1988 rescue effort relived

Nevada City man reunites with 'boat people'

By Jill Bauerle, jillb@theunion.com
August 30, 2006

(This story is posted courtesy of The Union of Grass Valley, California © 2006)


On a calm day in the western Pacific in May of 1988, the LNG Virgo was en route to Singapore when a crew member spotted a small fishing boat adrift in the ocean.
The ship’s captain ordered Chief Mate Mike Blanton to organize the rescue of the 20-foot long wooden vessel.

After an hour the ship slowed from its speed of 20 knots and maneuvered alongside the boat. A ladder on the starboard side of the ship extended down from the deck 46 feet to the water line. Blanton stood at the bottom of the gangway and helped pull 12 teenage passengers aboard.

Last Saturday, Blanton welcomed six of the 12 refugees to his home in Nevada City for their first reunion in nearly two decades. While their successful passage from Vietnam to the U.S. is part a larger story of the 800,000 Vietnamese who fled their country between 1975 and the late ‘80s for freedom and economic prosperity, their survival after three days at sea was nothing short of a miracle.

“We took a risk,” said Tho Thanh Le, 37, of San Francisco, who was 17 when he and his childhood friends sailed off on their parents’ fishing boat without permission. They had all grown up together in a small village on Phu Quy Island, off the southern coast of Vietnam.

“We were just praying,” Le said. Although Le’s father had taught him how to sail, he had never taken the boat on a long voyage in the western pacific, nicknamed “typhoon alley” by veteran sea-farers.

The group watched one ship pass them by. They had not taken an emergency supplies or protective gear on board. In the hold was a wet bag of rice, a drum of diesel fuel and a drum of water. When they fired up the engine, the boat only went in circles. They might have perished if the LNG Virgo had not stopped.

Not every group of “boat people,” as the Vietnamese refugees who fled by sea were called, were so lucky.

Some ships sailing under foreign flags were under orders not to pick up refugees, according to Larry Dickens, author and retired crew member of the LNG Gemini. The LNG Gemini traveled in the same waters as the LNG Virgo. Tight schedules and a desire not to get involved in diplomatic negotiations are the main reasons why some companies forbade their crews to stop for refugees.

The Energy Transportation Corporation, which operated a line of 8 LNG ships under the American flag, was founded by a Chinese-American named C.Y. Chen. Chen himself had fled his native country in the 1940’s. The company did not forbid its captains to stop for refugees. In a January 1987 newsletter, the Energy Transportation Corporation reported that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Japan had recently commemorated the company for rescuing 1,481 Indochinese refugees from 1979 to 1986.

After the crew of the LNG Virgo pulled the refugees out of the water, the ship sailed to Singapore. Officials in Singapore declined to accept the refugees. The LNG Virgo took to the seas again, returning to Indonesia to fill up its tanks with another shipment of natural gas before heading back to Japan on its scheduled route.

After 11 days on board the LNG Virgo, the refugees were accepted into a Japanese camp, where they remained for one year. Some became Japanese citizens. The rest emigrated to the U.S.

Blanton distributed his business card to the everyone in the group before saying good-bye. He received a thank-you note from American relatives of one refugee shortly after the rescue. Because he stayed at the same address for 18 years, the contingent from San Francisco reconnected with him and set up the reunion.
At the reunion, the group of former refugees brought food and gifts to the man they fondly called “Mr. Mike.” They laughed at the pictures that Blanton showed him of their younger selves, pointing out their faces to their children.

Blanton was happy for the opportunity to catch up with the group and hear their stories, now that they speak English. The LNG Virgo crew did have the assistance of an on-board interpreter.

While the tone of the reunion was celebratory, there was an emotional undertow to the afternoon event. For the former teenage refugees, one act of kindness had averted disaster and changed their lives irrevocably.

For Blanton, one humanitarian act had rippled out across nations and generations.
“A lot of refugees in any circumstance don’t receive the aid or are as lucky as these people are,” said Blanton. They’ve all established themselves here in the country. It’s nice to see that some good comes out of it.”

To contact Staff Writer Jill Bauerle, e-mail jillb@theunion .com or call 477-4219.

For time around the world, visit World Time.com.
 

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