor without replenished food supplies, paychecks or further sailing orders. The 3,900-ton vessel arrived on April 13 after its last delivery of cars and trucks - a routine trip it had been making every two weeks for two years, company officials said. But the crew was halted because of the shipping company's bureaucratic procedures and some canceled shipments.

The ship's master, Capt. Aleksandr Golub, 62, had repeatedly requested sufficient supplies and was repeatedly denied aid from the shipowner's American representative, Capt. Vladimir Shamshin. Speaking through the New York Times, Capt. Golub reiterated his plea for supplies to the ship's owners, the Azov Shipping Co., based in Mariupol, Ukraine. Only one shipment, a 22-day supply of food, was received on July 1, which the crew managed to stretch out for 30 days.

The plight of these sailors aboard the Banner of October had not gone unnoticed by the Ukrainian American community as well as the Westchester County (N.Y.) community. The Ukrainian American Veterans, the Seaman's Church Institute and the U.S. Coast Guard took on responsibility.

The newly formed Post 301 of the Ukrainian American Veterans in Yonkers, N.Y., has been a particularly strong supporter of the assistance mission. Taras Szczur, post commander, took charge of collecting boxes of bottled water, meat, rice, watermelons, cans of tomato sauce, pasta, crates of carrots and liquor which were shipped to the sailors on August 3. The 1,000 pounds of donated food and supplies were enough to feed the sailors for several days.

According to The Journal News, after Mr. Szczur, Mr. Skirka (vice-commander) and 13-year-old Roman Mikula generously delivered these provisions, Capt. Golub ran to the side of the ship and yelled graciously, "All happy. So, so happy!"

This dedicated post of veterans had carried out a similar mission for another Azov ship, the Mikhail Senko on April 16 of this year.

On August 2 yet another Azov ship, the Viktor Talilikhin, arrived in the harbor and is being closely watched by the Coast Guard, the Seaman's Church Institute and Ukraine's Consulate General.

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