The entire 20-man crew of the M/V Magellan Phoenix – all Filipino seamen – was replaced by Indian sailors and held by the United States Attorney’s office as witnesses in a maritime dumping investigation.  The latter was triggered by a complaint of alleged harassment filed with the U.S. Coast Guard by the ship’s assistant messman against the chief engineer, the vessel’s fourth ranking officer.

The investigation is being handled by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie who has an office in Camden.  The Coast Guard officer-in-charge with whom the crew talks to is Martin P. Glynn, CGIS Special Agent, who has an office at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

Ironically, U.S. Attorney Christie yesterday presented checks totaling $2 million to the National Park Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in New Jersey.  The money came from the settlement of criminal charges against the Evergreen International ocean shipping company for purposefully discharging oil in U.S. waters four years ago.  The US government fined Evergreen $25 million, the largest penalty ever, for the pollution.

The Magellan is a refrigerated ship with Panamanian registry and operated by Keymax Maritime Company in Tokyo, Japan.  It had arrived from Chile when it docked on March 25 at the Gloucester port in Camden., NJ, when Arne A. Flora, 32, of Cebu City, complained to a Coast Guard officer that chief engineer Noel Abrogar reportedly harassed him constantly while they were at sea.

Flora also identified chief engineer Abrogar as the person who, in violation of international maritime law, allegedly ordered the dumping into the ocean approx. 100 tons of waste, fuel and lubricating oils, and bilge water over a period of several days before and after the Magellan entered the Panama Canal on March 17-18.

Flora’s naming of Abrogar as behind the dumping was supported by Joselito A. Rayton, 43.  Reared in La Union, his residence, during the three months of the year when he is in the Philippines, is in Imus, Cavite.  As the ship’s third engineer, his higher ranking superiors are the captain or master, chief officer, second officer, third officer; chief engineer, first engineer and second engineer.  As third engineer, Rayton’s work responsibilities include storage and disposal of the ship’s waste.
Rayton and Flora explained to FAB that usually the ship’s waste are removed when they are docked.  However, since waste disposal can be expensive it is not uncommon for some ships to get rid of the bilge water and waste oil in the high seas.
When asked why he supported Flora’s charges against Abrogar, Rayton explained that the amount of waste dumped overboard was so significant that if it would be detected, he might be blamed.

Flora t that armed Coast Guard personnel escorted Rayton when he disembarked from the Magellan. 

Rayton and Flora, who were advised by the Coast Guard to refrain from contacting the other seamen, are staying in one hotel.  Chief engineer Abrogar is in another hotel with the ship’s captain Cresencio Ladao, and the rest of the seamen.

Rayton has been a merchant marine for 15 years.  He is married with one five-year old son.  Both wife and son are in the Philippines.

Flora became a seaman six years ago.  He is married but his wife lives in Hawaii.
All of the seamen are currently under contract and continue to receive their monthly salary from their employer.  Typically, the men have arranged for them to get 30 per cent of their wages while the remaining 70 per cent go directly to the families back home.  Their hotel expenses, including breakfast and dinner, are also paid for by the shipping company.  They have stayed in their respective hotels for more than six weeks now.