THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240452
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
If it weren't for the International Seamen's Friend House in Newport News, the former crew of the Taxiarchis might be homeless and hungry and feel a lot more isolated in a strange land.
The mixed-nationality crew of 17 has taken comfort at the nonprofit refuge while waiting to be sent home. They've been stranded in Hampton Roads nine months.
The Greek freighter they arrived on in June was sold at an auction in February. Some of the proceeds were supposed to be used to pay the crew and send them home soon thereafter, but that has yet to happen.
Having already faced disappointment, the stranded sailors may soon lose Seamen's Friend House.
A new landlord is raising the rent on the 4,400 square feet it leases in a downtown Newport News building from $1 a year to $1,000 a month.
``We're probably going to have to move,'' said Alice Reese Thomas, executive director of the Seamen's House.
It's just one more thing Thomas has to deal with on the Seamen's House's $58,000 annual budget.
She's also scrambling to find dinner every night for the 17 seafarers whose small bulk freighter, the Taxiarchis, was abandoned by its Greek owners last year. The ship's engines broke and the Coast Guard declared the ship unseaworthy in June, forcing it to remain in the port.
The Seamen's Friend House has been spending $80 a day to feed lunch to the crew of the Taxiarchis at the Ramada Inn in Newport News. The crew has been staying there, courtesy of the hotel's owner, since they left the Taxiarchis after it was sold at an auction. The vessel was sold to pay the owner's debts in the port.
Dinners for the crew are harder to come by.
``This is the first time in the 13-year history of the Seamen's House we've had to keep up a whole crew,'' Thomas said. ``It's getting to be a real desperate situation.''
Local churches and community groups have helped bring dinners for the crew to the Seamen's House, Thomas said.
The Seamen's House also provides clothing and a little spending money to the crew.
``It's unbelievable the job that Alice Thomas has done taking care of these guys,'' said John Sansone Jr., U.S. director of the International Transport Workers Federation, an international seafaring union.
The crew is stuck here for at least two more weeks. Their back pay and money for the trip home are tied up in federal court as the various creditors of the Taxiarchis wrangle for payment.
There are nearly $2 million in claims, including the crew's $108,000, against the $310,000 the ship brought at auction, said Benjamin Mason, the crew's attorney.
``Unfortunately this is an everyday occurrence,'' Sansone said. ``Somewhere in the world there's an abandoned ship or a ship that's strapped for cash. . .
``The seafarers bear the brunt of this. They're the most vulnerable. The ship will get its parts, its repairs, before the seafarer is paid.''
That's often where an institution like the Seamen's Friend House comes in, providing food, shelter and clothing to stranded seafarers.
In addition to handling such emergencies, the seamen's center serves as a home away from home. It provides visiting sailors with inexpensive phone calls as well as games, books, movies, religious services and trips to stores. Nearly 9,000 sailors visited the center last year.
The International Seaman's House on Olney Road in Norfolk provides similar services to sailors in South Hampton Roads.
``They provide a tremendous service to the international seamen who call here in Hampton Roads,'' said J.J. Keever, executive vice president of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association. ``They're really some sort of angel looking out for folks when they're away from home.''
While the Taxiarchis crew has suffered being stuck in Newport News, their families in such nations as Greece, Honduras, Guatemala, Romania, Pakistan and the Philippines have had it worse, Thomas said. Many depend on the money sent home from their seafaring husbands and fathers, she said. Some have lost their homes because they've been unable to pay.
It's a position Thomas can relate to as the Seamen's House faces losing its home.
``We've just been pushed around,'' she said. ``This is our third location.''
The Seamen's House occupies the first floor of a five-story building at 128 32nd St. in Newport News. The building was auctioned last week after the company that owned it defaulted on a loan payment.
The new owner, William Allaun, is raising the rent starting in July. Allaun was the owner of Allaun Corp., which was the building's previous owner.
The Seamen's House has begun looking for another location in downtown Newport News. It hopes to be able to buy this time, but that will be tough on its meager budget.
``We need to be in the downtown area to minister to the merchant seamen,'' Thomas said.
The Seamen's House plans to seek a grant from the London-based International Transport Workers Federation. The union has a grant fund set up to promote seafarer's welfare for which the Seamen's House could be eligible, Sansone said. MEMO: To help the International Seaman's Friend House call Alice Thomas at
247-6113.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Lawrence Jackson, Staff
The former crew of the Taxiarchis has been stranded in Newport News
for nine months. They've relied on the Seamen's Friend House for
help.
But the Seamen's House may have to move after seeing its rent
increase from $1 a year to $1000 a month.
by CNB