Message in a Bottle

The crew on board the Tomis Future had gone weeks without pay, clean drinking water or adequate food. They knew they had to get word to the ITF.

So when they sighted a fishing boat near where their ship was at anchor, they ran onto the deck, waving frantically.

Australian fisherman Gordon Green noticed the crewmen waving to him: ³I pulled up anchor and went over closer to the ship,² he told Illawara Mercury reporter Geoff Failes. ³The next thing they threw the bottle towards me and I scooped it up out of the water.² The message in a bottle said simply: ³Please, if you can, call ITF because we have a big problem on board. No money, no food, no water. Thank you² Gordon Green returned to Wollongong Harbour and handed the bottle to a coastal patrol officer. The message was passed on to MUA branch secretary Mark Armstrong who immediately contacted ITF headquarters in Sydney. Within minutes, ITF Australia Coordinator Trevor Charles phoned the ship and demanded to speak with the crew. When the vessel came into port, pre-dawn on April 16, both Trevor and Mark were there to meet it.

(MWJ, May/June, 1999)